Management Styles Management Styles q Autocratic q Democratic

Management Styles

Management Styles q Autocratic: – – q Democratic: – – q Directing Guiding Supporting Delegating Different strokes for different folks

Management Styles q Autocratic: – – Tough, bottom-line, focus on production, results Rules, obedience, formality, personal power/credit q q Exploitative authoritarian Benevolent authoritarian

Management Styles q Democratic: – – Consultative, humanistic, focus on people Consensus, informality, conflict tolerance, team power/team credit q q Consultative democratic style Participative democratic style

Management Styles - Autocratic q q Directing: The coach provides specific instructions and closely supervises task accomplishments. Guiding: The coach continues some direction and closely supervises task accomplishments, but also explains decisions and supports progress.

Management Styles - Democratic q q Supporting: The coach facilitates and supports efforts to accomplish tasks and shares responsibility for decision making. Delegating: The coach turns over responsibility for decision making, problem solving, and task accomplishments.

q q Managers must be flexible and change their styles to fit the needs of their associates. Coaching must be based on associates’ development needs and development level.

Autocratic q Directing is appropriate when a decision has to be made in a hurry and the stakes are high. Appropriate with inexperienced people. – Structure, control and closely supervise when competence is low and commitment is high.

Autocratic q Guiding is appropriate when skills are adequate, but when initial enthusiasm wanes. Associates still need to increase skills, but they need to build self-esteem and confidence more. – Guiding is effective with some competence and low commitment.

Democratic q Supporting is appropriate when people know what they are doing but need recognition and reinforcement of good habits. – Praise, listen and facilitate with high competence and variable commitment.

Democratic q Delegating is appropriate for peak performers, for highly motivated associates who need little direction (and usually crave autonomy and independence). – Turn over responsibility for day-to-day decision making to people with high competence and high commitment.

Take Aways q q Managers should create a work environment with clear, behavior-specific standards that are reinforced by rewards and consequences which are implemented quickly. Managers should coach based on those behavior-specific standards using a directing, guiding, supporting, or delegating style based on associates’ needs.