Ohio State Studies

Ohio State Studies on Leadership Styles:

As leadership studies that were aimed at identifying the appropriate traits didn't yield any conclusive results,, Stogdill (1957) at the Bureau of Business Research at Ohio State University initiated ‘a series of researches on leadership in 1945. He, along with his colleagues, studied leader behavior in numerous types of groups and situations by using a “Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ)”.

Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ):

The Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) was developed by the staff of the Personnel Research Board, The Ohio State University, as one project of the Ohio State Leadership Studies, directed by Dr. Carroll L. Shartle. LBDQ constituted of a list of 150 statements from their generated responses that included 1,800 statements. The resulting questionnaire is now well-known as the “LBDQ” or the “Leaders Behavior Description Questionnaire”. The LBDQ is published by the Bureau of Business Research, College of Commerce and Administration, The Ohio State University; Columbus, OH. The version presented below was copyrighted in 1957 and may still be ordered if you wish to use it.

The LBDQ’s list of questions was designed to measure nine different behavioral leadership dimensions. The LBDQ provides a technique whereby group members may describe the behavior of the leader, or leaders, in any type of group or organization, provided the followers have had an opportunity to observe the leader in action as a leader of their group. LBDQ questions given below are only for research and knowledge purposes.

How the Study was conducted?

The studies were conducted on Air Force Commanders and members of bomber crews, officers, non-commissioned personnel, civilian administrators in the Navy Department, manufacturing supervisors, executives, teachers, principals and school superintendents and leaders of various civilian groups. As part of the study, the LBDQ was administered to these various groups of individuals which ranged from college students and their administrators, private companies including military personnel. One of the primary purposes of the study was to identify common leadership behaviors. The LBDQ was administered in a wide variety of situations.

They did not have any satisfactory definition of leadership. They also did not think leadership is synonymous with `good' leadership. After compiling and analyzing the results, the study led to the conclusion that there were two groups of behaviors that were strongly correlated. The Ohio State studies examined leaders’ task versus people orientation. Two dimensions of; leadership continually emerging from the study were `consideration' and the other was ‘initiating structure’. These were defined as Consideration (People Oriented behavioral Leaders) and Initiating Structure (Task Oriented Leaders). 

Consideration – People Oriented: 

Consideration reflects the extent to which individuals are likely to have job, relationship characterized by mutual respect for subordinates, ideas and consideration of subordinates, feelings. You may like to describe it as the behavior of the leader indicating friendship, mutual trust, respect and warmth in the relationship between the leader and his group members. The people oriented leaders are focusing their behaviors on ensuring that the inner needs of the people are satisfied. Thus they will seek to motivate their staff through emphasizing the human relation. People oriented leaders still focus on the task and the results; they just achieve them through different means. 

Examples of observed behavior of the leader under consideration are as follows: 

Consideration:

• The leaders find time to listen to group members
• The leader is willing to make change
• The leader is friendly and approachable
• The leader is Encouraging
• The leader is observing
• The leader is listening
• The leader provides coaching and mentoring 

Initiating Structure – Task Oriented: 

Initiating structure reflects the extent to which individuals are likely to define and structure their roles and those of their subordinates towards goal attainment. In other words, it is the behavior of the leader which deals with the relationship between him and the work-group and tries to establish well-defined patterns of organization, channels of communication and method of procedure. The task concerned leaders are focusing their behaviors on the organizational structure, the operating procedures (S.O.P.) and they like to keep control. Task-oriented leaders are still concerned with their staff motivation; however it's not their main concern. 

Examples of observed behavior of the leader under initiating structure are as follows: 

Initiating Structure:

• The leader assigns group members to particular tasks
• The leader asks the group members to follow standard rules and regulations
• The leader lets group members know what is expected of them
• The leader initiates
• The leader organizes
• The leader clarifies
• The leader works towards information Gathering 

Prescribed Activity:

In the above example of items check how frequently as a leader you engage yourself by marking A(Always), O(Occasionally) or N(Never), against each one of the items in the list of statements given above. This may help you to know your own style of leadership. One can do this exercise by observing and judging the behavior of the leader in a work situation.

Conclusions from the Study: 

Conceptually, the Ohio State studies helped to shift the focus of the field from a universal trait approach to a more situational, behavioral-based view. The Ohio State studies contributed a model of programmatic construct, validation and investigation, and provided future researchers with useful research instruments. These studies, attempted to find what behaviors substantially accounted for most of the leadership behavior described by employees.  Beginning with over a thousand dimensions, researchers narrowed the list to two explained above. Both factors were found to be associated with effective leadership.  Followers of leaders who are high in consideration were more satisfied with their jobs; more motivated, and had more respect for their leader.  Leaders who were high in initiating structure typically had higher levels of group and organization productivity along with more positive performance evaluations. The findings of the LBDQ indicate that a successful leader will possess a strong ability to be considerate of others, as well as an ability to initiate structure. In the workplace this might be a manager who is very personable and understanding, but is also able to set expectations and guidelines that require workers to be motivated, efficient, and able to produce high-quality work.