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).
A series of studies done at the University of Michigan also classified task leaders in a way that suggested they were not concerned with employee needs. The University of Michigan studies classified leaders on a single dimension that ranged from employee centered at one end to job centered at the other (Bowers & Seashore, 1966; Likert, 1961). In other words, leaders were either employee centered or job centered—there was no category for leaders high on both task focus and employee support.