Leadership behavior of deans as a determinant of faculty job satisfaction and job commitment

Background: Faculty job satisfaction and commitment contribute to the success of academic programs of a college. The main purpose of the study was to determine the relationship of leadership behavior of the deans of nursing colleges to the job satisfaction and job commitment of the faculty members.Methods: The study used a descriptive correlational design. Twenty deans and 100 faculty members from 20 nursing colleges in the National Capital Region, Philippines participated. Survey instruments used were the (1) modified Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire, (2) modified Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, and (3) Job Commitment Questionnaire. Leadership behavior was measured based on the “initiating structure” and “consideration” dimensions.Results: Deans of nursing schools viewed their leadership behavior as “highly initiating” (M = 44.0, SD = 5.61) and “very highly considerate” (M = 50.1, SD = 4.99). Assessment of faculty members revealed congruent findings for the leadership dimensions of initiating structure (M = 46.6, SD = 3.83) and consideration (M = 49.9, SD = 2.66). Faculty members were generally “satisfied” (M = 4.20, SD = .25) and “committed” (M = 4.00, SD = .23) to their teaching job. Among the recently established colleges, the “initiating structure” dimension was highly positively correlated with job commitment of faculty members, r = .82, p < .05. There were no statistically significant relationships between the school classification, and the job satisfaction and job commitment of nursing faculty members.Conclusions: Measures must be instituted to improve the “initiating structure” behavior of deans of recently established nursing schools to increase job commitment of faculty members. Other factors associated with job satisfaction and job commitment should be explored.

Embracing the duality of consideration and initiating structure: CEO leadership behaviors and small firm performance

PurposeThis paper examines the relationship between chief executive officers' (CEOs') leadership behaviors (consideration and initiating structure) and firm and individual performance (i.e. profitability, affective commitment and employees' willingness to change) in small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) that need to adapt to changing environments.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data was collected from SMEs (28 firms, 235 employees) in the accounting industry along with objective performance register data (profit and return on assets). The predicted model was tested with multilevel structural equations modeling (MSEM) using a maximum likelihood estimator.FindingsThe CEO leadership behavior of initiating structure was positively related to firms' profitability, while the CEO leadership behavior of consideration was positively related to employees' willingness to change and affective commitment.Practical implicationsSmall accounting firms typically offer standard services that are now being replaced by digital solutions. These firms have an incentive to offer new services, such as business advisory services. Therefore, leaders should embrace the duality of consideration and initiating structure to gain employees' willingness to change and optimize overall firm performance.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to leadership literature by examining a novel context (CEO consideration and initiation of structure in SMEs in uncertain environments) using a combination of firm performance measures (e.g. objective outcomes at the firm level and employees' willingness to change as a new measure at the individual level). In addition, it reports a comprehensive test of the full model using MSEM, the findings of which demonstrate the importance of dual leadership behaviors for CEOs.

Leadership influences? It depends on followers! The relationship between the Ohio State leader behaviors, employee self-regulatory focus, and task performance

Purpose While the Ohio State leadership approach had been forgotten for several decades, scholars in the field of leadership have begun revisiting the validity and the role of leader consideration and initiating structure. Building on self-expansion theory, this study suggest the effects of leader consideration and initiating structure on employee task performance. Also, integrating self-expansion theory and regulatory fit theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose and examine the moderating role of employee regulatory focus on the relationship between the Ohio State leadership behaviors and employee task performance, which was mediated by emloyees’ creative behavior as well as citizenship behavior. Design/methodology/approach To test the hypothesized model of this study, cross-sectional data were collected using questionnaires. Pairs of survey packages, which included group-member surveys and a group-leader survey, were handed out to employees in organizations. The authors collected data from 47 groups and 143 group members in 25 private companies in the Republic of Korea, including from financial, technology, manufacturing, and research and development organizations. Findings The results showed that leader consideration exerts significant effects on employee task performance. Also, the authors found the moderating role of employee regulatory promotion focus on the relationship between leader consideration/initiating structure and employee task performance, which were mediated by creative behavior and citizenship behavior. Originality/value This study contributes to the advancement of the Ohio State leadership approach by integrating self-expansion theory and regulatory fit theory to investigate the distinct mechanisms and boundary conditions of its leadership process. The current study also contributes to the literature on extra-role behavior that the Ohio State leadership behavioral dimensions can be considered as one of the antecedents of employees’ creative and citizenship behavior.

Motivasi Berprestasi Guru Berdasarkan Gaya Kepemimpinan Kepala Sekolah SMP Negeri di Kecamatan Martapura Kota Kabupaten Banjar

Setiap guru memiliki tingkat motivasi berprestasi yang berbeda-beda, hal ini disebabkan oleh adanya perbedaan gaya kepemimpinan kepala sekolah. Gaya kepemimpinan kepala sekolah yang baik harus dapat meningkatkan motivasi guru sebagai bawahannya. Untuk itu tujuan dlam penelitian ini mencakup motivasi berprestasi guru berdasarkan gaya kepemimpinan kepala sekolahSMP Negeri di Kecamatan Martapura Kota Kabupaten Banjar.Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan secara kuantitatif dengan metode deskriptif. Sampel penelitian ditentukan secara proporsional random sampling, dan diperoleh sampel sebanyak 135 orang. Teknik pengumpulan data menggunakan angket sebanyak 2 buah, yaitu angket motivasi berprestasi guru, dan gaya kepemimpinan kepala sekolah. Kuesioner diuji validitasnya menggunakan korelasi Product Moment Pearson dan reliabilitasnya menggunakan Alpha Cronbach. Perbedaan motivasi berprestasi guru berdasarkan gaya kepemimpinan kepala. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan: (1) motivasi berprestasi guru berada pada klasifikasi tinggi yaitu sebanyak 35,56%, sedang sebanyak 29,63%, dan rendah sebanyak 34,81%, (2) gaya kepemimpinan kepala sekolah K4 (initiating structure rendah dan consideration rendah) sebanyak 42,96%, K2 (initiating structure tinggi dan consideration tinggi) sebanyak 31,85%, K1 (initiating structure tinggi dan consideration rendah) sebanyak 17,04%, serta K3 (initiating structure rendah dan consideration tinggi) sebanyak 8,15%, (3) terdapat perbedaan motivasi berprestasi guru berdasarkan gaya kepemimpinan kepala sekolah, dan (6) terdapat perbedaan motivasi berprestasi guru berdasarkan gaya kepemimpinan kepala sekolah SMP Negeri di Kabupaten Banjar.Saran yang dapat disampaikan diantaranya kepada kepala sekolah agar berusaha memilih dan menerapkan gaya kepemimpinan yang sesuai dengan karakteristik guru, dan untuk guru SMP Negeri di Kabupaten Banjar agar selalu berusaha meningkatkan motivasi berprestasinya, salah satunya adalah dengan cara meningkatkan kemampuannya berkomunikasi secara interpersonal

Considerate Leadership

Considerate leadership is a particular characterization of leader behavior that emphasizes commitment to developing personal relationships with followers, care and concern for others, willingness to attend to the unique preferences and work styles of subordinates, and facilitating cooperation among members of a work group. The concept was central in the Ohio State Studies of the 1960s and led to studies published by Edward Fleishman, who specified two distinct clusters of effective leader behavior: “Initiating Structure”, or the extent to which a leader defines leader and group member roles, initiates actions, organizes group activities and defines how tasks are to be accomplished by the group; and “Consideration,” the extent to which a leader exhibits concern for the welfare of the members of the group. Around the same time as the Ohio State studies, research conducted at the University of Michigan revealed a similar pattern of effective behavior, distinguishing leader behaviors that were task-oriented (i.e., initiating structure) from those that were people-oriented (i.e., consideration). According to this model, leaders who were people-oriented were more considerate, helpful, and supportive of subordinates. Similarly, Blake and Mouton proposed a Managerial Grid in 1964, which identified five important behaviors for effective managers. These behaviors were clustered into a concern for production, which concerns the degree to which a manager emphasizes specific and concrete objectives; organizational efficiency and productivity when making decisions; and a concern for people, or the degree to which a employee needs and preferences are taking into account. These three sets of seminal studies represented a meaningful evolution in leadership research, which, up to that point, had focused primarily on identifying the specific and unique traits characteristic of great leaders. Since then, several models of leader behavior have included reference to a leader’s care and concern for others, appreciation of individual differences, and interest in the general welfare of the team. For example, transformational leadership theory, as introduced by Bass in 1985, highlights four dimensions of especially effective leader behavior, including individualized consideration, or the degree to which leaders attend to followers’ needs, act as mentors or coaches, and listen to followers’ concerns. Similarly, recent models of servant leadership theory, as discussed in Reed, et al. 2011 (cited under Servant Leadership), include an “interpersonal support” (caring) dimension, where leaders “perceive their decisions in the context of utilitarianism and benevolence, stressing an overarching concern for the well-being of others, including society at large” (p. 418). Lastly, Rafferty and Griffin 2006 (cited under Supportive Leadership) isolates supportive leadership as distinct from developmental leadership. In doing so, the authors define supportive leadership as behaviors that are attentive the interest of subordinates and considerate of their personal feelings and concerns. As recently as 2013, van Knippenberg and Sitkin made a critical assessment of the charismatic-transformational leadership paradigm. In doing so, they offered four criticisms of how these leadership models have been developed and tested. Especially relevant in their review is a summary of how essential leader behaviors, such as leader consideration, are described, operationalized, measured, and tested in various modern models of effective leadership.

Followers’ preference for consideration and initiating structure leadership styles: Evidence from the laboratory

Decades of leadership research have shown that the two classical leadership styles of consideration and initiating structure robustly predict positive work outcomes, such as satisfaction or performance. In contrast, relatively little is known about whether these leadership styles also predict the emergence of leadership, and which factors might moderate followers’ preference for a particular leadership style. Across three lab experiments (N = 567) where participants were confronted with written or videotaped descriptions of potential group leaders, we examined followers’ leadership preference and whether followers’ personality and motives, or followers’ or leaders’ gender determine such a preference. Results showed that, although consideration leaders are liked more and initiating structure leaders are seen as more qualified, the two leadership styles are overall equally preferred. Followers’ openness is related to a preference for consideration, whereas the achievement motive is related to a preference for initiating structure. Results showed no evidence for general gender-effects in leadership preferences that are predicted in the literature.

Sports Manager Training and Leadership Behaviors

The aim of this study is to examine the leadership behaviors levels of university students studying in the Sports Management Department. The sample of the research consists of 148 students (male n=112, female n=36) aged between 18 and 28 years. In this study, the Personal Information Form was created in order to learn the characteristics of the participants such as gender, age groups, the status of doing sports as an athlete and the status of volunteering in sports events. The Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ), which was translated into the Turkish Language by Atar and &Ouml;zbek (2009), was used as a data collection tool. The mean score of the students was 4.142 in the dimension of initiating structure and was 3.760 in the dimension of consideration. According to the results of the analysis, the initiating structure dimension scores differed according to variables of gender, the status of doing sports as an athlete and the status of volunteering in sports events. The consideration dimension scores differed age groups and the status of volunteering in sports events. In addition, it was found that there was a linear and significant relationship between scores of initiating structure and consideration.