Describe how early researchers viewed leaders who were task-oriented or most concerned with getting the job done. What terms did they use to describe task-oriented leaders? What impact does task-oriented leadership have on followers’ job satisfaction?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Many early management scholars and behavioral theorists took a rather negative view of
task-oriented leaders who focused on getting the job done instead of focusing on supporting
employee needs. However, other scholars described task leaders more in terms of their ability to
organize the work and get the job done; these scholars recognized that task leadership plays an
important role in the success of the work group and organization. It is possible that task
leadership may even improve job satisfaction because people do not like working in
disorganized, inefficient, and confusing workplaces without clear instructions or procedures.
One of the early scholars who described task leaders in a rather negative light was Douglas
McGregor. He argued that managers subscribe to either a positive set of beliefs about workers,
which he called Theory Y, or to a negative set of beliefs, which he called Theory X. Managers
who believe Theory X assume that workers are basically lazy, irresponsible, and incapable of
taking initiative or making decisions; thus, workers need to be closely monitored and even
coerced to get them to perform their jobs. In contrast, managers who believe Theory Y think that
workers will be intrinsically motivated if given the chance to take pride in their work and
achievements. McGregor (1960) strongly argued that Theory Y was the correct approach to take
in his influential book about managerial philosophy, The Human Side of Enterprise. However,
McGregor did not test his philosophy empirically, and there have been relatively few studies that
have tested his theory using scales that directly measure Theory X and Theory Y orientations.
Although his theories are among the most widely known management theories, the popularity of
his theory is due mostly to its intuitive appeal. However, there is some good evidence that
leaders who hold more positive views about subordinates get better results than those who hold
negative attitudes toward workers. Hall and Donnell (1979) summarized the results of five
studies with over 12,000 managers and found that managers who held negative, Theory X type
attitudes were more likely to be lower-achieving managers. More recently, Kopelman and his
colleagues have developed some new scales to directly measure Theory Y and Theory X beliefs
and behaviors, and these scales may spur some new research into this older topic (Kopelman,
Prottas, & Davis, 2008; Kopelman, Prottas, & Falk, 2010).