What Are Management Styles?
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Are There Specific Management “Styles” That Lead to Success?
What Are Management Styles?
There are volumes written about the pros and cons of management styles. What are management styles and why do they seem to go in and out of favor with contemporary business thought?
Management styles are simply concepts and theories used by management that affect the workplace. These styles are really behavior patterns, and their differences stem from a variety of factors and ideas of the best way to manage people and operations.
Contrary to popular belief, management styles are more art and belief than scientific theorem. Still, many creative managers read about the most popular styles and adopt the ones that might work for them. This approach is neither inherently good nor bad. Actually, if their hard wired personality supports adopting one style or another, managers may be able to internalize critical components to implement an endorsed style.
However, styles as written and described are only theories until energized into action. Often, prevailing corporate cultures and organizations influence the best style to achieve success. Sometimes a superior manager needs to perfect multiple styles to be effective with all staff and to achieve company goals.
How Management Styles Affect Your Level of Success
First, you should perform a self-assessment. Ask the question, “What type of manager am I?” There are numerous online personality tests and other valuable evaluation tools that can give you meaningful results. These can help you learn your innate management style, which should help you assess your propensity to adopt a management style that works.
Matching your personality or inherent management style with your employer’s corporate culture is crucial to your success. If your innate style is compatible with your company corporate culture, you are fortunate.
If the corporate culture is incompatible with your current style, you need to adopt one of two action plans. Either modify your current management style or consider seeking another employer that better meshes with your personality and behavior traits.
There are three primary management styles:
- Management retains and enforces 100 percent authority with a strong chain of command, total operational control, heavy discipline and top-down communication policies. This style can cause employee dissatisfaction, but often generates results.
- Democratic: Solicits and values employee participation in business decisions. Often called “participative management,” it fosters and encourages open communication and feedback between staff and managers.
- Laissez-faire: The “left wing” of management styles, this approach mandates free flowing communication. Unfortunately, this style sometimes clouds responsibility channels, confusing some staff. This style works best when you’re dealing with a highly trained, motivated and invested staff. Exhibiting strong self-driven dedication, staff members typically respond well to this management style if implemented properly. However, in some situations, it becomes more a source of confusion and bewilderment than high performance.
The necessity to sometimes adopt more than one management style should become part of your skill set, as the need for this ability arises in contemporary business. This can be challenging. For example, if you inherently have a democratic personality and style, circumstances that dictate an autocratic style may be uncomfortable, yet necessary.
Often, the best solution is to create your own combination of styles or the ability to seamlessly switch between classic styles when needed. It is usually more effective to develop a strong combination of management styles and emphasize certain features of classic components when required.
This is easier recommended than accomplished. It is important to become comfortable with multiple management styles so you can switch hats immediately when conditions dictate a change. It is worth the effort to practice and perfect this ability, as situations change more rapidly than corporate culture, which may take years to evolve.
If you can integrate your personality with employee attitudes and workplace realities, the most effective management style may become apparent. Once again, this proves that one static and irrevocable management style is never best. Conditions and circumstances tend to dictate the most effective management style for the moment, however long the moment may last.
Should you change industries during your career, this ability to use different management styles can become essential to career success. Knowing how styles work and practicing their implementation may become your ticket to management success. This ability may also become your guarantee of lifestyle achievement.