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understanding your leadership behavior


When you are member of a group, what is your leadership behavior like? The purpose of this survey is to get a description of your behavior in groups. Each question describes aspects of leadership behavior. Circle the letter to the left that most appropriately describes your likely behavior:

A = Always   F = Frequently   O = Occasionally   S = Seldom   N = Never

When I am a member of a group…

A   F   O   S   N 1 I offer facts, give my opinions and ideas, and provide suggestions and relevant information to help the group discussion.
A   F   O   S   N 2

I warmly encourage all members of the group to participate giving them recognition for their contributions, demonstrating  receptivity and openness to their ideas, and generally being friendly and responsive to them.

A   F   O   S   N 3

I ask for facts, information, opinions, ideas, and feeling from other group members to help in the group discussion.

A   F   O   S   N 4

I try to persuade members to analyze constructively their differences in opinions and ideas, searching for common elements in conflicting or opposing ideas or proposals, and trying to reconcile disagreements.

A   F   O   S   N 5 I propose goals and tasks in order to start action within the group.
A   F   O   S   N 6 I try to relieve group tension and increase the enjoyment of group members by joking, suggesting breaks, and proposing fun approaches to group work.
A   F   O   S   N 7 I give direction to the group by developing plans on how to proceed with group work and by focusing members’ attention on the tasks to be done.
A   F   O   S   N 8 I help communication among group members by showing good communication skills and by making sure that what each member says is understood by all.
A   F   O   S   N 9 I pull together related ideas or suggestions made by group members and restate and summarize the major points discussed by the group.
A   F   O   S   N 10 I ask members how they are feeling about the way in which the group is working, and about each other, as well as share my own feelings about group work and the way the members interact.
A   F   O   S   N 11 I coordinate group work by showing relationships among various ideas or suggestions, by pulling ideas and suggestions together, and by bringing together activities of various subgroups and members.
A   F   O   S   N 12 I observe the way (process) in which the group is working and use my observations to help in examining the effectiveness of the group.
A   F   O   S   N 13 I determine why the group has difficulty in working effectively and what blocks progress in accomplishing the group’s goals.
A   F   O   S   N 14 I express group standards and norms and the group goals in order to make members constantly aware of the direction I which the work is going – the progress being made toward the group goal – and in order to get continued open acceptance of group norms and procedures.
A   F   O   S   N 15 I energize the group by stimulating group members to produce a higher quality of work.
A   F   O   S   N 16 I listen to and serve as an interested audience for other group members weighing the ideas of others, and going along with the movement of the group when I do not disagree with its action.
A   F   O   S   N 17 I examine how practical and workable the ideas are, evaluate the quality of alternative solutions to group problems, and apply decisions and suggestions to real situations in order to see how they will work.
A   F   O   S   N 18 I accept and support the openness of other group members, reinforcing them for taking risks, and encouraging individuality in group members.
A   F   O   S   N 19 I compare group decisions and accomplishments with group standards measuring accomplishments against goals.
A   F   O   S   N 20 I promote the open discussion of conflicts between group members in order to resolve disagreements and increase group togetherness.

 

Scoring Your Leadership Behavior

1.     If you circled:

A – give yourself 5 points,

F – give yourself 4 points,

O – give yourself 3 points,

S – give yourself 2 points,

N – give yourself 1 point.

2.     To get your total score for task function and maintenance functions, write the score for each statement in the following table.
 
    TASK FUNCTIONS       MAINTENANCE FUNCTIONS
  1 Information and Opinion Giver     2 Encourager of Participation
  3 Information and Opinion Seeker     4 Harmonizer and Compromiser
  5 Starter     6 Tension Reliever
  7 Direction Giver     8 Communications Helper
  9 Summarizer     10 Evaluator of Emotional Climate
  11 Coordinator     12 Process Observer
  13 Diagnoser     14 Standard Setter
  15 Energizer     16 Active Listener
  17 Reality Tester     18 Trust Builder
  19 Evaluator     20 Interpersonal Problem Solver
_______   TOTAL   _______   TOTAL
             
 

Locate yourself on the Task-Maintenance Grid by finding your score for task function on the bottom, horizontal axis of the grid and move up the column corresponding to your Task score to the point of intersection with your score for maintenance functions.

Place an “X” at the intersection that represents your two scores. Numbers in parentheses correspond to the major styles of task-maintenance leadership behavior listed on the next page.

Task – Maintenance Styles

1,1 

Only a minimum effort is given in order to get the required work done and general noninvolvement prevails with other group members. This person may well be saying “To hell with it all,” or be so inactive in the group as to have no influence whatsoever on other group members.

1, 10 

High value is placed on keeping good relationships within the group. Thoughtful Attention is given to the needs of other members for satisfying relationships in order to help create a comfortable, friendly atmosphere and work tempo. Such a person may be great running a social club, but the group may never get any work accomplished. 

10, 1 

Accomplishing the task is emphasized in a way that shows minimum concern with group maintenance. Work is seen as important while relationships among group members are ignored. This member would make a splendid army drill master, but productivity of the group would soon suffer as its morale and cohesiveness deteriorated. 

5, 5 

The task and maintenance needs of the group are balanced in order to complete work while the morale of members is maintained at a satisfactory level. This person will be continually making compromises between task needs and maintenance needs while neglecting to seek or find the creative integration of these two needs so important for optimal productivity. 

10, 10 

All members plan and make decisions together, all being committed to getting the task done as they build relationships of trust and respect. A high value is placed on sound, creative decisions that result in understanding and agreement. Ideas are sought out and listened to, even when the ideas, opinions, and attitudes are different from one’s own. The group as a whole cooperatively defines the task and works for its completion. Such a member encourages the creative integration of task and maintenance needs and is the ideal leader for a group. 

Task Functions: 

Information and Opinion Giver: Offers facts, opinions, ideas, suggestions, and relevant information to help group discussion. 

Information and Opinion Seeker: Asks for facts, information, opinions, ideas, and feelings from other members to help group discussion.

Starter: Proposes goals and tasks to initiate action within the group.

Direction Giver: Develops plans on how to proceed and focuses attention on the task to be done.

Summarizer: Pulls together related ideas or suggestions and restates and summarizes major points discussed.

Coordinator: Shows relationships among various ideas by pulling them together and harmonizes activities of various subgroups and members.

Diagnoser: Figures out sources of difficulties the group has in working effectively and the blocks to progress in accomplishing the group’s goals.

Energizer: Stimulates a higher quality of work from the group.

Reality Tester: Examines the practicality and workability of ideas, evaluates alternative solutions, and applies them to real situations to see how they will work.

Evaluator: Compares group decisions and accomplishments with group standards and goals.

Maintenance Functions:

Encourager of Participation: Warmly encourages everyone to participate, giving recognition for contributions, demonstrating acceptance and openness to ideas of others, is friendly and responsive to group members.

Harmonizer and Compromiser: Persuades members to analyze constructively their differences in opinions, searches for common elements in conflicts and tries to reconcile disagreements.

Tension Reliever: Eases tensions and increases the enjoyment of group members by joking, suggesting breaks, and proposing fun approaches to group work. 

Communication Helper: Shows good communication skills and makes sure that each group member understands what other members are saying.

Evaluator of Emotional Climate: Asks members how they feel about the way in which the group is working and about each other, and shares own feelings about both.

Process Observer: Watches the process by which the group is working and uses observations to help examine group effectiveness.

Standard Setter: Expresses group standards and goals to make members aware of the direction of the work and the progress being made toward the goal and to get open acceptance of group norms and procedures.

Active Listener: Listens and serves as an interested audience for other members, is receptive to others’ ideas, goes along with the group when not in disagreement.

Trust Builder: Accepts and supports openness of other group members, reinforcing risk taking and encouraging individuality.

Interpersonal Problem Solver: Promotes open discussion of conflicts between group members in order to resolve conflicts and increase group togetherness.

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Last modified: March 22, 2014