A Situation Description Questionnaire for Leaders

Abstract

EDUCATIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT 1969, 29, 515-518. IN recent years, social scientists have become aware of the important role played by situational variables, both as an influence on group behavior and as a modifier of the relation between leader behavior and group performance. However, discussion of the importance of situational variables has not been accompanied by a concerted effort to develop comprehensive models and measures of situations.In an attempt to identify and measure situational variables other than the usual structural variables discussed in the management literature (e.g., Porter and Lawler, 1965), a leader situation description questionnaire was developed and validated. This 52 item questionnaire consisted of questions that appeared to be relevant to the behavior of formal leaders (e.g., task attributes, seriousness of performance errors for the organization, upward and downward influence of the leader, and formal role expectations for the leader). The selection of items was influenced by an earlier analysis of group dimensions by Hemphill (1956), a factor analysis of task dimensions by Shaw (1963), and leadership research carried out by Fiedler (1968).The new leader situation description questionnaire (LSDQ) was sent to a sample of 101 first-line supervisors (&dquo;foremen&dquo;) and second-line supervisors (&dquo;managers&dquo;) in two manufacturing companies and a public utility. Twenty-one elected and appointed student leaders in a large university were also surveyed. The supervisors' responses were dimension-analyzed by means of the BCTRY system for factor and cluster analysis (Tryon and Bailey, 1966). Scale scores were computed using the items with high factor loadings and reasonable &dquo;face validity&dquo;

Ανθρωποκεντρικό Και Εργοκεντρικό Είδος Άσκησης Διοίκησης

“…Στην παρούσα µελέτη αναµένεται οι διαφορές στον τοµέα οικονοµίας, στον οποίο ανήκει ο οργανισµός, να ασκούν επίδραση στο είδος διοίκησης (Υπόθεση 6). Έχει υποστηριχθεί (Blankenship & Miles, 1968• Ford, 1981• Yukl, 1969) ότι οι προϊστάµενοι µε µεγάλο εύρος ελέγχου τείνουν να είναι περισσότερο κατευθυντικοί και εργοκεντρικοί, αφιερώνουν λίγο χρόνο στα άτοµα που διοικούν και χρησιµοποιούν περισσότερο απρόσωπες τακτικές επιρροής. Από την άλλη µεριά, προϊστάµενοι µε µικρό εύρος ελέγχου τείνουν να χρησιµοποιούν περισσότερο προσωπικές τακτικές επιρροής (Badin, 1974• Kipnis, Schmidt & Wilkinson, 1980• Udell, 1967.…”

“…Στην παρούσα έρευνα δε βρέθηκε να επηρεάζεται ο τρόπος που ασκείται η διοίκηση, από τις οµάδες µεγάλου µεγέθους. ∆εν επιβεβαιώνεται, εποµένως, η άποψη αυτών που υποστηρίζουν (Blankenship & Miles, 1968• Ford, 1981• Yukl, 1969…”