ORIENT2: LEADERSHIP DYNAMICS  

2nd Semester, A.Y. 2020-2021 

LEADERSHIP: 
Behavioral Approaches 
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By EMR 

 
The  inability  to  define  effective  leadership  based  solely  on traits led to an interest in looking at 
the  behavior  of  leaders  and  how  it  might  contribute  to  leadership  success  or  failure.  Perhaps 
any  leader  can  adopt  the  correct  behavior  with  appropriate  training.  Two  basic  leadership 
behaviors  that  have  been  identified  as  important  for  leadership  are  task-oriented  behavior and 
people-oriented  behavior.  These  two  meta  categories,  or  broadly  defined  behavior  categories, 
have  been  found  to  be  applicable  to  effective  leadership  in  a  variety  of  situations  and  time 
periods.  Although  these  are  not  the  only  important  leadership behaviors, concern for tasks and 
concern  for  people  must  be  shown  at  some  reasonable  level.  Thus,  many  approaches  to 
understanding  leadership  use  these  meta  categories  nas  a  basis  for  study  and  comparison. 
Important  research  programs  on  leadership  behavior  were  conducted  at  The  Ohio  State 
University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Texas. 

Source: Based on Richard L. Draft, Management: Leading, Seventh Edition. (Vanderbilt University: 
South-Western, 2005), 552-554. 
  

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Ohio State Studies 

Researchers  at  The  Ohio  State  University  surveyed  leaders  to  study  hundreds  of  dimensions  of 
leader  behavior.  They  identified  two  major  behaviors,  called  consideration  and  initiating 
structure. 

Consideration  falls  in  the  category  of  people-oriented,  and  is  the  extent  to  which  the 
leader  is  mindful  of  subordinates, respects their ideas and feeling, and establishes mutual trust. 
Considerate  leaders  are  friendly,  provide  open  communication,  develop  teamwork,  and  are 
oriented toward their subordinates’ welfare. 

Initiating  Structure  is  the degree of task behavior, tha is the extent to which the leader 

is  task  oriented  and  directs  subordinate  work  activities  toward  goal  attainment.  Leaders  with 
this  style  typically  give  instructions,  spend  time  planning,  emphasize  deadlines,  and  provide 
explicit schedules of work activities. 

Consideration  and  initiating  structure  are  independent  of each other, which means that 

a  leader  with  a  high  degree  of consideration may be either high or low on initiating structure. A 
leader  may  have  any  of  four  styles:  ​high  initiating  structure-low  consideration, high initiating 
structure-high  consideration,  low  initiating  structure-high  consideration,  or  low  initiating 
structure-low  consideration.  The  Ohio  State  research  found  that  the  high  consideration-high 
initiating  structure  style  achieved  better  performance  and  greater  satisfaction  that  the  other 
leader styles. 

However,  new  research  has  found  that  the  “high-high”  style  is  not necessarily the best. 
These  studies  indicate  that  effective leaders may be high on consideration and low on initiating 
structure or low on consideration and high on initiating structure, depending on the situation. 

Michigan Studies 

Studies  at  the  University  of  Michigan  at  about  the  same  time  took  a  different  approach  by 
comparing  the  behavior  of  effective  and  ​ineffective  supervisors.  The  most  effective  supervisors 
were  those  who  focused  on  the subordinate human needs in order to ​“build effective work groups 
with  high  performance  goals.”  The  Michigan  researchers used the term ​employee-centered leaders 
for  leaders  who  established  high  performance  goals  and  displayed  supportive  behavior  toward 
subordinates.  The  less-effective  leaders  were called job-centered leaders​ ; these tended to be less 

Source: Based on Richard L. Draft, Management: Leading, Seventh Edition. (Vanderbilt University: 
South-Western, 2005), 552-554. 
  

  3 

concerned  with  goal  achievement  and  human  needs  in  favor  of  meeting  schedules,  keeping 
costs low, and achieving production efficiency. 

The Leadership Grid 

Blake  and  Mouton  of  the  University  of  Texas  proposed  a  two-dimensional  leadership  theory 
called  ​leadership  grid  that  builds  on  the  work  of  The  Ohio  State  and  Michigan  studies.  The 
two-dimensional  model  and  five  of  its  seven  major  management  styles  are  depicted  in 
illustration  below.  Each axis on the grid is a nine-point scale, with 1 meaning low concern and 9 
high concern. 

Team  management  (9,9)  often  is  considered  the  most  effective  style  and  is 
recommended  for  managers  because  organization  members  work  together  to accomplish tasks. 
Country club management (1,9) occurs when primary emphasis is given to people rather than to 
work  outputs.  ​Authority-compliance  management  (9,1)  occurs  when  efficiency  in operations is 

Source: Based on Richard L. Draft, Management: Leading, Seventh Edition. (Vanderbilt University: 
South-Western, 2005), 552-554. 
  

  4 

the  dominant orientation. ​Middle-of-the-road management (5,5) reflects a moderate amount of 
concern  for  both  people  and production. ​Impoverished management (1,1) means the absence of 
management  philosophy;  managers  exert  little  effort  toward  interpersonal  relationships  or 
work accomplishments. Consider these examples. 

When Pamela Forbes Lieberman learned that her subordinates

called her the dragon lady, she embraced the moniker and hung a
watercolor of a dragon in her office. Lieberman makes no apologies for
her hard-driving leadership style. Her emphasis on ambitious goals,
tough standards, and bottom-line results has brought renewed health and
vitality to hardware cooperative TruServ, which supplies inventory to
True Value hardware stores. As soon as Lieberman became CEO, she began
slashing costs and setting tough performance targets. “If [people]
succeed, they will be rewarded, but if they don’t, then we’re going to
have to look for new people sitting in their chairs,” Lieberman says.

Compare Leiberman’s hard-nosed approach to that of Tom

Gegax, who calls himself the head coach of Trie Plus, a fast-growing
chain of retail tire stores. Gegax believes that you cannot manage
people like you manage fixed assets. His emphasis is on treating
employees just as well as they are expected to treat their customers.
Gegax personally leads classes at Tire Plus University, where employees
;earn not just about changing tires but about how to make their whole
life better. Gegax alse makes sure stores are clean, bright, andairy,
so that employees have a pleasant work environment. He believes all
this translates into better service. Employees, as well as customers,
like the approach. “The last thing the world needs is another chain of
stores,” Gegax says. “What it does need is a company with a new
business model - one that embraces customers and employees as whole
people.”

The  leadership  style  of  Pamela  Lieberman  is  characterized  by  high  concern  for  tasks  and 
production  (task-oriented  behavior)  and  low-to-moderate  concern  for  people  (people-oriented 
behavior).  Tom  Gegax,  in  contrast,  is  high  on  concern  for  people  and  moderate  on  concern  for 
production.  Both  leaders  are  successful,  although  they  display  very  different  leadership  styles, 
because  of  their  different  situations.  The  next  group  of  theories  builds  on  the  leader-follower 
relationship  of  behavioral  approaches  to  explore  how  organizational  situations  affect  the 
leader’s approach. 

Source: Based on Richard L. Draft, Management: Leading, Seventh Edition. (Vanderbilt University: 
South-Western, 2005), 552-554.