Task-oriented Leadership Behaviors Research Articles

Does team stability mediate the relationship between leadership and team learning? An empirical study among Dutch project teams

An exploratory field study was conducted among 30 project teams in the sectors of building and utilities, engineering and construction, infrastructure, and area decontamination and development in the Netherlands. It examined the influence of leadership on team learning behaviors and included team stability as a potential mediator, all analyzed at the team level using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that both person-oriented and task-oriented leadership behaviors were directly and positively related to team learning. Team stability did not mediate the relationship between leadership and team learning; however, a strong direct relationship between team stability and team learning was found. These findings have implications for interventions by all stakeholders of project teams (i.e., team members, project managers, and supervisors) aimed at increasing team learning. Suggestions are presented for leadership practices that stimulate project team learning behaviors.

Perceptions of Women and Men Leaders Following 360-Degree Feedback Evaluations

In this study, researchers used a customized 360-degree method to examine the frequency with which 1,546 men and 721 women leaders perceived themselves and were perceived by colleagues as using 10 relational and 10 task-oriented leadership behaviors, as addressed in the Management-Leadership Practices Inventory (MLPI). As hypothesized, men and women leaders, as well as their supervisors, employees, and peers, perceived women leaders to employ nine of the 10 relational leadership behaviors significantly more frequently than men leaders. Additionally, the employees' perceptions of their women leaders' use of task-oriented behaviors were significantly higher when compared to similar assessments from the employees of men leaders. However, the leaders as well as their supervisors and peers perceived men and women leaders' use of task-oriented behaviors as approximately equal. Broader implications of these findings are discussed.

Sex Differences in the Relationship Between Self-Monitoring and Leader Behavior

A laboratory study and afield survey found that Snyder's Self-Monitoring Test was significantly correlated with task-oriented leadership behavior (including Fiedler's Least Preferred Coworker Scale) only for female group leaders. There were no significant correlations between self-monitoring and social-emotional behavior of either male or female group leaders in either study. It was suggested that self- monitoring ability should enhance the enactment of nontraditional roles as in the case of women in leadership roles. Implications for self-monitoring and leadership training in groups are discussed.

Leadership styles of hospital pharmacy directors

The leadership styles of hospital pharmacy directors and the association between leadership style, participative management, and innovative pharmaceutical services were studied using a mail questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to 570 randomly selected hospital pharmacy directors. Included were a validated instrument that measures task-oriented versus relationship-oriented leadership behavior and other questions about participation of staff members, innovative services, and respondents' personal characteristics. The response rate was 69%. The majority of respondents perceived their leadership as highly relationship-oriented as well as highly task-oriented. Respondents with the "high relationship-high task" leadership style had the highest scores for subordinate participation. There were no significant differences in scores for innovative services by leadership style. A positive correlation between scores for subordinate participation and scores for innovative services was demonstrated. Most hospital pharmacy directors used a management style in which relationships and staff participation were important.