Multifactor leadership questionnaire
The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) is a psychological inventory consisting of 36 items pertaining to leadership styles and 9 items pertaining to leadership outcomes. The MLQ was constructed by Bruce J. Avolio and Bernard M. Bass with the goal to assess a full range of leadership styles. The MLQ is composed of 9 scales that measure three leadership styles: transformational leadership (5 scales), transactional leadership (2 scales), and passive/avoidant behavior (2 scales), and 3 scales that measure outcomes of leadership. The MLQ takes an average of 15 minutes to complete and can be administered to an  individual or group. The MLQ can be used to differentiate effective and ineffective leaders at all organizational levels and has been validated across many cultures and types of organizations. It is used for leadership development and research. The MLQ is designed as a multi-rater (or 360-degree) instrument, meaning that the leadership assessment considers the leader's self-assessment alongside the assessments of their leadership from their superiors, peers, subordinates, and others. The Leader (Self) Form and the Rater Form of the MLQ can be completed and assessed separately - however validity is much weaker when assessing leadership using only  the Leader (Self) Form. Following the publication of the original MLQ in 1990, new versions of the MLQ were gradually developed to fit different assessment needs. The current versions of the MLQ are: Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 360 (MLQ 360), Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Self Form (MLQ Self), Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Rater Form (MLQ Rater Form), Team Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (TMLQ), and Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Actual vs. Ought. All MLQ versions are protected by copyright law and published by Mind Garden, Inc. The MLQ underwent a re-branding for its scales in 2015 with the justification of replacing the heavily-academic scale  names with terms that would be more widely and easily understood by those outside of academia, such as business leaders and consultants. Recent academic research using the MLQ continue to use the original scale names. The MLQ is often combined with the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) to assess the self-awareness, transparency, ethics/morality, and processing ability of leaders (the ALQ was constructed by Avolio with William L. Gardner and Fred O. Walumbwa in 2007). Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Scales. Transformational Leadership Scales. Transformational leadership is measured by 5 scales (20 items). This is the only leadership style measured by the  MLQ that allows an overall average score of all subscales, though this overall score has less validity than each of the 5 subscales if interpreted individually. Higher scale scores in these subscales correspond to higher frequency of transformational leadership behaviors. Transactional Leadership Scales. Transactional leadership is measured by 2 scales (8 items). Higher scale scores in these subscales correspond to higher frequency of transactional leadership behaviors. Passive/Avoidant Behaviors. Passive/Avoidant behavior is measured by 2 scales (8 items). Higher scale scores in these subscales correspond to higher frequency of passive or avoidant behaviors during leadership activities. Outcomes of Leadership . Outcomes of leadership is measured by 3 scales (9 items) and is only asked to raters (the leader does not answer these questions). Higher scale scores in these subscales correspond to higher frequency of desired outcomes of leadership. Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Forms. The MLQ has five forms composed of 36, 45, 50,or 90 items to measure leadership style behaviors. Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 360 (MLQ 360). The MLQ 360 is composed of two forms: the Leader Form (36 items) and the Rater Form (45 items). It is a multi-rater form, meaning that it analyzes the leader's self-assessment alongside  how superiors, peers, subordinates, and others perceive their leadership behaviors. The MLQ 360 measures transformational leadership, transactional leadership, passive/avoidant behaviors, and outcomes of leadership. Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Rater Form (MLQ Rater Form). The MLQ Rater Form is composed of 45 items and was designed to assess how the leader's superiors, peers, subordinates, and others perceive the leader's leadership behaviors. The MLQ Rater Form measures transformational leadership, transactional leadership, passive/avoidant behaviors, and outcomes of leadership. Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Self Form (MLQ Self). The MLQ Self is composed of 36 items and was designed to assess how the  leader perceives their own leadership behaviors. Psychometrics are not available for the MLQ Self as a stand-alone assessment of leadership styles. The MLQ Self measures transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and passive/avoidant behaviors. Team Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (TMLQ). The TMLQ is composed of 50 items and is designed for adults who work in a team. It represents an extension of the definition of transformational leadership from the individual to the collective. The TMLQ measures team transformational leadership, team transactional leadership, team passive/avoidant behaviors, and team outcomes of leadership. Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Actual vs. Ought (MLQ Actual. vs. Ought ). The MLQ Actual vs. Ought is composed of two forms: the Actual Form (45 items) and the Ought form (45 items). It is designed to measure how an individual perceives the frequency of the leadership behaviors they exhibit compared to the leadership behaviors they feel they should be exhibiting. The MLQ Actual vs. Ought measures actual transformational leadership, ought transformational leadership, actual transactional leadership, ought transactional leadership, actual passive/avoidant behaviors, ought passive/avoidant behaviors, actual outcomes of leadership, and ought outcomes of leadership. Scoring the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. All MLQ scales are scored using a 5-point scale as  follows: