Consideration and initiating structure are two dimensions of

leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

behavior identified in 1945 as a result of the

Ohio State Leadership Studies Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. Reviews of research on these dimensions are described in Stogdill's ''Handbook of leadership: A survey of theory and research'' and Littrell's ''Explicit leader behaviour''. According to the findings of these studies, leaders exhibit two types of behaviors to facilitate

goal A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

accomplishment: * People-oriented (consideration) * Task oriented (initiating structure) The model is similar to the

Michigan Studies of Leadership The Michigan Leadership Studies were the well-known series of leadership studies commenced at the University of Michigan in the 1950s by Rensis Likert, with the objective of identifying the principles and types of leadership styles that led to gre ...

. In his ''Handbook'', Stogdill expanded the model to twelve dimensions.

Ohio State Leadership Studies

Prior to 1945 most studies of

leadership Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

sought to identify the individual

traits Trait may refer to: * Phenotypic trait in biology, which involve genes and characteristics of organisms * Genotypic trait, sometimes but not always presenting as a phenotypic trait * Personality, traits that predict an individual's behavior. ** ...

of effective leaders. Trait theories of leadership were the first to attempt a systematic approach of studying

. However, these studies yielded disappointing results when no set of traits were found that explained effective leadership. In 1945, a group of researchers at the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

sought to identify the observable behaviors of leaders instead of identifying

personality traits In psychology, trait theory (also called dispositional theory) is an approach to the study of human personality. Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of ''traits'', which can be defined as habitual patterns of behavior, thou ...

Leaders Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ)

To accomplish this they generated a list of 1790 statements. This was narrowed down to 150 statements designed to measure nine different dimensions of leader behavior. These statements were used to develop the Leaders Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ). After further research, the LBDQ-XII, was developed, assessing 12 factors/dimensions of leader behavior.

Consideration and initiating structure

Consideration

Consideration Consideration is a concept of English law, English common law and is a necessity for simple contracts but not for special contracts (contracts by deed). The concept has been adopted by other common law jurisdictions. It is commonly referred to a ...

is the extent to which a leader exhibits concern for the welfare of the members of the

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

. This factor is oriented towards

interpersonal relationships In social psychology, an interpersonal relation (or interpersonal relationship) describes a social association, connection, or affiliation between two or more people. It overlaps significantly with the concept of social relations, which ar ...

, mutual trust and

friendship Friendship is a Interpersonal relationship, relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. Althoug ...

. This

leadership style A leadership style is a leader's method of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. Various authors have proposed identifying many different leadership styles as exhibited by leaders in the political, business or other fiel ...

is people-oriented. Some of the statements used to measure this factor in the LBDQ are: * Being friendly * Treating all group members as his/her equal * Looking out for the personal

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

of group members * Making him/herself accessible to group members

Initiating structure

Initiating structure is the extent to which This leadership style is task-oriented. Some of the statements used to measure this factor in the LBDQ are: * Letting group members know what is expected of them (directive leadership) * Maintaining definite standards of performance * Scheduling the work to be done * Checking that group members follow standard rules and

regulations Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

References

* * * * * {{cite journal , last1=Tracy , first1=Lane , title=Consideration and initiating structure: Are they basic dimensions of leader behavior? , journal=Social Behavior and Personality, date=1987 , volume=15 , issue=1 , pages=21–33 , doi=10.2224/sbp.1987.15.1.21

External links

1957 Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire
Leadership