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180 SNAKES IN SUITS
them when common courtesy demands otherwise, and failing to
build relationships based on mutual trust and respect might actually
reflect a boss low on consideration, rather than a true psychopath.
Initiating structure, the second supervisory factor, means that a
leader is expected to decide on the work goals and tasks to be completed,
flesh out the roles of the team members, and delineate the
standards of performance or key success measures—in essence, to
“lead.” Bosses high in this factor take an active part in determining
what needs to be done and how to do it. Traditional boss roles, such
as planning, organizing, communicating, setting expectations, and
defining the “big picture” fit in the high end of this factor. Bosses
low in initiating structure tend not to be involved in the work at
hand. A boss who dominates or who issues orders every step of the
way may just be too high on initiating structure and not a true psychopath.
Conversely, if the boss is rarely involved or even interested
in the work you do, he or she may be very low in this factor—a “laissez
faire leader”—or may not be a leader at all. Low structuring is not
necessarily an indication of psychopathy either, although you may
feel personally slighted and possibly angry.
Most people want a boss who is considerate and trusting and
who builds rapport. Whether we also want our bosses to be high or
low on initiating structure depends on whether we want someone to
tell us what our job is and how to do it (most appropriate for new
jobs or untrained employees), or we prefer to do our job with little
interference from the boss (most preferred by seasoned workers).
Both are equally valid styles as long as there is a match between employees’
needs and the boss’s approach to management.
While this two-factor model of leader behavior is well founded
and makes intuitive sense when describing observed supervisory behavior,
subsequent research on leadership has shown that these two
variables alone (that is, how much consideration and structuring
make up the boss’s style) are not enough to predict who will be
an effective leader. Whether a boss is high or low in these factors is
not related to how effective a supervisor will be; the boss-employee