BUSM 4177 / 4194 Leading for Change Topic 2: Effective Leadership Behaviour

Learning Objectives

Leadership Behaviour:

1.

2.

3.

4.

Understand what research methods have been used to study leader behaviour.

Understand why task and relations behaviours are important for leadership effectiveness.

Understand why change-oriented behaviours are important for effective leadership.

Understand how specific types of task, relations and change management behaviours can be used effectively.

Early research on leader behaviour conducted by US psychologists in the 1950s and 1960s Ohio State University “identify categories of leadership behaviour and develop questionnaires to measure how often a leader uses these behaviours” University of Michigan “Identify the relationships among leader behaviour, group processes and measures of group performance”

Ohio State University studies

Ohio State University research logic

1

. Identified various categories of leadership behaviour

2.

Developed questionnaire s to measure how often these categories were used by leaders

3

. Refined categories according to followers’ perception of the leader

4.

Discovered that they were broadly groupable as “consideration ” and “initiating”

5

. Refined the questionnaire s, which have since been used in hundreds of surveys since!

Ohio State University questionnaire sample DIRECTIONS: • READ each item carefully. • THINK about how frequently the leader engages in the behavior described by the item. • DECIDE whether he/she (A) Always (B) Often, (C) Occasionally, (D) Seldom or (E) Never acts as described by the item. • DRAW A CIRCLE around one of the five letters ( A B C D E) to show the answer you selected. A = Always B = Often C = Occasionally D = Seldom E = Never 1. Does personal favors for group members. 2. Makes his/her attitudes clear to the group A B C D E A B C D E 3. Does little things to make it pleasant to be a member of the group. A B C D E 4. Tries out his/her new ideas with the group. A B C D E 5. Acts as the real leader of the group. 6. Is easy to understand. 7. Rules with an iron hand. 8. Finds time to listen to group members. A B C D E A B C D E A B C D E A B C D E 9. Criticizes poor work. 10. …….. (continues through to question 40) A B C D E A B C D E

The meaning behind “consideration” and “initiating structure” in the Ohio studies

Consideration

Leader: • has concern for employees • has concern for interpersonal relationships • acts in a friendly and supportive manner Examples of this behaviour: • does a personal favour for employee • finds time to listen to problems • defends workers in his / her section • consults with employees • accepts that employees have something to contribute

Initiating Structure

Leader: • has concern for completing tasks • defines leader role • defines employee role(s) • focusses on goal achievement Examples of this behaviour: • assigns tasks to employees • maintains performance standards • focuses on deadlines • criticises poor work performance • separately coordinates the work activity of different employee groups

Early findings of the Ohio studies: Relation between turnover rate and (a) Consideration and (b) Initiating Structure. Inverse correlation between turnover and consideration leader behaviour Positive correlation between turnover and initiating structure leader behaviour E.A. Fleishman and E.F. Harris " Patterns of Leadership Behavior Related to Employee Grievances and Turnover."

Personnel Psychology,

1962, 15, 43-56.

The Michigan studies Daniel Katz 1903 - 1998 Rensis Likert 1903 - 1981

The Michigan studies (continued) 1 . Field studies with variety of leaders (insurance companies, railroad gangs) 2. Information collected via interviews and questionnaire s

3

. Objective measures of group productivity to classify managers as effective / ineffective

4.

Comparison of effective vs ineffective managers identified differences in behaviour

5

. Effective leaders were more likely to be task oriented, relations oriented and partcipative

Broad Behaviour Categories in the Michigan studies

task

• Concentrated on task-oriented functions such as planning, scheduling, coordinating, ensuring resources, realistic goals

relations

• Showing trust and confidence, friendly and considerate, develop employees, keeping employees informed, recognise performance

participative

• Group (rather than individual) supervision, conflict resolution, group decision-making, supportive, constructive.

Copyright© 2013 Pearson Education Leadership In Organizations Version Woodruff 2014 SIM

A critical view of the survey approach taken at Ohio and Michigan

Surveys have two key weaknesses • Limitations of data in fixed-response questionnaires – Bias – Objectivity limits – Repetition familiarity – Attribution of characteristics that are not objectively present • Confirming causality – Cant be sure that behaviours caused the outcome observed – May be other factors influencing outcome – Outcome may cause the observed behavior (reverse causality) Copyright© 2013 Pearson Education Leadership In Organizations

And so to other research methods

Experiments

e.g. Sims & Manz (1984) • Studies have shown causality in both directions (behaviour to outcome and vice versa) • Difficult to set up in “real world” • Some good results in intervention studies where leader training resulted in better outcomes

Critical incidents

e.g. Latham & Wexley (19977) • Examining leader behaviour in relation to positive or negative critical incidents may indicate link.

• Limited by lack of objectivity Latham,G.P., & Wexley, K.N., (1977) behavioural observation scales for performance appraisal purposes. Personal psychology 30, 255-268 Sims, H.P., & Manz, C.C., (1984)

Observing leader verbal behaviour: Towards reciprocal determinism in leadership theory

. J Applied Psychology, 69, 222-232

But what about change?

So far, we’ve explored models that attempt to predict the extent to which behaviours achieve certain “static” pre-determined organisational outcomes.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your outlook) organisations can no longer afford to remain static.

The environment is turbulent and fast changing – calling for change management behaviours as well!

In short: Task oriented behaviour is concerned with accomplishing a task efficiently and reliably Relations oriented behaviour is concerned with increasing employee trust, cooperation, job satisfaction with the organisation Change oriented behaviour is concerned with understanding the environment, finding innovative ways to adapt to it and, where possible, developing strategies to control it.

Change as the third element in leadership behaviour

Swedish researchers Ekvall & Arvonen (1991) and US researcher Yukl (1999) built the case for this new third (change) element in leadership behaviour.

Today we take it for granted that change management is a critical skill in any leadership position.

We will return to change management elsewhere in the course!

REFLECTION POINTS

• Are today’s leaders more change-aware than those from the past?

• Has the pace of change increased? • Is change equally disruptive in all industry sectors?

Ekvall, G., & Arvonen, J., (1991)

Change-centered leadership: An extension of the two-dimensional model

Scandinavian Journal of Management, 7, 17-26 Yukl, G., (1999)

An evaluative essay on current conceptions of effective leadership

. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 8, 33-48

So, how can we draw on these behaviours to improve our leadership effectiveness?

task

• Planning • Clarifying • Monitoring

relations

• Supporting • Developing • Recognising

change

• Understanding the environment • Adapting to environment • Implementing change

Reflecting on your own emerging leadership behaviours

How confident are you that you could:

• Plan work activities?

• Clarify roles and objectives?

• Monitor operations and performance?

• Support staff?

• Develop staff?

• Recognise staff achievements?

• Predict the future?

• Manage staff through change?

TASK - ORIENTED RELATIONS - ORIENTED CHANGE - ORIENTED

Review questions 1. What did you learn about leadership effectiveness from the Ohio and Michigan studies?

2. What problems have limited questionnaire research into leadership ? 3. What are critical incident studies?

4. Can a leader exhibit both task and relations orientation at the same time?

5. Why are planning, clarifying and monitoring important for leadership effectiveness?

6. Why are supporting, developing nd recognising important for leadership effectiveness ?

7. What are the key attributes of the change management orientation in leadership?

Acknowledgements Presentation developed by Ian Woodruff, School of Management, RMIT University RMIT is proud to partner with Pearson Australia in the development of the customised resources for this course.

This presentation draws on material from chapter two of the course textbook Sustainable Leadership people, technology and design – an RMIT Custom Publication, Pearson ® Australia and is subject to copyright.

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