Style Approach to Leadership Dr Salma Chad Trait

+ Style Approach to Leadership Dr. Salma Chad

+ Trait Approach Focuses on identifying the innate qualities and characteristics possessed by leaders Skills Approach Skills approach focuses on three specific areas: Technical Human Conceptual

Style Approach Focuses on the behavior of the leader Focuses on what leaders “do” and how they “act” Researchers studying this approach agree that there are two general kinds of behaviors + Task behaviors Facilitate goal accomplishments Relationship behaviors Help subordinates feel comfortable with themselves and others

Research on Style Approach Ohio State University in 1940’s based on Stogdill’s work in 1948. This study analyzed leaders in their environment and then provided a questionnaire to the subordinates that evaluated how often a leader engaged in certain types of behavior + University of Michigan in 1940’s Blake and Mouton (1964, 1978, and 1985)

+ Leadership Grid Concern for production • Organizational tasks • Sales volume • Work load • Policy decisions Concern for people • Building commitment and trust • Promoting personal worth of employee • Good working conditions • Fair salary structure • Good social relations

+ Leadership Grid

Leadership Grid +

+ Leadership Grid Authority-Compliance Management • Heavy emphasis on task and job • Less emphasis on people • People are just tools to get job done • Results driven • Leader tends to be controlling, demanding, and hard-driving

+ Leadership Grid Country Club Management • Low concern for task accomplishment • High concern for interpersonal relationships • Leaders make sure the personal and social needs of followers are met • Leader creates a positive environment by being agreeable

+ Leadership Grid Impoverished Management • Leader is unconcerned with task and interpersonal relationships • Leader is uninvolved and withdrawn • Little contact between leader and followers • Leader is indifferent, noncommittal, and apathetic •

+ Leadership Grid Middle-of-the-Road Management • Leader is a compromiser • Intermediate concern for task and people performing the task • Leader avoids conflict • Promotion of intermediate production levels and interpersonal skills

+ Leadership Grid Team Management • Strong emphasis on both tasks and interpersonal relationships • Promotes participation and teamwork • Leader makes priorities clear, follows through, and is open-minded

+ Leadership Grid Blake and his colleagues have identified two styles that identify multiple aspects of the grid Paternalism / Maternalism Uses both Authority-Compliance and Country Club Management styles These styles are at opposite ends of the grid Benevolent Dictator - acts graciously for the purpose of goal accomplishment Opportunism Uses any combination of the five styles for personal advancement

How Does Style Approach Work? Provides framework for assessing leadership behaviors in a broad and general way Offers a way to look at leadership behavior by sub-dividing it into the two dimensions + Reminds leaders that their impact occurs through both the tasks they perform and the relationships they create

+ How Does the Style Approach Work? • Focus of Style Approach • Strengths • Criticisms • Application

Strengths • Style Approach marked a major shift in leadership shift research from exclusively trait focused to include behaviors and actions of leaders • Broad range of studies on leadership style validates and gives credibility to the basic tenets of the approach • At conceptual level, a leader’s style is composed of two major types of behaviors: task and relationship • Based on style approach, leaders can assess their actions and determine how to change to improve their leadership style + • Easily applied • Studies on leadership style validate and give credibility to the approach • Approach applies to everything a leader does

Application • Many leadership training and development programs are designed along the lines of the style approach. • By assessing their own style, managers can determine how they are perceived by others and how they could change their behaviors to become more effective. +

Style Approach is leader-centered It does not address the training or development of future leaders from the group of followers Concern for people Only to meet an organizational goal

Application of Style Approach Step One: Identify your leadership style Step Two: Identify areas of improvement and develop your leadership skills + Step Three: Put the Leadership Grid in context