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Measuring Substitutes for Leadership

Think about your current job, or a job you have held in INTRINSIC SATISFACTION
the past. Please answer whether each item below is 8. I get lots of satisfaction from
Mostly False or Mostly True for you in that job. the work I do. _______ _______
9. It is hard to imagine that any-
TASK STRUCTURE one could enjoy performing

Mostly Mostly the tasks I have performed on
False True my job. _______ _______
1. Because of the nature of the 10. My job satisfaction depends
tasks I perform, there is little primarily on the nature of the
doubt about the best way to tasks and activities I perform. _______ _______
do them. _______ _______
2. My job duties are so simple that Scoring and Interpretation
almost anyone could perform For your task structure score, give yourself one point
them well after a little instruc- for Mostly True answers to items 1, 2, and 4, and for
tion. _______ _______ a Mostly False answer to item 3. This is your score for
Task Structure: _____
3. It is difficult to figure out the
For your task feedback score, give yourself one point
best way to do many of my
for Mostly True answers to items 5 and 7, and for a
tasks and activities. _______ _______
Mostly False answer to item 6. This is your score for
4. There is really only one correct
Task Feedback: _____
way to perform most of the
For your intrinsic satisfaction score, score one point
tasks I do. _______ _______
for Mostly True answers to items 8 and 10, and for a
Mostly False answer to item 9. This is your score for
TASK FEEDBACK Intrinsic Satisfaction: _____
5. After I’ve completed a task, A high score (3 or 4) for Task Structure or Task
I can tell right away from the Feedback indicates a high potential for those elements to
results I get whether I have per- act as a substitute for task-oriented leadership. A high score
formed it correctly. _______ _______ (3) for Intrinsic Satisfaction indicates the potential to be a
6. My job is the kind where you substitute for people-oriented leadership. Does your leader
can finish a task and not know adopt a style that is complementary to the task situation,
if you’ve made a mistake or or is the leader guilty of leadership overkill? How can you
error. _______ _______ apply this understanding to your own actions as a leader?
7. Because of the nature of the
Source: Based on ”Questionnaire Items for the Measurement
tasks I do, it is easy for me to of Substitutes for Leadership,” Table 2 in Steven Kerr and John
see when I have done some- M. Jermier, “Substitutes for Leadership: Their Meaning and
Measurement,” Organizational Behavior and Human Performance
thing exceptionally well. _______ _______ 22 (1978), pp. 375–403.

with which to complement the organizational situation. For example, the work
situation for bank tellers provides a high level of formalization, little fl exibility,
and a highly structured task. The head teller should not adopt a task-oriented
style because the organization already provides structure and direction. The head
teller should concentrate on a people-oriented style. In other organizations, if
group cohesiveness or previous training meets employee social needs, the leader
is free to concentrate on task-oriented behaviors. The leader can adopt a style
complementary to the organizational situation to ensure that both task needs and
people needs of followers are met. Leadership overkill can help to explain the
problems Lawrence Summers encountered as president of Harvard University.
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