mhlearnsmart.com + Intro to Business - Understanding Business - Nickels, McHugh, McHugh, 11e, Management and Leadership Connect e-book video tab for a brief animated Leadership Styles connect Nothing has challenged management researchers more than the search for the iSee It! Need help best leadership traits, behaviors, or styles. Thousands of studies have tried to understanding leaders vs. managers? Visit your identify characteristics that make leaders different from other people. Intui- tively, you might conclude the same thing they did: leadership traits are hard to pin down. Some leaders are well groomed and tactful, while others are explanation unkempt and abrasive—yet both may be just as effective. Just as no one set of traits describes a leader, no one style of leadership autocratic leadership works best in all situations. Even so, we can look at a few of the most com- Leadership style that involves monly recognized leadership styles and see how they may be effective (see making managerial decisions Figure 7.6); without consulting others. 1. Autocratic leadership means making managerial decisions without consulting others. This style is effective in emergencies and when absolute followership is needed—for example, when fighting fires. Autocratic leadership is also effective sometimes with new, relatively of the Harvard Business Review. unskilled workers who need clear direction and guidance. Former Los Angeles Lakers Coach Phil Jackson used an autocratic leadership style Tannenbaum and Warren Schmidt FIGURE 7.6 VARIOUS LEADERSHIP STYLES Source: Reprinted by permission An exhibit from "How to Choose a Leadership Pattern" by Robert (May/June 1973). Copyright © 1973 by the Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved. Boss-centered leadership Subordinate-centered leadership Use of authority by manager Area of freedom for employee Manager makes decision and announces it it Manager "sells" decision Manager presents ideas and invites questions Manager presents tentative decision subject to change Manager Manager presents defines problem, limits, gets asks group suggestions, to make makes decision decision Manager permits employee to function within limits defined by superior Autocratic Participative/democratic Free rein 197 NI Mc Graw Hill Education « f 197 / 591 → >> X A A E Practice mhlearnsmart.com : Intro to Business - Understanding Business - Nickels, McHugh, McHugh, 11e, Management and Leadership 198 PART 3 Business Management: Empowering Employees to Satisfy Customers participative (democratic) leadership Leadership style that consists of managers and employees working together to make decisions. free-rein leadership Leadership style that involves managers setting objectives and employees being relatively free to do whatever it takes to accomplish those objectives. Alan Mulally, former CEO of Ford Motor Company, managed to lead the U.S. auto giant back into the black after the recession-without a government bailout. The reason for this success was the leadership style of the most authoritarian CEO that Ford has seen since Henry Ford. When an organization is under extreme pressure, why might autocratic leadership be necessary? to take the team to three consecutive National Basketball Association championships in his first three seasons. By following his leadership, a group of highly skilled individuals became a winning team. Today Jackson is president of the New York Knicks. Do you think he is using the same leadership style as president as he did as coach? What kind of leadership do you see being used most successfully in baseball, football, and other areas? 2. Participative (democratic) leadership involves managers and employees working together to make decisions. Research has found that employee participation in decisions may not always increase effectiveness, but it usually does increase job satisfaction.26 Many large organizations like Google, Apple, IBM, Cisco, and AT&T, and most smaller firms have been highly successful using a democratic style of leadership that values traits such as flexibility, good listening skills, and empathy. Employees meet to discuss and resolve management issues by giving everyone some opportunity to contribute to decisions. 3. In free-rein leadership managers set objectives and employees are free to do whatever is appropriate to accomplish those objectives. Free-rein leadership is often the most successful leadership style in certain organizations, such as those in which managers supervise doctors, professors, engineers, or other professionals. The traits managers need in such organizations include warmth, friendliness, and understanding. More and more firms are adopting this style of leadership with at least some of their employees. Individual leaders rarely fit neatly into just one of these categories. We can think of leadership as a continuum along which employee participation varies, from purely boss-centered leadership to subordinate-centered leadership. Which leadership style is best? Research tells us that it depends largely on what the goals and values of the firm are, who's being led, and in what situa- tions. A manager may be autocratic but friendly with a new trainee, demo- cratic with an experienced employee, and free-rein with a trusted long-term supervisor. There's no such thing as a leadership trait that is effective in all situations, or a leadership style that always works best. A suc- cessful leader in one organization may not be successful in another organization. A truly successful leader has the ability to adopt the leadership style most appropriate to the situation and the employees. 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