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...
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…
