Leadership in Organizations Leader-Behavior Approach Leadership Refers

Leadership in Organizations

Leader-behavior approach

Leadership refers to the process of influencing other people towards attainment of organizational or group goals. Leadership entails three key factors: first, leadership is a process of social influence. It is non-existent without followers and a leader. Second, leadership requires that the followers act voluntarily. The nature of compliance is voluntary thus differentiating leadership from other forms of influence based on formal authority. Finally, leadership elicits behavior in followers that are goal directed in an organized setting (Griffiin, 2010).

Most organizational sciences focus on the topic of leader-behavior approach. There is enough documentation showing that thousands of leader-behavior approach studies have undergone publication. However, the precise nature and correlation of leadership with key criterion variables such as commitment, subordinate satisfaction, and performance remains uncertain (Green & Robinson, 2010). This paper focuses on leader-behavior research approach for studying leadership. It also incorporates the strengths and weaknesses of the leadership approach through highlighting an example in which this leadership approach was used.

Partially due to the disenchantment with previous research approaches for studying leadership, leadership research has shifted its focus to leadership behaviors. This premise of research is based on behaviors possessed by leaders are of key importance than their mental, emotional, or physical traits. One famous behavioral leadership research was done at the Ohio University. This study elicited a lot of discussion and is still widely used (Griffiin, 2010).

The Leader-behavior Description Questionnaire was utilized by the Ohio University study. This approach was administered to samples in the manufacturing companies, college administrators, student leaders, and individuals in the military. In an effort to find out whether all samples exhibited common leadership behaviors, the study factor-analyzed the answers to the questionnaires. The finding was that the samples had two distinct leadership aspects that describe ways in which leaders carry out roles. Two factors appeared in consistence: initiating structure and consideration. Initiating structure is sometimes referred to as task-oriented behavior. It entails organizing, coordinating and planning the work of other employees. Consideration entails a leader showing that he is concerned with subordinates, recognizing subordinates, being supportive and ensuring that the welfare of subordinates is well catered (Green & Robinson, 2010).

Similarly, the Ohio University conducted another study using leadership approach to determine the leadership methods and principles that lead to job satisfaction and productivity. This study elicited two general behaviors of leadership: a production orientation, and an employee orientation. Leaders who were focused on their employees showed that they were genuinely concerned with interpersonal relations. On the other hand, leaders who were production-focused emphasized on focusing on the technical aspects of the job. The study concluded that an employee-oriented leader is likely to yield admirable results compared to a leader who closely supervises his subordinates.

The strength of the leadership approach

The effectiveness of the Leader-behavior approach is the managerial aspect. This aspect combines the concern for subordinates with concern for productivity. According to this approach, a leader who focuses only on production is an impoverished leader. This approach encourages leaders to emphasize on both concern for production and people. Furthermore, the approach suggests that a leader who focuses on concern for production and no concern for subordinates is a task-oriented leader. This approach has become the best consulting approach; it has been used as the basis for leadership training in the corporate field (Green & Robinson, 2010).

The weakness of the leadership approach