Management Styles

Playing your role efficiently.

What do we mean
Styles?

It is one thing to know the role

of management, and what it
needs to do, and the way it
should think.
However, it is something else to
know how this leadership role
translates into working relations
with the managers staff?

Top Down
Management

Some people see management

like this: a Triangle. This
suggests hierarchy the
Boss view of an organization.
This is connected with
words like supervisor,
boss, Foreman,
Overseer, etc. The
person with the authority
to get the job done.

Top Down
Management

This may be very appropriate

to some forms of authoritybased, structured societies; and
not to others.
It is based on the idea of
command and supervision; i.e.
the worker needs to be
watched.

Another Perception

For others, it looks like this: A

Circle. This represents a team
approach, (hence Quality
Circle) rather than being
instructed what to do.
It works in sport, where we
think of it as a team. That
works only when everyone
comes together.

Another Perception

The outcome of the Triangle

approach is the formation of
phalanxesi.e. bosses and
workers; managers and unions.
With the Circle the
management and the worker are
incorporated into a system in
which they all share the same
interests ( & benefits?)

A Paradox

Most of our lives, in a capitalist

state anyway, we are
encouraged to be competitive
and we give prizes to the best
students and so on.
How many people would rather
work on their own, rather than
in a team?

Alone or Together?

Management was originally

nervous about teams of workers
because they did not want the
workers becoming organized,
i.e. unionized. There was a
Them and Us dimension,
sometimes based on class or
education divisions.
Comparing, competing, sharing,
cooperating?

Reacting to a Problem

Suppose you have to cut your

salary bill for the unit of which
you are manager.
Should you:
Make an Across the Board
Cut (fairness, share the load)?
Decide who gets cut and how
much?
Leave it to the Employees to
decide.

The Supervision Model

Back in the 1970s, they

introduced a new car called the
Vega, built in Ohio, USA.
It was a total failure. Why?
The company used the approach
of work simplification which
minimized the workers
responsibilities to limit the
chance that he will screw up

Workers Perception

That approach indicated a lack

of confidence in the worker,
even though it makes the work
easy.
What it produced were
Boredom
Substance Abuse
Absenteeism
A rotten unreliable car.

Result

Booze
Drugs
Skipping Work
Alienation
Extremely bad workmanship
Bad Reputation
Falling Sales
Japanese Take Over.

In Contrast

Look at the Experience of the

Saturn
Here workers do several jobs,
move around, no guaranteed
wage, any problem and you
rework it on your own time.
Incentive is reward for quality.
Quality has replaced fast
Self-Managed Teams

The Tune Has Changed

In the 1970s we (in the USA)

were saying that the world was
going to Hell because we did
not have good workers.
If you go into a restaurant and
the service is badwhose fault
do you think that really is? The
server?
Now, in 2006, we know the
problem was management.

What is a Manager?

Typically, a manager was

someone whose responsibility it
was to get results.
Now, the main change is that
the result is usually measured in
quality.
The method for achieving
quality is incentive, team
competition and feedback.

Involvement

If you think of counseling, then

the counselor does not do all
the talking.
He provides a framework to get
you talking, and so resolve your
problems.
Management is the same
everyone should feel a
participant--some ownership

Teams and Managers

One problem is, where is the

balance between the role of the
manager, whose responsibility
it is to produce solutions, and
the teams, who are now
engaged in the same thing.
Defining the task?
Where does the sharing begin
and end?

Readiness

The employees must also be

ready for the task.
It is pointless to ask them to do
something for which they are
not prepared.
Can they do what we are
asking? (Task)
Do they have the confidence to
do it? (Orientation)

How Employees Have

Changed

Born before 1946

I want to do a good job (The
Work Ethic)
The boss was someone you saw
only when there was trouble.
Decisions had nothing to do
with you.
Saving money.

And now

Born after 1960/70

I want to do my own thing
Asks Why?
Lives on loans and credit
Expects things to get better
Moves around a lot, and sells
his skills in the market.

How do I communicate?
Does 40% of talking. May
seem like a wimp to
some who want to be told
what to do

Styles

Sits apart, talks

assertively. Accepted
role of bosssome
people more
comfortable with that