03 Main Management Styles

03 Main Management Styles

Management consists of the process of planning, organizing, prioritizing the business tasks in order to achieve business goals and objectives. Management styles are the methods managers use to get these tasks completed timely and accurately.

Management styles differ from person to person according to the nature of the business industry, management level, and individual personalities. Effective management styles are flexible based on the working environments as well as employee behavior. Management styles of the individual person can be shaped by many factors such as internal and external business environment, the nature of the business industry, and the employee job roles.

All management styles can be divided into three main categories.

1. Autocratic

2. Democratic

3. Laissez-faire

Autocratic Management Styles

This is considered as most controlling management style. Autocratic managers are the ones who make all the business decisions in the organization. The communication with these types of a manager is happening as one way top-down communication as they will not take suggestions or feedback from the lower-level employees.

Job roles and the required tasks are clearly defined and the employees are expected to simply follow the guidelines and finish the job without asking any questions. However, consistent checks and supervision happen at every level of the production process.

This type of management style is useful in organizations with a hierarchical structure where the managers of the business take all the business decisions based on their position in the organization’s hierarchy.

There are three variations to this management style.

Authoritative style – When there is an authoritative management style, the confidence and trust of the management in the employees is minimum. The managers give orders to employees and expect the employees to follow the order and complete the task exactly as ordered. This type of management style is mostly used with unskilled employees.

Persuasive style – In business organizations with this management style, the manager makes all the decisions but then convinces the employees that the decisions are made in the best interest of the team. This only differs from the authoritative style due to the trust established between the managers and the employees.

Paternalistic or Exploitative/Authoritative style

Under this management style, the manager still makes all the business decisions but treats the employees in a condescending or paternalistic way. The decisions are made in the best interest of the employees of the business process and the manager of the process explains the decisions and the importance of working according to the decisions to the relevant employees.

This management style creates highly dependent employees as they may feel taken care of and looked after by the managers.

Democratic Management Styles

This type of management style are oriented towards making business decisions as a team. The manager is not considered as the rule maker in the organization and the decisions are made using the input from the employees in the team. However, the final decision is made by the manager after considering the feedback given by the employees.

There are a few variations for this management style.

Consultative style – When there is a consultative management style, confidence and trust are built with the employees and the manager actively reaches out to the employees for their opinion.

Participative style – This management style is similar to the participative style. However, the manager fully trusts the employees to an extent where they work together to make business decisions as a team. There is a high employee engagement in decision-making under this management style.

This management style helps to motivate employees as they feel valued and important as a part of the decision-making process in the business.

Collaborative style – This management style communicates extensively with the employees of the organization and makes the decisions by a majority of the business process. According to this management style, the manager believes that taking a contribution from all the employees will help the business to arrive at better business decisions.

This is considered a time-consuming process and sometimes the decision of the majority can create an adverse impact on the business as well.

Laissez-faire Management Styles

This management style involves little or no interest from the management of the business. The employees do not require supervision and are most likely to be skilled enough for the management to allow the problem-solving and decision-making processes to the staff. This management style is most suitable for organizations with flatter and decentralized management.

There are several variations for this management style.

Delegative style – This management style allows the employees to take full responsibility for their work area. The manager usually assigns tasks without any direction or with very little help and expects the staff to achieve the targets according to their own way.

Transactional Style – This is a management style that views job completion as a series of transactions. This is often followed by exchanging rewards, exceptional services, or punishments based on the performances.

Transformational style – This management style involves getting employees to transform their own self-interest into the common interest of the group. This management style is incorporated with working effort, interpersonal skills, and personal connections with the employees.

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