EXAMPLES OF MANAGEMENT STYLE

Participative

An advertising manager approaches his team members on how to promote a particular product of a company. The team members brain storm over the issue, some suggest print media, others suggest direct mails to the prospective clients. The participative leader takes all these suggestions, weighs their pros and cons and then takes the final decision after considering his team members' opinions.

Delegative

A manager has newly joined a firm. He is still learning how various things function in the organization. In such a situation, he relies on the suggestions and opinions of his team members and lets them do the things the way they are used to, till the time he is able to gain sufficient knowledge and can suggest some more feasible changes.

Coaching

Using the coaching style also provides benefits to the manager and organization. It helps improve your performance, improves your relationship with employees, increases your ability to meet organization goals, increases staff retention, and over the long term makes the organization more effective because the knowledge and skills required to operate an organization effectively in today's volatile environment are constantly being updated.

Directing Style

Use a directing style when you are required to define the responsibilities, set the expectations and describe explicitly how to execute tasks. This style is appropriate in a learning organization when your team lacks experience.

For example, if you may be responsible for managing recent college graduates hired to qualify leads for sales representatives in your organization. Present the job description, criteria for success and steps for call behavior. Provide case studies and dialog scripts as examples of performances the newly hired employees should emulate. Communicate established standard procedures to follow when problems arise. Clear directives enable their success on the job.

E.g: 1- Organizing: Organizing refers to the way the organization allocates resources, assigns tasks, and goes about accomplishing its goals. In the process of organizing, managers arrange a framework that links all workers, tasks, and resources together so the organizational goals can be achieved. The framework is called organizational structure, which is discussed extensively in another article. Organizational structure is shown by an organizational chart, also discussed extensively in another article. The organizational chart that depicts the structure of the organization shows positions in the organization, usually beginning with the top-level manager (normally the president) at the top of the chart. Other managers are shown below the president.

There are many ways to structure an organization, which are discussed extensively in the articles referred to previously. It is important to note that the choice of structure is important for the type of organization, its clientele, and the products or services it provides-all which influence the goals of the organization.

E.g:2- An example of the directing style might be the last time you went for a blood test. The lab technician told you to roll up your sleeve and extend your arm. You were shown how to squeeze your hand during the sampling and when to do it. After the blood was drawn, you received specific instructions about holding the cotton swab over the area.

The Situational Leadership ModelThe Situational Leadership Model suggests that there is no “one size fits all” approachto leadership. Depending on the situation, varying levels of “leadership” and“management” are necessary. However, leaders must first identify their most importanttasks or priorities. Second, leaders must consider the readiness level of their followersby analyzing the group’s ability and willingness. Depending on the level of thesevariables, leaders must apply the most appropriate leadership style to fit the givensituation. The four different types of situational leadership are:

DirectingCoachingSupportingDelegating

The Four Types of Situational Leadership

Directing – This leadership approach is most appropriate when the followers have lowwillingness and low ability for the task at hand. When the followers cannot do the job andare unwilling or afraid to try, then the leader must take a highly directive role. Directingrequires those in charge to define the roles and tasks of the followers, and supervise themclosely. Decisions are made by those in charge and communication is one-way. If the leader focusedmore on the relationship in this situation, the followers would become confused about what must bedone and what is optional. Directing is often used when the issue is serious or comes with drasticconsequences if not successful. The leader maintains a directive position to ensure all required actionsare completed.

Coaching – This leadership approach is most appropriate when the followershave high willingness but low ability for the task at hand. Like Directing,Coaching still requires leaders to define roles and tasks clearly, but the leaderseeks ideas and suggestions from the follower. Decisions remain the leader'sprerogative, but communication is much more two-way. Followers needingcoaching require direction and supervision because they are still relativelyinexperienced, but they also need support and praise to build their self-esteem, andinvolvement in decision-making to restore their commitment. While Coaching, the leader spends timelistening, advising, and helping the follower gain necessary skills in order to do the task autonomouslynext time.

Supporting – This leadership approach is most appropriate when the followers havelow willingness but high ability for the task at hand. Supportive leadership works whenthe follower can do the job, but is refusing to do it or showing a lack of commitment. Theleader need not worry about showing them what to do, but instead should be concernedwith finding out why the followers are refusing and work to persuade them to cooperate.The key to supportive leadership is motivating and building confidence in people! Clarification on thedetails of the process won’t matter, as the follower already knows what to do but lacks the motivationto act. Supportive leadership involves listening, giving praise and making the followers feel good whenthey show the necessary commitments for success.

Delegating – This leadership approach is most appropriate when the followershave high willingness and high ability. Leaders should rely on delegating when thefollower can do the job and is motivated to do it. There is a high amount of trust thatthe follower will do well, and the follower requires little supervision or support.Delegating still keeps the leader involved in the decisions and problem-solving, butexecution is mostly in the hands of the followers. Because the follower has the mostcontrol, he is responsible for communicating information back up to the leader.Followers at this level have less need for support or frequent praise, although as withanyone, occasional recognition is always encouraged.