Styles Of Leadership
Leadership Styles
Introduction
In the long run there is no one leadership style that suits any
particular organisation. Market circumstances change, internal
circumstances change, external pressures change, or alternatively
there may be a period of stability. These factors mean that as the
business adapts to these different circumstances then the type of
leader that is best suited to the business will also alter. The type of
management required to force through restructuring or rebranding
of an organisation, will be very different from the management who
most effectively oversee a period of stability.
The management styles we examine below may then be broadly
suited to a particular business form or structure, but there will be
times when the style is easily transferable to organisations that
have previously been run in quite different ways.
Leadership Styles
The role of leadership in management is largely determined by the
organisational culture of the company. It has been argued that
managers' beliefs, values and assumptions are of critical importance
to the overall style of leadership that they adopt.
There are several different leadership styles that can be identified
within each of the following Management techniques. Each
technique has its own set of good and not-so-good characteristics,
and each uses leadership in a different way.
The Autocrat
The Laissez-Faire Manager
The Democrat
References
The Autocrat
The autocratic leader dominates team-members, using unilateralism
to achieve a singular objective. This approach to leadership
generally results in passive resistance from team-members and
[email protected]
requires continual pressure and direction from the leader in order to
get things done. Generally, an authoritarian approach is not a good
way to get the best performance from a team.
There are, however, some instances where an autocratic style of
leadership may not be inappropriate. Some situations may call for
urgent action, and in these cases an autocratic style of leadership
may be best. In addition, most people are familiar with autocratic
leadership and therefore have less trouble adopting that style.
Furthermore, in some situations, sub-ordinates may actually prefer
an autocratic style.
The Laissez-Faire Manager
The Laissez-Faire manager exercises little control over his group,
leaving them to sort out their roles and tackle their work, without
participating in this process himself. In general, this approach
leaves the team floundering with little direction or motivation.
Again, there are situations where the Laissez-Faire approach can be
effective. The Laissez-Faire technique is usually only appropriate
when leading a team of highly motivated and skilled people, who
have produced excellent work in the past. Once a leader has
established that his team is confident, capable and motivated, it is
often best to step back and let them get on with the task, since
interfering can generate resentment and detract from their
effectiveness. By handing over ownership, a leader can empower
his group to achieve their goals.
The Democrat
The democratic leader makes decisions by consulting his team,
whilst still maintaining control of the group. The democratic leader
allows his team to decide how the task will be tackled and who will
perform which task.
The democratic leader can be seen in two lights:
A good democratic leader encourages participation and delegates
wisely, but never loses sight of the fact that he bears the crucial
responsibility of leadership. He values group discussion and input
from his team and can be seen as drawing from a pool of his team
members' strong points in order to obtain the best performance
from his team. He motivates his team by empowering them to
direct themselves, and guides them with a loose reign.
However, the democrat can also be seen as being so unsure of
himself and his relationship with his sub-ordinates that everything
[email protected]
is a matter for group discussion and decision. Clearly, this type of
"leader" is not really leading at all.
http://www.howarddowding.com/modelhighres.htm
[email protected]
Teams
Preferred working styles
According to McCann and Margerison, there are essentially four
sliding scales which indicate how people prefer to work. They are:




How people prefer to relate to others
INTROVERTED <===> EXTROVERTED
Some people will have an extroverted approach, talking
things through with others and enjoying a wide variety of
different asks; others will prefer to think things over and
won't have a high need to discuss things with others.
How people prefer to gather and use information
PRACTICAL <===> CREATIVE
Practical people prefer tried and tested ideas, paying attention
to the facts and details; creative people will be less
constrained by tradition, will be future-oriented, won't mind
ambiguous situations and will enjoy looking at possibilities.
How people prefer to make decisions
ANALYTICAL <===> BELIEFS
Analytical people will gather the information and then set up
objective decision-criteria, trying to find the solution which
maximises the pay-off; others will be more constrained by
their beliefs, principles and values.
How people prefer to organize themselves and others
STRUCTURED <===> FLEXIBLE
Some like a structured environment, where everything is neat
and tidy and decisions are made quickly; others prefer to be
more flexible and make sure that all possible information has
been gathered before decisions are reached - they'll tend to
put off 'concluding' until they have gathered all the
information they can.
[email protected]
The Wheel
The Wheel provides a visual representation of the key differences
between people. Generally people show a preference for one of the
key positions on the Wheel and two related 'backup' rôles. For
example, they might see themselves as a 'creator-innovator' with
related backup rôles as 'thruster-organizer and 'concluderproducer'.
You can see fairly easily how the positions on the Wheel relate to
the working styles outlined above. For example, the 'explorerpromoter' is the result of an interaction between the extrovert and
creative dimensions, giving people a preference for selling ideas and
generally being entrepreneurial.
Distribution of roles
McCann's and Margerison's work has produced the following data on
a population of 3730 managers from the UK, the USA, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand and South-east Asia:
Team role
Proportion (%)
Creator-innovator
9.2
Explorer-promoter
8.7
Assessor-developer
17.5
Thruster-organizer
26.5
Concluder-producer
26.7
Controller-inspector
7.5
[email protected]
Upholder-maintainer
1.7
Reporter-adviser
2.1
71% of the sample falls on the right of the Wheel since they have a
common preference for organizing. However, as McCann points out,
these people do not always have a natural capacity for listening and
their general weakness in communication is responsible for failing to
achieve a truly high performance. Further, a company which fails to
listen to the creators and innovators can find itself in trouble in the
long run.
Finally, it's well worth taking a look through the characteristics of
the people on the Wheel, if you haven't done so already. See if you
can recognize yourself and people you know.
http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/groups/mccann.
html
[email protected]
BEING a manager
Drucker - The management process

of



Peter Drucker, 1940s/50s US business advisor, created the idea
management by objectives:
Setting objectives
Organising the work
Motivating employees and communicating information


Job measurement
 yardsticks of performance
 observe targets reached
Developing people






Drucker argues:
Every manager performs these
Bad manager will perform them badly
Basic management function
Economic performance
Business manager justifies role through this
Handy: Being a manager
Charles Handy argues that defining management is too broad.
What is involved in being a manager?






Manager as general practitioner
Business health
Identification of the symptoms
cause of trouble
e.g. poor motivation - poor wages
Introduction of a rewards system
 Managerial dilemmas

The dilemma of different cultures

Behaviour varies in different positions and areas
 The trust - control delegation dilemma
Greater trust leads to less management control
 The commando leaders dilemma
Project work outside the firms bureaucratic structure
 Managers as people
development of professional skills
[email protected]
Mintzberg - Managerial roles
Henry Mintzberg suggests:
















Managers carry out functions
Also fulfil three roles
Interpersonal roles
Figurehead role
Leader role
Liaison role
Information roles
Act as channels of information
Decision making roles
Access to information for decision making
Mintzberg’s conclusions
Systematic planning is a myth
Planning is done on a day-to-day basis
No routine duties is a myth
Some duties done as ceremonial tasks
Management prefer verbal communication
Qualities of leadership





Positive self image
Get to the core of problem
Specialise in areas
Creative and innovative
Sense and respond to change
Factors affecting leadership styles







The task
Company tradition
Type of labour force
Group size
Leaders personality
Group personality
Time
[email protected]