Initiating Structure Behaviors Research Articles

Organizational Culture and Resulting Leadership Behaviors: Empirical Evidence from Social Workers in Kuwait

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the influence of Bureaucratic, Supportive, and Innovative organizational structures on Consideration and Initiating Structure leadership behaviors. The study comprised survey of 261 purposively sampled social workers employed in Kuwaiti governmental social organizations. The Organizational Culture Index (OCI) and the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) were used for data collection, and Structural Equation Modeling was used to examine these relationships. The results of this study demonstrate that Bureaucratic cultures significantly affect both the Consideration and Initiating Structure behaviors. Moreover, Supportive organizational culture predicts Consideration, whereas little evidence is found to support if Innovative Culture has any impact on Consideration or Initiating Structure.

Subordinate Organizational Citizenship Behaviors Trajectories and Well-Being: The Mediating Roles of Perceived Supervisor Consideration and Initiating Structure

ABSTRACT Although there are numerous benefits associated with organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), recent research has shown that they can have both benefits and costs for the well-being of employees engaging in these behaviors. Thus, it is crucial to understand how and why OCBs can have positive and negative impacts on well-being in order to mitigate unintended consequences associated with these otherwise positive behaviors. Drawing on social exchange and conservation of resources theories, we argue that change in OCBs that subordinates direct toward their supervisors correspond with changes in supervisor consideration and initiating structure behaviors, as rated by subordinates. In turn, subordinate perceptions of supervisor behaviors have important implications for subordinate well-being (i.e. job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion). Using a longitudinal design and a sample of 205 students, we found that supervisor consideration and initiating structure in response to receiving OCBs from subordinates explains the benefits and costs that arise from engaging in OCBs over time.

The Impact of Change in Clinical Leader Behavior on Safety Climate during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Aiming to advance the knowledge of clinical leadership during crisis, this longitudinal study investigated the impact of change in leadership behavior among clinical leads on safety climate perceived by clinical workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data was collected from clinical leads and their direct reports in public hospitals at different time points over a period of one year. Using random coefficient modelling to analyze the data over time, the change in leadership behavior was detected among clinical leads. The results suggest that clinical leads tended to adopt consideration in their leadership behavior to enhance safety climate among their clinical workers in normal times. However, after the pandemic emerged, clinical leads increasingly adopted initiating structure in their leadership behaviors to ensure safety practice over the time of crisis. The findings provided empirical evidence to support the idea that being an effective leader rests on balancing between consideration and initiating structure behaviors. Based on the study results, practical implications were suggested on how to move leadership practices in healthcare toward the new normal.

Advancing the Transformational–Transactional Model of Effective Leadership: Integrating two Classic Leadership Models with a Video‐Based Method

The presented empirical study demonstrates that the predictive validity of Bass' “transformational‐transactional” model of leadership can be enhanced by incorporating certain aspects of the older Ohio State “initiating structure‐consideration” model of leadership. A precise, fine‐grained video‐based method shows that “initiating structure” behaviors (e.g., directing, informing, structuring) explained the variance in leader and team effectiveness better than “transactional behavior.” Thus, a refined version of Bass' augmentation thesis is supported: initiating structure behaviors (and not transactional behaviors, as originally posed) plus transformational leader behaviors are associated with high leader effectiveness. Another moderation effect of transformational leadership is established: between management‐by‐exception active and team effectiveness. The resulting expanded version of the transformational–transactional model calls for further video‐based research of effective (team) leadership behaviors.

What to do and what works? Exploring how work groups cope with understaffing.

Complaints regarding understaffing are common in the workplace, and research has begun to document some of the potential ill effects that can result from understaffing conditions. Despite evidence that understaffing is a relatively prevalent and consequential stressor, research has yet to explore how work groups cope with this stressor and the efficacy of their coping strategies in mitigating poor group performance and burnout. The present study examines these questions by exploring both potential mediating and moderating coping effects using a sample of 96 work groups from four technology organizations. Results indicate that work groups react differently to manpower and expertise understaffing conditions, with leaders engaging in more initiating structure behaviors when faced with manpower understaffing and engaging in more consideration behaviors when faced with expertise understaffing. Further, leaders' use of consideration in the face of expertise understaffing was negatively associated with group burnout. We also uncovered evidence that leadership behaviors and work group actions (i.e., team-member exchange) moderate relationships between manpower understaffing and outcomes, though differently for group performance and burnout. Overall, this study helps to reframe work groups as active in their efforts to cope with understaffing and highlights that some coping strategies are more effective than others. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Extending the metatheoretical framework of social/political influence to leadership: Political skill effects on situational appraisals, responses, and evaluations by others

AbstractBuilding off and extending the metatheoretical framework of political skill, we examined the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms through which the intrapsychic effects of political skill inform its interpersonal effects, and how these interpersonal effects ultimately are transmitted into desirable outcomes. Specifically, we argue that politically skilled leaders demonstrate better situational appraisals (i.e., understanding), and thus, more appropriate situational responses (e.g., consideration and initiating structure behaviors); the demonstration of appropriate situational responses is argued to positively affect subordinates’ evaluations of their leaders (i.e., instrumentality) and subordinates’ concomitant attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction) and behaviors (e.g., performance). Results provided mixed support for the hypothesized relationships. Specifically, leader understanding mediated the relationship between political skill and consideration but not the relationship between political skill and structuring behaviors. Moreover, consideration was positively related to subordinates’ group‐level instrumentality perceptions, whereas initiating structure was not. Finally, subordinates’ individual (within‐level) perceptions of leader instrumentality were positively related to job satisfaction and performance. The implications of these findings as they relate to theory and practice are discussed along with this investigation's strengths, limitations, and directions for future research.

The Relationship Between Administrative Leadership Behaviors and Teacher Retention in Christian Schools

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this correlational study was to determine if there is a relationship between the principal’s consideration or initiating structure leadership behaviors and teacher retention in the American Association of Christian Schools (AACS). A random sample of 100 teachers from the American Association of Christian Schools participated in the study. Pearson correlations were conducted to determine if there were any statistically significant relationships between the principals’ behaviors and teacher retention. The results of analysis yielded a non-significant correlation of leader’s consideration behaviors and teacher retention and a significant negative correlation of a leader’s initiating structure behaviors and teacher retention.

Event System Theory of Instrumental Leadership: The Case of General Nathanael Greene

Significant scholarly research suggests that leaders are a key component in ensuring organizational success through their strategic decision making and social influence (Kaiser et al., 2008). Indeed, because leaders are such an integral piece of the organization, scores of academic studies are devoted to increasing our understanding of leadership theory (Avolio et al., 2009). However, scholars argue that not all leadership theory is created equal; the most important leadership theories explore the influence leaders have on the underlying processes that lead to organizational success (Dinh et al., 2014). Effective leadership entails both interpersonal interaction and strategic objectives and task accomplishment (Fleishman et al., 1992). Transformational and transactional perspectives of the theory put forth by Bass (1985) primarily explain interpersonal or consideration behaviors but explain little of the strategic and task focus of initiating structure behaviors (Judge et al., 2004). Accordingly, Antonakis and House (2014) suggest that critical components of leadership missing from the theory include identifying organizational strategies and goals, providing task direction and resources, monitoring and adapting to the external environment, and evaluating individual performance and offering quality feedback. As such, these scholars suggest an extended, full-range theory in which instrumental leadership complements transformational and transactional leadership forms by accounting for important strategic leader activities that require leader expert task-related knowledge (Antonakis & House, 2002).The instrumental leadership perspective highlights the importance of leaders accounting for the environment in their strategic decisions (Antonakis & House, 2014). Instrumental leaders monitor their internal and external environments and examine the impact of environmental occurrences on leadership and organizations at the event-level (Hoffmann & Lord, 2013). This research stream is grounded in event system theory. The event systems theory (Morgeson et al., 2015) suggests that individual leaders are shaped as their knowledge and expertise are affected by the events which occur over time. Thus, instrumental leaders closely scan and react to environmental events and, as a result, acquire expertise about these very events. We seek to approach such event-level theorizing by examining the instrumental leadership of Major General Nathanael Green through the events of diverse features that occurred during his time in the American Revolutionary War.Nathanael Greene rose through the ranks of the resource-strapped Continental Army and became one of the most reputable of George Washington's generals by experiencing both successes and failures while being exposed to a flux of specific defining events to which he instrumentally responded in his military career. Grounding our examination of his instrumental leadership in event system theory (Morgeson et al., 2015), we analyze these defining events through the lens of an event taxonomy and extreme event typology. Guided by this lens, we perform an analytically structured archival search to identify the most salient events of diverse features and assess how General Greene exhibited instrumental leadership effectiveness across these events.We begin by providing the historical background and events of Greene's military life, which serve as the basis of our further event driven analysis. Next, we explain in greater depth the perspective of instrumental leadership and the event systems theory used to guide our archival analysis. Finally, we present our archival analysis and conclude with the implications of our research.The military life of Nathanael GreeneNathanael Greene rose through the ranks of the Continental Army with seemingly great speed. Greene's involvement and ascent in the affairs of the blossoming country began with his service in 1770 with the Rhode Island legislature (Siry, 2006). …

Leader Advancement Motive, Political Skill, Leader Behavior, and Effectiveness: A Moderated Mediation Extension of Socioanalytic Theory

We examine socioanalytic theory from a leadership perspective and extend this research to examine the mediating mechanisms through which leader getting ahead motive and social competence influence leader effectiveness outcomes. A first-stage moderated mediation model was tested and supported, positioning the Leader Motive to Get Ahead × Political Skill interaction as influencing perceived institutional effectiveness and follower satisfaction with one’s leader through leader initiating structure behavior. This research both supports the relevance of socioanalytic theory for predicting leadership outcomes and extends socioanalytic theory to examine a mediating mechanism through which the interaction of the leader getting ahead motive and social competencies affects relevant performance outcomes. Contributions, strengths and limitations, directions for future research, and practical implications are discussed.

Perceived leadership style of Jordanian academic deans in higher education institutions: Qualitative study

Abstract This qualitative study focuses on the perceptions of two academic deans and their leadership styles. The leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire is used as a frame for analyzing data. Using qualitative methods, observation and interview data were collected. Two themes emerged, Initiating Structure, and Consideration. The Initiating Structure behavior of leaders was all are open to different strategies in problem solving and annual review to make sure faculty/staff members work to capacity. When it came to Consideration, the dominant behavior patterns among deans was having an open door policy with their faculty, willing to make changes, and having high morale within the college.

Leader and Staff Role-Efficacy as Antecedents of Collective-Efficacy and Team Performance

A model of the relationships between leader role-efficacy for initiating structure behavior, staff role-efficacy for team playing behavior, actual behavior, collective-efficacy, and team performance was tested. Participants (N = 268) were randomly assigned to newly formed teams (n = 59) that worked on a novel task under time constraints. The results showed that leader and staff behavior mediated the relationship between role-specific efficacy and collective-efficacy. In addition, high leader and staff role behavior, in combination, led to the highest collective-efficacy. Low staff role behavior neutralized the effect of high leader role behavior on collective-efficacy, and vice versa. The results also indicated that collective-efficacy mediated the leader role behavior-staff role behavior and team performance relationship.

Discrepancies in Self/Subordinates’ Perceptions of Leadership Behavior

The focus of this study was on how a leader’s gender, the organizational context (in-role vs. out-of-role), and self-monitoring ability related to discrepancies between the leader’s self-perceptions and group members’ perceptions of the leader’s consideration and initiating structure behaviors. Forty-nine male and 49 female leaders from industrial and educational settings, as well as members of their work teams, participated in this survey research. Results indicated greater discrepancies for women leaders in industrial settings (e. g., banking, accounting, and manufacturing) than for female leaders in education and male leaders in industry. In addition, discrepancies in perceptions of initiating structure were highest for high self-monitoring female leaders in industry. These results were explained from actor-observer difference, expectation states, and gender stereotype perspectives.

Personal and interpersonal predictors of supervisors' avoidance of evaluating subordinates.

Supervisors' decisions about whether to formally evaluate their subordinates for each of two consecutive performance appraisal periods were found to be related to a linear combination of the following variable: subordinate's time under current supervisor, subordinate's job experience, subordinate-supervisor trust, supervisor's initiating structure behaviors, and subordinate's confidence in the operation of the performance appraisal system. A follow-up analysis, in which the criterion was the consistency with which subordinates were rated in both performance appraisal periods, suggested that relations among the predictors, relative to the criterion, may be quite complex. This complexity may reflect the decision strategy used by raters to combine information on the focal predictors when deciding whether to evaluate a particular subordinate

Idiosyncratic Effects of Implicit Theories of Leadership

Utilizing the dimensions of Initiating Structure and Consideration developed by Halpin, the present investigation examined the idiosyncratic effects of implicit theories of leadership. The importance of Consideration and Initiating Structure behavior as components of implicit theories of leadership held by 153 college students was predicted to relate to their evaluations of a leader's effectiveness and the responsibility attributed to a leader for a successful group outcome. A leader whose written description emphasized Consideration behavior was judged to be more effective and more responsible for an alleged group success in proportion to the importance respondents placed on Consideration behavior in their implicit theories of leadership. The leader who emphasized Consideration behavior was also judged less effective in proportion to the importance respondents placed on Initiating Structure behavior in their implicit leadership theories. Results also indicated that a leader who emphasized Initiating Structure behavior was attributed responsibility for an alleged group success in proportion to the extent to which the respondents considered Initiating Structure Behavior to be of major importance in their implicit theories of leadership.

Group Size, Leadership Behavior, and Subordinate Satisfaction

Abstract The results of a meta-analytic integration of previous research on the interrelations between group size, leadership behavior, and subordinate satisfaction are reported. The following patterns emerged from eight studies conducted in the United States: As the work group gets larger, the leader is more likely to engage in initiating structure behaviors but no more likely to engage in consideration behaviors, and subordinates are more likely to be dissatisfied; as the leader engages in more leadership behaviors (of either type), subordinates are more likely to be satisfied. These patterns were moderated to some extent by the average occupational income, the average age of the work group, the percent of the work group that was female, and the percent of the work group that was Black. Possible explanations for these results are discussed, and fruitful directions for future research are suggested.

Leader Behavior, Group Size, and Member Satisfaction in University Christian Growth Groups

The relationship of group size, leader consideration behavior, and leader initiating structure behavior with member satisfaction was assessed. Respondents included 57 members of 14 small Christian growth groups made up primarily of evangelical undergraduate university students. Members' responses indicated that leader consideration and initiating structure were independent dimensions rather than two extremes of one dimension. Leaders were reported to exhibit somewhat less initiating structure behavior than members thought was desirable. Correlations and regression analyses showed that the absolute value of the discrepancy between actual and ideal leader initiating structure was more highly related to satisfaction than was actual initiating structure alone. Leader consideration was proportionately related to member satisfaction while group size was inversely related to satisfaction. When leading groups or training leaders of groups similar to those studied, the best amount of leader initiating structure should be determined partly on the basis of member expectations, expectations which may change during the life of a group.

Structural Model of Leadership Influence in a Hospital Organization.

Path analysis was used to develop a structural model of the head nurse's leadership influence in a large metropolitan hospital. The study indicates that the head nurse's consideration behavior had an inverse effect on her staff member's job related tension but also had an inverse effect on the employee's job performance. Her initiating structure behavior had a positive effect on employee terminations particularly in the structured task situations. The role of structural models in leadership research is discussed.

Predicting Leadership Behavior in a Hospital Organization.

A regression analysis was used to estimate the importance of difference situational factors in predicting the leadership behavior of head nurses in a hospital organization. Turnover among staff members, the leadership behavior of supervisor nurses and administrative climate variables explained significant portions of variance in the measures of the head nurse's consideration and initiating structure behavior.

Correlates of Supervisory Style Among Policemen

Seventy-five police officers completed a questionnaire which included indices of their immediate superior's consideration and initiating structure behaviors. Initiating structure was found to significantly positively correlate with faith in people, experienced meaningfulness of work, experienced responsibility for work, general job satisfaction, job involvement, internal work motivation, and organizational commitment. Initiating structure was found to significantly negatively correlate with defensive posture. Consideration correlated significantly positively with only organizational commitment. Implications of the results for police administration and future research are discussed.

Sex effects in evaluating leaders.

This study investigated the extent to which sex role stereotypes influence the evaluation of leadership behavior. Male and female business students were administered one of two versions of a questionnaire containing four stories, each depicting a leadership style based on one of the following leadership dimensions: initiating structure, consideration, production emphasis, and tolerance for freedom. Managers' names were altered in the two versions to indicate males or females. Answers to eight evaluative questions for each of the leadership styles confirmed the hypothesis that sex has an effect on evaluations of managerial behavior, although the effect varied for different leadership styles. Female managers received more positive scores than male managers on the consideration style. Initiating structure behavior was valued more highly when engaged in by male managers. Manager sex had no significant influence on evaluations of the production emphasis and tolerance for freedom styles. Sex of subject effects also were noted on all but the consideration style. While the low representation of women in managerial ranks has been gaining increasing attention, few studies have focused on the managerial effectiveness of women. Almost all of what is known about managerial effectiveness is based on research using males as subjects. At the same time, evidence suggests that women are not perceived as having the potential to manage. This is particularly true among male managers who would be in a position to promote women to managerial positions. For example, in a Bowman, Worthy, and Greyser (1965) study that sought managerial opinions about women executives, 51% of the male respondents agreed that women are temperamentally unfit for management. Gilmer (1961) found that over 65% of the male managers in his study felt that women would be inferior to men in supervisory positions.