<P> In their 1995 paper titled "Relationship - Based Approach to Leadership: Development of Leader - Member Exchange (LMX) Theory of Leadership over 25 Years: Applying a Multi-Level Multi-Domain Perspective," George B. Graen and Mary Uhl - Bien discuss the development of LMX from through four evolutionary stages . </P> <P> Graen and Uhl - Bien explain that research into issues relating to leader--member exchange began with studies on work socialization and vertical dyad linkage which found that many managerial processes in organizations occurred on a dyadic basis, with managers forming differentiated relationships with those who reported to them . Longitudinal studies of management teams were conducted in which managers and those who reported to them were asked to describe their work and working relationships in terms of inputs, process, and outcomes . When asked to describe their manager's behavior, different employees gave very different descriptions of the same person . Some employees described what are called "high - quality exchanges" (also known as "in - group"), which are "characterized by a high degree of mutual trust, respect, and obligation ." Others described "low - quality exchanges" (also known as "out - group"), which are "characterized by low trust, respect, and obligation ." According to Graen and Uhl - Bien, early VDL research concluded that these differentiated relationships resulted from a manager's limited time and social resources, allowing him / her to form only a few higher - quality exchange relationships . </P> <P> In the second stage, terminology shifted from vertical dyad linkage to leader--member exchange . Graen and Uhl - Bien explain that VDL research was followed by a series of studies which moved the theory "beyond a description of the differentiated relationships in a work unit to an explanation of how these relationships develop and what the consequences of the relationships are for organizational functioning". A number of studies analyzed the specific characteristics of LMX relationships, and other studies analyzed the relationship between LMX and organizational outcomes / consequences . Graen and Uhl - Bien describe the central concepts of LMX research at this time as: "(1) development of LMX relationships is influenced by characteristics and behaviors of leaders and members and occurs through a role - making process, and (2) higher - quality LMX relationships have very positive outcomes for leaders, followers, work units, and the organization in general ." </P> <P> Graen and Uhl - Bien recount that the research in the third stage moved beyond "in - groups" and "out - groups" and focused more on producing effective leadership process through the development of effective leadership relationships . According to Graen and Uhl - Bien, the key difference in this stage is that it says that managers should make high - quality LMX relationships available to all employees, rather than having differentiated relationships among employees as described in the VDL approach . This stage uses the Leadership Making model to provide a more prescriptive and practically useful model of leadership development . The idea of Leadership Making began with two longitudinal field experiments that analyzed what would happen if leaders were trained to give all of their subordinates the opportunity to develop a high - quality relationship . Results showed that the performance of subordinates who took advantage of the opportunity to develop a high - quality LMX improved dramatically . Overall, the performance of the work unit improved by increasing the number of high - quality LMX relationships . The Leadership Making model was developed based on these studies to emphasize the importance of forming high - quality relationships within organizations and to outline a process for how these relationships might be formed and maintained in practice . The model describes a process in which leader--member relationships go from a "stranger" phase (characterized by formal, contractual interactions) to an "acquaintance" stage (characterized by increased social exchanges and the sharing of information and resources on a personal and work level) to a level of "mature partnership" exchanges (characterized by "in kind" exchanges that are behavioral and emotional, by loyalty, by support, by mutual respect, by trust, and by a high degree of incremental influence). </P>

The best way for subordinates to become part of the in-group according to the lmx approach is to