Dear all,
I have this for your reading pleasure. I know one group has already presented their view on this. The other group, however, will present theirs, next week. So please have a look at the short article below, think about it, and see what happens.As some researchers (e.g. Blake & Mouton, 1964,1978; Steers et al, 1996) perceive it, the apparent failure of trait approaches to the study of leadership has nevertheless led researchers to adopt a new focus for further investigation in the 1950s. Leadership was later on perceived to be something more than just personality given the fact that it is essentially a human process at work in organisation. It is therefore, deals with human behaviour. At this point, researchers turned to a rather different attention, that was to investigate how leaders behave towards their followers and other elements rather than to focus only on leaders personality traits.Accordingly, two significant works focusing on the study of leader behaviours are worth mentioned: one, studies done by the Ohio State University in the late 1940s; and two, the University of Michigan studies which were completed in 1950. The Ohio State researchers investigated and subsequently identified two sets of behaviour that influenced leadership, as illustrated in Figure 3. Generally, two sets of different behaviour, namely, initiating structure and consideration were identified. Initiating behaviours are basically task or producation oriented as opposed to the considerate behaviours which are more towards employee-centred. Accordingly, behaviours that fall under the initiating structure are identified as: (1) Establishing policies, rules and procedures; (2) Making sure that deadlines and schedules are met; (3) Communicating goals and work assignments; (4) Emphasising the need to keep on schedule; (5) Recommending ways to improve performance; (6) Emphasising need for high-quality work; (7) Delegating necessary authority to accomplish tasks; (8) Exerting pressure on subordinates to perform to capacity; (9) seeking more efficient ways of doing things.The other set of behaviours, which fall under the ‘considerate behaviours’, are: (1) Praising and rewarding employees for good; (2) Exhibiting friendliness and willingness to listen; (3) Staying informed about employees’ needs and concerns; (4) Encouraging social relations in the department; (5) Keeping employees informed about the department; (6) Helping members resolve job and interpersonal conflicts; (7) Making people comfortable in the leader’s presence; (8) Asking for group’s opinions and suggestions; (9) Giving prior attention to employees who are new or feel neglected; (10) Explaining the reasons for decisions; and (11) Allowing employees to do work in their own way at their own pace.
