Blog #3 Leadership and Management Styles

 

How to decide on most effective leadership styles? Concept of management styles is quite complex. In the twentieth century a “command and control” style was seen as the norm. Also there was a perception that there was only one best way to manage, which would achieve the best outcome in every situation (CMI, 2017).

Nowadays, there is a growing belief that managers need to find a style, which is authentic for them.

At present, there is certainly a stronger emphasis on management style as the way in which managers relate to people (Coaching and collaborative styles) (CMI, 2017).

In general, there have been recognised two sharply contrasting styles that can be broken down into smaller subgroups Autocratic and Permissive.

Autocratic leader makes all decisions unilaterally, without any consultation. Donald Trump is an example of autocratic leader; though, he leads his country as a giant corporation, which resulted in increased change resistance and protests.

Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher are also examples of autocratic leaders, working efficiently and able to make swift changes during times difficult changes in the UK’s political life.

Permissive leader permits subordinates to take part in decision making and also gives them a considerable degree of autonomy in completing routine work activities. Subgroups include participative and consultative leaders. A consultative and participative management styles sometimes have been viewed as a combination of democratic and autocratic. These managers ask opinions from their staff, allowing them to feel involved and valued but ultimately make their own final decisions.

Laissez Faire Style  is another proposed subgroup in permissive mode (Forbes, 2016). A laissez faire manager sets the tasks and gives staff complete freedom to complete the task as they see fit, with minimal involvement from the manager. The manager is there to coach, answer questions, supply information (Goodnight, 2004)

John F. Kennedy displayed characteristics of laissez-faire styles when spearheading of the Apollo space program. In other case he showed autocratic leadership- his quick decisions during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Another example of permissive model is James Parker. In the wake of September 11, the former CEO of Southwest Airlines, he distinguished his company by recommitting to all of his staff members and avoiding layoffs, thus showing that their need were equally important to his own.

I summarised pros and cons of two main leadership models in the Table 1. I strongly believe, though, there is No one approach that works for all situations, all people and tasks. In my opinion, different people will respond uniquely   to different management styles, and different situations will require different management styles.

Steve Jobs (Apple) learned how to adapt different styles in different situations. He started out as a charismatic/laissez-faire leader, became a democratic leader, later became an autocratic leader, When he returned to Apple  more than 10 years later, Jobs combined several leadership styles and added participative to his repertoire, so that Apple survived.

Table 1. Democratic and Autocratic leadership pros and cons

Democratic leadership pros and cons
Pros	Cons
·       Increased job satisfaction and a sense of empowerment.	·       Consume valuable time
·       Creativity and innovation increase	·       Dependence on the expertise and experience of subordinates
·       Relationships are built on mutual trust	·       Dependence on agreement  of subordinates
·       Stronger commitment to performance	·       Can be costly
·       Absenteeism is lower	·       Challenge of overseeing experts
·       Solutions-centric workforce	·       Issues of multiple collaborative teams
·       Productivity increase	·       Problems of seeking consensus, to dead lines
Autocratic leadership pros and cons
Pros	Cons
·       Effective at time of change and work to deadlines	·       Creativity is low
·       Budget-saving	·       Treat people as a commodity,  trust is low
·       Time-saving	·       Job satisfaction is low;
·       Strict industry standards	·       Absenteeism is high and low motivation
·       Good when team members have low expertise	·       Innovation is low
·       Work well at crisis and limited recourses	·       Staff turnover is high

 

There is also an ongoing debate about the concepts of management and leadership, with some seeing leadership as an aspect of management, while others as different and distinct concepts. Some argue that leadership is not just the prerogative of senior managers but can be exercised by everyone in their area of responsibility.

Main differences of the concepts of leadership and management are below.

Table 2. Leadership and management comparison

 

Factor for analysis	Leadership	Management
Meaning	Art(leading others by examples)	Skill ( day-to-day coordinating  in an efficient way)
Main foundation	Trust	Control
Emphasis	Encouragement, Inspiration	Organizing activities
Power	Influence	Rule
Focus	Change	Stability
Strategy	Proactive	Reactive
Formulation	Concept	Procedures
Perspective	Long-term vision (good foresightedness)	Short perspective.

In my point of view, even though management and leadership are conceptually distinct in theory, in day to day practice it is difficult to separate these concepts.

Selecting the correct leadership and management style will often lead to greater motivation and productivity from staff.  However, which model type should manager adopt to ensure success? Answer is not easy.

The most successful leaders are flexible and use a wide range of styles appropriately (Businessnewsdaily, 2015).What does “appropriately” mean?  In the table below (Table 3) I present analysis of two leadership models in relation to leadership traits, examples of various business situations and companies that adopted those styles.

Table 3. Leadership traits and appropriate situations

Democratic style	Authoritative  style
Intuitive leader	Charismatic
Good observer	Inspirational speaker
Pragmatic and rational	Good motivators
Realistic	Good foresightedness
Focused on accomplishing goal	Proactive
Good collaborators, facilitators; multi-tasking	Strong vision and confidence; Influential
Fair-minded and Adaptive	Courageous and unbending willing
Appropriate when sufficient time, budget and expertise are available, focus on innovation and creativity, no reliance on sole decision making, competent and talented team, multiple inputs required in decision making, motivating top performers etc	Appropriate at time of change, crisis, risks, working to deadlines, insufficient know how and expertise, misused authority or violated rules, limited budget, strict performance standards etc
Examples : Google, Gentech, Amason, IBM, High-tech and start-ups, Pharma Leaders surround themselves with knowledgeable experienced key players	Examples:  Trump Organization, Sunbeam Corporation,  Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia   Leaders single-handedly effected changes

 

Many factors are involved in decision making, and multifactor analysis can be required (Philip, 2010). For example, characteristics above will influence the type of style adopted. Easily frightened, timid manager will find it uneasy to adopt an autocratic style.

I believe whatever style, a manager will adopt, and he should

• Remain authentic and true to himself;
• Understand the accepted style and culture in the organisation;
• Be aware of strengths and weaknesses of the team; and personal roles in organization;
• Avoid ignoring opinions of peers, superiors or subordinates.

 

 

Good leader is about knowing the team and the situation (Martindale, 2011). Currently, there are many tools, such as industrial psychology and personality tests (e.g. Mayers-Briggs Type Indicator) that are available to managers and help to decide what model to choose, how to interact with and motivate subordinates. It is important to judge the capabilities of the team (in team roles- facilitator, communicator, analyst etc). If management style is inconsistent with the dominant organisational norm, then it will be likely to lead to failure in optimisation of team performance.

 

In conclusion, the best approaches vary depending on circumstances and individual’s qualities. There is no single ideal, and every authentic style of leadership is decided with understanding and knowledge of organisational culture and nature of tasks.

 

 

References:

 

Businessnewsdaily, 2015. What Kind of Leader Are You? Traits, Skills and Styles. [Online]
Available at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2704-leadership.html
[Accessed 03 2017].

CMI, 2017. CMI. [Online]
Available at: http://www.managers.org.uk/
[Accessed 03 2017].

CMI, 2017. MENTORING AND COACHING. [Online]
Available at: http://www.managers.org.uk/events-and-courses/2017/june/mentoring-and-coaching?sc_trk=follow%20hit,{86CB756B-AB02-44E6-995A-305C69252B29},Coaching+and+collaborative+styles
[Accessed 04 2017].

Forbes, 2016. /how-to-decide-on-management-styles-for-your-company. [Online]
Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckcohn/2016/04/06/how-to-decide-on-management-styles-for-your-company/
[Accessed 03 2017].

Goodnight, R., 2004. Encyclopedia of Leadership. s.l.:s.n.

Martindale, 2011. Leadership Styles: How to handle the different personas. Strategic Communication Management, 8(15), p. 32–35..

Philip, W., 2010. Democratic leadership: drawing distinctions with distributed leadership. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 1(7), p. 3–36.

 

 

 

 

How to decide on most effective leadership styles?

Which style of leadership/management do you think suits your country the most?

Please leave a comment below.