Leadership Styles

Leadership and Management

• Managers occupy a role in an organization that
performs at least one of the management
functions:
– Planning
– Organizing
– Leading
– Controlling
• A leader is anyone who is able to influence others.
 Leadership and Management
• Most good managers are also good leaders.
• It is possible to be a manager and not a
leader.
• It is also possible to be a leader and not a
manager.
 Leadership Styles
• There are two basic leadership styles:
1. Autocratic leader
– All decision making must be retained by the
leader because employees are either unwilling
or unable to make reasonable decisions.
– This can be an effective management style but
it can lead to low morale and malicious
obedience (passive aggressive behavior).
– Sometimes called Theory X.
 Leadership Styles
2. Democratic leadership
• Believe that authority should be delegated.
• Employees are both willing and able to make
reasonable decisions.
• Democratic leadership is not a panacea.
• Can lead to greater employee satisfaction but not
necessarily greater employee productivity.
• Can also have unexpected consequences.
• Sometimes called Theory Y.
 Leadership Continuum
• There are actually four types of leadership
styles:
1. Directive autocratic
• Subordinates are allowed no discretion in decision
making or in carrying them out.
2. Permissive autocratic
• Subordinates are allowed no discretion in decision
making but considerable discretion in carrying out
decisions.
 Leadership Continuum
3. Directive Democratic
• Allows subordinates to participate in
decisions but supervises them closely when
they carry out decisions.
4. Permissive Democrat
• Allows subordinates great discretion in
making decisions and in carrying them out.
 Japanese Management System
• All the rage in the 1980’s due to the
fabulous performance of the Japanese
economy since the end of World War II.
• Stresses a number of unique elements:
– Lifelong employment with seniority the basis
of promotion
– Temporary employees are typically women and
act as a buffer to protect men’s jobs.
 Japanese Management Cont’d
• Participative decision making – everyone who will
feel the impact is involved in the decision until a
consensus is reached.
• Management training emphasizes company loyalty
and is oriented towards the group not the
individual and is designed to emphasize team
spirit.
• Other characteristics include daily exercise , pep
talks, identical uniforms, no unions, non specific
job classifications and company outings.
 Japanese Management
• Has become far less popular since the difficulties
with the Japanese economy in the 1990’s.
• Weaknesses such as an oversized middle
management have become evident.
• As Japanese culture has become influenced by the
US workers have begun to express a desire for
greater autonomy.
• Japanese management is sometimes referred to as
theory Z.
 Leadership Theories
• Two types of leadership theories have
emerged:
1. Universalist theory suggests there is one
best theory that is applicable in all
situations.
2. Contingency theory suggests that different
leadership styles are required for different
situations.
 Universalist Theory
• The trait approach emphasizes certain
universal traits amount effective leaders.
• The leader behavior approach emphasizes
the behavior of the leader rather than the
traits which are more easily observable.
 The Situational Leadership
Approach
• Different situations dictate a different style
of leadership.
• Employees with a low level of development
are best managed with a highly directive
style.
• Employees also tend to be very enthusiastic
which also suggests the leader does not
have to be very supportive.
 Situational Leadership
• When employees with limited skill levels are
presented with a new task requires not only a
directive approach but also a supportive one.
• When employees have high skill level but low
motivation a high supportive but less directive
approach is called for.
• When employees have a high skill level and high
motivation little support or direction is needed.
 Situational Leadership

High supportive High Directive

Low directive High Supportive

Supportive Behavior

S3 S2

High Directive
Low Supportive
Low Supportive
Low Directive
S1
S4

Directive Behavior
 Impact of Technology on
Management
• Technology has frequently been embraced as a
means of increasing productivity.
• Also critical is the impact on employee morale.
• Some employees feel isolated by the increase in
technology
– Employees do not talk face to face but email each other.
– Employees leave voice mail rather than meeting face to
face.
– Projects are planned, organized and executed without
collaborators ever meeting with each other.
 Impact of Technology on
Management
• Other employees embrace enthusiastically
the ability of technology to make them more
efficient.
– Technology allows for fewer employees
performing low skill tasks and focuses on
employees ability to perform analytical and
other high level tasks.
– Technology also can provide far greater flexible
work environment.
 Impact of Technology on
Management
• Technology also poses unique challenges to
managers.
• When dealing with employees who require
a highly directive environment technology
may be able to provide some of the
direction.
• This is only true if the technology is well
structured.
 Impact of Technology on
Management
• Poorly structured technology or instructions
can frustrate and alienate employees
especially those who require a highly
directive environment. (S2)
• Employees requiring less direction but
motivation can be even more alienated by
poorly performing technology (S3)
 Impact of Technology on
Management
• Poorly performing technology requires
quick attention by management to resolve
any problems.
• When technology performs well managers
have at times embraced solutions which
maximize the use of technology for the sake
of efficiency.
 Impact of Technology on
Management
• Some extreme elements of these solutions
are:
– Telecommuting
– Hotelling
– Virtual office
• These solutions like leadership style need to
be tailored to the situation.
 Impact of Technology on
Management
• Employees with a high level of training and
high motivation (S4) would likely flourish
in environments where flexible work and
work hours can be implemented.
• However, employees with low skill levels
(S1) requiring a highly directive
environment would likely perform poorly.
 Impact of Technology on
Management
• Also need to also evaluate the impact of
other work factors such as the social
environment and team spirit.
• Employee loyalty and espri de corps could
be unexpected casualties to a highly
decentralized work environment.
• Managers also have expressed concern on
the ability to monitor worker productivity.
 Impact of Technology on
Management
• To address management concerns over
productivity technology has been employed as a
monitoring tool.
• A highly decentralized environment tends to focus
on performance measures which are quantitative.
• Overemphasis on quantitative measures which
may have flaws can also sacrifice employee
morale so they need to be chosen carefully.