Key Terms
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Leaders
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Trait theories of leadership
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Behavioral theories of leadership approach
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Autocratic style of leadership
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Democratic style of leadership
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Laissez-faire style of leadership
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Initiating structure
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Consideration
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Employee oriented
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Production-oriented
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Managerial grid
Summary
Managers are appointed; they have legitimate power that allows them to reward and punish. Their ability to influence is based on the formal authority inherent in their positions. In contrast, leaders may either be appointed or may emerge from within a group. Leaders can influence others to perform beyond the actions dictated by formal authority. Leaders are those who are able to influence others and who possess managerial authority.
Trait theories of leadership are the theories that isolate characteristics that differentiate leaders from non-leaders. The six traits on which leaders are seen to differ from nonleaders are 1) drive, 2) the desire to lead, 3) honesty and integrity, 4) self-confidence, 5) intelligence, and 6) job-relevant knowledge.
The inability to explain leadership solely by traits led researchers to look at the behavior of specific leaders. Behavioral theories of leadership approach include theories that isolate behaviors that differentiate effective leaders from ineffective leaders.
One of the first studies of leadership behavior explored three leadership behaviors or styles: autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. An autocratic style is that of a leader, who typically tends to centralize authority, dictate work methods, make unilateral decisions, and limit employee participation. A leader with a democratic style tends to involve employees in decision-making, delegates authority, encourages participation in deciding work methods and goals, and uses feedback as an opportunity to coach employees. The laissez-faire leader general gives his or her employees complete freedom to make decisions and to complete their work in whatever way they see fit.

Research that began at Ohio State University in the late 1940s sought to identify independent dimensions of leader behavior. Two categories that accounted for most of the leadership behavior described by employees are called initiating structure and consideration. Initiating structure refers to the extent to which a leader is likely to define and structure his or her role and those of employees in the search for goal attainment. It includes behavior that attempts to organize work, work relationships, and goals.
Consideration is defined as the extent to which a leader has job relationships characterized by mutual trust and respect for employees’ ideas and feelings. A leader who is high in consideration helps employees with personal problems, is friendly and approachable, and treats all employees as equals.
Extensive research based on these definitions found that a leader who is high in initiating structure and consideration (a high-high leader) achieved high employee performance and satisfaction more frequently than one who rated low on either consideration, initiating structure or both. The Ohio State studies suggested that the high-high style generally produced positive outcomes, but enough exceptions were found to indicate that situational factors needed to be integrated into the theory.
Leadership studies undertaken at the University of Michigan’s Survey Research Center, at about the same time as those being done at Ohio State, had similar research objectives: to locate the behavioral characteristics of leaders that were related to performance effectiveness. The Michigan group also came up with two dimensions of leadership behavior, which they labeled employee oriented and production oriented.
Employee oriented emphasized interpersonal relations; they took a personal interest in the needs of their employees and accepted individual differences among members.
Production-oriented leaders tended to emphasize the technical or task aspects of the job, were concerned mainly with accomplishing their groups’ tasks, and regarded group members as a means to that end. The conclusions of the Michigan researchers strongly favored leaders who were employee oriented.
The managerial grid is a two-dimensional view of leadership style developed by Robert
Blake and Jane Mouton. It is based on the managerial styles of “concern for people” and
“concern for production.” The grid does not answer the question of what makes an effective leader, but provides a framework for conceptualizing leadership style.
Section Outline
I.
Managers versus Leaders
II.
Trait Theories of Leadership
III.
Behavioral Theories of Leadership
A.
Are there identifiable leadership behaviors?
B.
Why were the Ohio State studies important?
C.
What were the leadership dimensions of the University of Michigan studies?
D.
What is the managerial grid?
E.
What did the behavioral theories teach us about leadership?