The Ohio leadership studies were conducted at Ohio State University in the year 1945. Before the Ohio leadership studies, leadership was mostly understood as a trait. However, the Ohio study aimed to classify leaders based on their behavior. Hence, this is a behavioral perspective to leadership.
The primary task of a leader is to provide direction to the team in order to reach goals. According to the Ohio studies, leaders exhibit two types of behaviors to accomplish the goals: consideration and initiating structure.
Background of the Ohio Leadership Studies
The Ohio studies were conducted soon after the second world war. The authors developed an extensive questionnaire to analyze the dimensions of leadership, called the Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ). The initial draft of the LBDQ had 1790 items. The final version had 150 items. Expert opinion and statistical analysis led to item reduction.
This questionnaire was administered to many leaders and finally two types of leader behavior was formed.
Consideration
A leader who has a high score on consideration has a warm and open personality. They are dedicated to serving their employees, unlike a typical “boss”. Therefore, the well-being of employees is their first priority. If you notice carefully, such leaders are very similar to servant leaders. This is because they put the welfare of the employees first.
Undoubtedly, such leaders are like paternal figures. The employees look up to them for advice and guidance in all matters because the leaders are very friendly. They not only understand the problems of their subordinates but also empathize with them.
Initiating Structure
A leader who scores high on initiating structure is likely to be very methodical and strict with respect to work. This is because they give first priority to job tasks. Unlike considerate leaders, they are not very open to the problems their subordinates are facing. Rather work is their first goal. They also expect followers to obey them.
Such kind of leaders are usually rated below considerate leaders because they often lack the human touch. They may appear to be workaholic and emotionally cold.
It is not necessary that a leader who scores high on consideration must score low on initiating structure. The two can co-exist in a leader at the same time.
Which leadership style is more effective?
Leadership is a complex process. A leader needs to be versatile and change his or her leadership style depending upon the needs of the hour. For instance, when the company has a very high demand, an initiating structure leader is desirable. For instance, imagine the leader of the unit manufacturing masks at 3M. He or she does not have time to personally coax the workers during the surge in demand due to Covid-19. Rather such leaders need to be methodical and strict in order to fulfill the demand for masks.
On the other hand, when an employee is going through an emotional crisis, like poor health or loss of a loved one, leaders need to be considerate.
Conclusion
Which leadership behavior to you think is most common and which is better? Please let us know by commenting below.
I think Initiating structure leadership is the best for the organization because it helps to maintain the standard in the organization, which follow the rules and regulation strictly.