Find the Right Management Style
If you are responsible for managing a group of employees, then it is important that you find an effective management style so as to ensure maximum employee morale and productivity. There are different ways to lead, and each style comes with its own set of pros and cons. In order to find the best leadership style for you, you must take many associated circumstances into consideration. Therefore, identifying which style of management is most appropriate is a task that requires some deliberation. Follow these guidelines for how to find the right management style.
Steps
- Familiarize yourself with the different styles of leadership. There are several basic styles you may choose from, based on the distribution of power. You should ideally combine certain aspects of 2 or more styles in order to tailor your management style to your specific circumstances.
- Democratic/participative/consultative management. This managerial style relies on the participation and input of every one of your team members, but allows for the manager to withhold major decision-making and delegating responsibilities. When you employ democratic management, you encourage your employees to think for themselves, act on their own behalf and be accountable for their job duties. This promotes autonomy in the workplace, and is conducive to high employee morale and productivity.
- Autocratic/authoritarian management. This leadership style is also called authoritarian and, as the name suggests, puts the majority of power and control in the hands of the manager. In an autocratic style of management, the leader makes all of the decisions without any consultation to the employees. This dynamic is useful in situations where you know more than the team members about the project at hand and must delegate and oversee employees' job duties due to strict time restraints. However, an autocratic management style can be stifling if overused.
- Delegative/laissez-faire/free reign management. This method of management relies on the competency of each and every team member, as it implies little to no managerial involvement and complete employee autonomy. Delegative management is ideal when an efficient and knowledgeable team has already been established and proven to work together effectively toward the accomplishment of project tasks. It is important with this style that you know you are still responsible for the end product, and for being accountable to your employees to help them accomplish their tasks.
- Paternal Management. This is similar to autocratic management in that the bulk of power is in the hands of management, except that it provides for some consultation with team members. The idea of paternal leadership is to supply employees with the resources needed in order to get the job done, but to limit decision-making abilities in favor of the manager.
- Evaluate your needs. As a manager, it is important that you carefully consider all of the circumstances surrounding your team and the project at hand in order to figure out how to best manage your employees.
- Team members. Take into account the length of time your employees have been working together and for your company. Assess their knowledge, skill set, competency and reliability. The more qualified your team members are, the more responsibility you can give them.
- Manager/employee dynamic. Consider how you work with your team members. You may work directly with them on projects, or work from a separate office, where you are not on as familiar a level with them. Your personal relationship with employees plays a part in determining the effectiveness of the different styles of management.
- Personality type. As a manager, your personality type is important to the managerial style you will be comfortable with. If you are a dominant personality, then you might do best leading with an autocratic or paternal style. If you enjoy being a team player, then you might be well-suited for the democratic or delegated styles. Gauge the amount of power you are comfortable sharing and the amount of control you prefer to have over project management in order to determine the power balance, and corresponding style of management, that is a good fit for you.
- Project specifics. Take into account all of the factors involved in accomplishing the necessary tasks and determine the most productive distribution of responsibility and power. If you have strict time constraints, are working with a team of inexperienced employees and/or must delegate the use of limited available resources, then you may need to assume a strong authoritarian or paternal leadership role in order to compensate for those factors. On the other hand, if your team is well-equipped to handle the job, there are substantial resources and/or the task calls for teamwork, a delegative or democratic approach may be more suitable.
- Company size. If your company is large and you are responsible for managing a large number of people, then it may be difficult to coordinate employee tasks and productivity from a delegative standpoint. However, if you are working with a relatively small team, it may be feasible to place a majority of the responsibility in their hands, as it will be easier for you to oversee productivity from a distance.
- Find an appropriate balance between consideration and structure. Your ideal leadership style should combine these traits in a ratio that is appropriate to the team composition and the project at hand.
- Consideration is the amount of importance placed on the needs of your employees, and involves things like team building and maintaining employee morale.
- Structure focuses solely on accomplishing tasks, and involves delegating and managing team member responsibilities.
Tips
- To make the most of your chosen management style, emphasize employee rewards for performance, rather than penalties for faults.
Warnings
- Whatever leadership style you choose, it is important that you avoid counterproductive behaviors such as disrespecting employees or bossing them around.
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