Page 109 - SBL Integrated Workbook STUDENT 2018

Effective leadership

There are four main management styles:

 Tells (autocratic) – the manager makes all the decisions and issues
instructions which are to be obeyed without question.

 Sells (persuasive) – the manager still makes all the decisions, but believes that
team members must be motivated to accept them in order to carry them out
properly.

 Consults (participative) – the manager confers with the team and takes their
views into account, although still retains the final say.

 Joins (democratic) – the leader and the team members make the decision
together on the basis of consensus.

Unfortunately, as with trait theories, it is possible to find counter examples e.g. Steve
Jobs demonstrating the least effective style (autocratic) but running the largest
technology company in the World

2.3 Contingency/contextual theories

The difficulty with style theories, even when they attempt to reflect the
multidimensional nature of leadership, is that they ignore the important influence of
the context in which the leader is operating.

The modern consensus is that there is no one best style of leadership that is equally
effective for all circumstances.

A theory that is a mixture of both trait and contingency is the situational approach.
This suggests that a successful leader will have the required traits and behaviour to
fit the needs of the situation.

Illustrations and further practice

Now try TYU question 1.

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