Three Effective Management Styles

Being an effective manager means knowing when to use the right management style. Some styles, for instance, are more people-oriented, while others tend to focus on a project or product. The management style you select will depend on your people’s skills and knowledge, available resources (like time and money), desired results, and, of course, the task before you.

I. Your job is to select the management style that works best for any given situation. Managing without a specific style leads to a specific set of circumstances that can slow you down and even lead to costly mistakes.

Get your people to do their best work by using one or more of the following effective management styles:

Participatory Style

Here, it is critical to give each employee an entire task to complete. If that’s not possible, make sure the individual knows and understands his or her part as it relates to the project or task. When people on your team know where they fit in the big picture, they’re more likely to be motivated to complete the task. Take the time to explain the details and why their role is important. If your tasks are divided among groups, coordinate each group’s contribution so that everyone knows where and how they fit in. Make a concerted effort to minimize obstacles and difficulties that arise. Reward not only jobs well done, but motivation as well. This will maintain the momentum and let people know that you have faith in their efforts.

Directing Style

Sometimes a situation will call for a direct style of management. Perhaps a tight deadline or the project involves numerous employees and requires a top-down management approach. Here, a manager answers five questions for the employees: What? Where? How? Why? and When? Let them know what they need to do, how they’re going to do it, and when they must be finished. With this style, don’t be afraid to set specific tasks. You also need to set clear, short-term goals like, “Your goal is to complete three reports a day.” In addition, be willing and able to make decisions quickly. Make sure, as well, to reward and recognize jobs well done.

Teamwork Style

If you want to expedite a project and optimize a process for completing that project, managing by teamwork is the way to go. When you motivate people to pool their knowledge, the results may exceed your expectations. Often, teams can tackle problems more quickly than what you can accomplish on your own. The give-and-take can create a process that you can copy in other projects.

Remember that successful teamwork depends on coordinated efforts among the staff, as well as solid communication skills. Reports must be clear and concise. Probably most important, however, is your willingness to credit the team for its success and independence, rather than your bright management skills.

 

http://www.managementstyles.net

II. Find English equivalents of the words from the text:

иметь тенденцию, выбирать, зависеть от, доступный, обстоятельство, приводить к чему-либо, дорогостоящая ошибка, весь, относиться к чему-либо (к делу), вклад, препятствие, вознаграждать, ставить и достигать цель, согласованные усилия, решать проблему, ускорять, принимать решения, краткий\сжатый, желаемый результат, вера в успех, жесткие сроки, завершить проект, результат превосходит ожидания.

III. Answer the questions:

1) What things are common in all three styles?

2) Why are the styles effective?

3) What is the purpose of each style? What results can you get?

4) What is the aim of any management style?

IV. Problem-solving activity

The choice of different styles depend on the situation and the relationship behavior (amount of support required) and task behavior (amount of guidance required).

Can you guess which management styles would work best for each situation? Should managers use only one management style? Or situational style?

A few situations and options are listed below. Try to decide which of the four situational styles would work best in each situation. Then pick the option that best fits that style.

 

Situation 1

The employees in your program appear to be having serious problems getting the job done. Their performance has been going downhill rapidly. They have not responded to your efforts to be friendly or to your expressions of concern for their welfare.

Which style would you pick? What would you do?

Reestablish the need for following program procedures and meeting the expectations for task accomplishment.

Be sure that staff members know you are available for discussion, but don’t pressure them.

Talk with your employees and then set performance goals.

Wait and see what happens.

Situation 2

During the past few months, the quality of work done by staff members has been increasing. Record keeping is accurate and up to date. You have been careful to make sure that the staff members are aware of your performance expectations.

Which style would you pick? What would you do?

Stay uninvolved.

Continue to emphasize the importance of completing tasks and meeting deadlines.

Be supportive and provide clear feedback. Continue to make sure that staff members are aware of performance expectations.

Make every effort to let staff members feel important and involved in the decision making process.

Situation 3

Performance and interpersonal relations among your staff have been good. You have normally left them alone. However, a new situation has developed, and it appears that staff members are unable to solve the problem themselves.