Steven Kerr

Substitutes for leadership: Their meaning and measurement

Abstract Current theories and models of leadership seek to explain the influence of the hierarchical superior upon the satisfaction and performance of subordinates. While disagreeing with one another in important respects, these theories and models share an implicit assumption that while the style of leadership likely to be effective may vary according to the situation, some leadership style will be effective regardless of the situation. It has been found, however, that certain individual, task, and organizational variables act as “substitutes for leadership”, negating the hierarchical superiors ability to exert either positive or negative influence over subordinate attitudes and effectiveness. This paper identifies a number of such substitutes for leadership, presents scales of questionnaire items for their measurement, and reports some preliminary tests.

Effects of Different Leader Behaviors under Different Levels of Task Interdependence

Three hypotheses were developed and tested relating the moderating effects of interdependence between leader behaviors and satisfaction and performance. Results from a survey of 419 participants on 22 teams in eight sports revealed strong support for the performance hypotheses, but not for the satisfaction hypotheses. Winning coaches of high interdependence sports teams were described as exhibiting significantly greater leader-initiating structure than losing high interdependence coaches. Also, winning coaches of high interdependence teams exhibited significantly more leader-initiating structure and significantly less leader consideration than winning coaches of low interdependence teams.

Accounting, budgeting and control systems in their organizational context: Comments by the discussant

In his article “Accounting, Budgeting and Control Systems in Their Organizational Context: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives”, Flamholtz (1982) refers to an article of mine (Kerr, 1975). In the article I sought to describe some interesting and so it seemed at the time atypical examples of dysfunctional reward systems. These may be defined as systems that reward behaviors which the rewarder is seeking to discourage, while ignoring or actually punishing hoped-for behaviors. Among the examples described were the following:

Behavioral Principles in the Practice of ManagementBehavioral Principles in the Practice of Management, by Scott W. E. Jr. and Podsakoff P. M.. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1985, 222 pp., paper.

The article reviews the book “Behavioral Principles in the Practice of Management,” by W.E. Scott and P.M. Podsakoff.