Task Behavior

Examples of Task Behavior in the following topics:

• Leadership and Followers: Hersey and Blanchard

  • For Hersey and Blanchard, leadership style is determined by the mix of task behavior and relationship behavior that the leader shows.
  • Task behavior concerns the actions required of followers and how they should be conducted.
  • This is primarily task behavior.
  • S2 leading is still primarily task behavior, but now it includes some relationship behavior.
  • Participating leadership shifts the balance toward relationship behavior and away from task behavior.

• Leadership Model: University of Michigan

  • The Michigan behavioral studies are an important link in the ongoing development of behavioral theory in a leadership framework.
  • Individual ideas, actions, and behaviors have been identified as indicating leadership within societal structures.
  • Leadership research continues as scholars observe, identify, and promote the emergence of new leadership styles and behaviors in the 21st century.
  • The studies also identified three critical characteristics of effective leaders: task-oriented behavior, relationship-oriented behavior, and participative leadership.
  • Discuss the Michigan Leadership Studies generated in the 1950s and 1960s in the broader context of behavioral approaches to leadership

• What is Organizational Behavior?

  • Organizational behavior is the field of study that investigates how organizational structures affect behavior within organizations.
  • Organizational behavior studies the impact individuals, groups, and structures have on human behavior within organizations.
  • Understanding not only how to delegate tasks and organize resources but also how to analyze behavior and motivate productivity is critical for success in management.
  • Organizational behavior also deals heavily in culture.
  • Understanding and defining these work cultures and the behavioral implications they embed organizationally is also a central topic in organizational behavior.

• Leadership and Task/Follower Characteristics: House

  • Directive, path-goal clarifying leader: The leader clearly defines what is expected of followers and tells them how to perform their tasks.
  • The theory argues that this behavior has the most positive effect when the subordinates' role and task demands are ambiguous and intrinsically satisfying.
  • This behavior is dominant when subordinates are highly personally involved in their work.
  • This behavior is especially needed in situations in which tasks or relationships are psychologically or physically distressing.
  • Identify the leadership and task/follower characteristics identified by Robert House in the Path-Goal theory (1971)

• Leadership Model: The Ohio State University

  • These statements were used to develop the Leaders' Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ).
  • Respondents of the LBDQ-rated leaders cited how frequently they engaged in a certain behavior.
  • This behavior is oriented towards interpersonal relationships, mutual trust, and affiliation.
  • The Ohio researchers defined initiating structure as the extent to which a leader specifies group member roles, initiates actions, organizes group activities, and defines how tasks are to be accomplished by the group.
  • This leadership style is task-oriented.

• Defining Teamwork

  • Goal specification: identifying and prioritizing the tasks and activities needed to achieve the mission
  • Monitoring milestones and goals: tracking progress toward completion of tasks and activities
  • Coordination: organizing and managing the flow of team activities and tasks
  • Team monitoring and support: assisting individuals with their tasks by, for example, providing feedback and coaching
  • Rewards:recognition of achievement toward objectives and reinforcement of behavior that supports the team's work

• How Attitude Influences Behavior

  • Attitudes can positively or negatively affect a person's behavior.
  • Attitude and behavior interact differently based upon the attitude in question.
  • When an organization appeals to people's logic and explains why it is assigning tasks or pursuing a strategy, it can generate a more positive disposition towards that task or strategy (and vice versa, if the employee does not recognize why a task is logical).
  • Attitudes can be infectious and can influence the behavior of those around them.
  • One key to altering an individual's behavior is consistency.

• Common Causes of Team Conflict

  • Team conflict is caused by factors related to individual behavior as well as disagreements about the team's work.
  • Different behavioral styles or preferences: Individuals may clash over their respective work habits, attention to detail, communication practices, or tone of expression.
  • While these can affect coordination of interdependent tasks, they can especially inhibit direct collaboration.
  • Competition over resources: Members may fight over the limited resources available to accomplish the team's tasks.
  • Behavioral differences and personality clashes can cause conflict even among friends.

• Four Theories of Leadership

  • These findings also show that individuals emerge as leaders across a variety of situations and tasks.
  • He identified three relevant aspects of the situation: the quality of the leader's relationships with others, how well structured their tasks were, and the leader's amount of formal authority.
  • Behavioral theory also incorporates B.F.
  • Skinner's theory of behavior modification, which takes into account the effect of reward and punishment on changing behavior.
  • The father of behavioral theory showed the connection between behaviors and reward and punishment.

• Interactive Leadership

  • Interactive leadership involves leaders' engaging followers to increase their understanding of tasks and goals.
  • The interactive style of leadership makes it a priority to inform followers about important matters related to their goals and tasks and to clarify understanding.
  • This encounter facilitates behavior change; the better people understand what is expected of them, the more they can modify how they act.
  • An interactive leader shares information and answers questions to clarify goals and tasks.