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April  2003 Management / Leadership Styles (updated) (Continued from March 2003)

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Management /Leadership Styles (Updated)

In last month's article, we added to and expanded upon the management styles from our 1996 articles.  This is a continuation of our updates to management styles.

Management by Coaching and Development (MBCD) (updated):

In this style, managers see themselves primarily as employee trainers.  This management style requires that both parties participate actively in the process.

1. There must be good communication on both sides. 
2. The coach must be a good listener. 
3. Constructive feedback must be given � neither judgmental nor autocratic. 
4. Exploration is the main technique � rather than instruction � because people have different approaches. 
5. Both parties must unlearn old "dictatorial" habits by delegating power. 
6. Both must have a positive view on the outcome. 

Management by Consensus (MBC) (updated):

Managers construct systems to allow for the individual input of employees.  This management style has an over-emphasis on teams.  Management by consensus has advantages and there should be clear accountability at an individual level. 

Key attributes of this style:

• Decision-making and commitment to action resides at the committee level.
• Buy-in is required at several levels � both broad and deep.
• This style often shows down the decision-making process.

Management by Consensus is often mentioned as the style most used in Japan.  It can be a powerful method for gaining buy-in from stakeholders.  It can also bring a project to a point of paralysis if there is no method for breaking deadlocks. 

Management by Exception (MBE) (updated):

Managers delegate as much responsibility and activity as possible to those below them, stepping in only when absolutely necessary.

1. A principle of management in which a management decision that cannot be made at one level is passed up to the next level for a decision (i.e. exceptional decisions are passed up the management tree).
2. The principle used in budgetary control in which items of income or expenditure that show no variances or small variances require no action, whereas exceptional items showing adverse variances to an unacceptable degree require action to be taken. 

Source: A Dictionary of Accounting, Oxford University Press � Market House Books Ltd 1999 

Management by Empowerment (new)

Authorizing employees to do their work without the need to seek approval from supervisors gives a sense of responsibility and achievement to employee reduces delays in flow of work reduces work-load on manager exception reporting 

Management by Executive Fiat (new)

In essence, this is the style of dictatorship, a style that no longer functions well in modern society.  The key decision-maker has the power to "make the call."  This style results in fast decision making and greatly simplifies the decision-making process.  However, if there is any disagreement by the people affected by the decision,  this style does not allow for discussion or revision.  

Management by Gamesmanship (new)

Michael Maccoby (The Gamesman, Simon & Schuster 1976) used this name to describe the manager who is compulsively driven to succeed.  The goal of the "gamesman" is to rise through the hierarchy and he/she subordinates every other value and relationship to that end. 

Mr. Maccoby described 4 primary personalities:

1. The Craftsman � an independent perfectionist with a passion for quality and improvement. 
2. The Jungle Fighter � a power hungry individualist. 
3. The Company Man � the long term careerist, interested more in security than success. 
4. The Gamesman � flexible and dedicated to winning. 

The gamesman is said to believe in nothing in particular, to be uninvolved emotionally and to hold nothing dear that might interfere with the next promotion.  Such people are common enough in organizations and many reach the very top.  The complaint made about them is that  � having few values � they create organizations that have few values as well. 

Management by Knowledge (or Management by Information) (updated)

Based on W. Edwards Deming's theories of management:

• Knowledge or theory must change when new observations refute previous knowledge or theory. 
• Knowledge is the engine for instituting improvements in processes and in the organization.  
• Knowledge suggests an intervention, which is consequently tested, and which in turn may become the basis of new knowledge.  
• The alternative to management by knowledge is to manage by superstition or luck. 

W. Edwards Deming's 14 Points for Management

1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business, and provide jobs. 
2. Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age.  Western management must awaken to the challenge, learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change.
3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality.  Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place. 
4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag.  Instead, minimize total cost.  Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.
6. Institute training on the job.
7. Institute leadership.  The aim of leadership should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job.  Leadership of management is in need of overhaul, as well as leadership of production workers.
8. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.
9. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems in production and use that may be encountered with the product or service.
10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity.
    • Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.  
    • Eliminate management by objective.  Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals.  Substitute leadership.
11. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship.  The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality. 
12. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship.  
13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.
14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job.

Management by Performance (MBP) (updated)

Managing by performance means describing what needs to be accomplished, not how it will be accomplished.  People and their goals are the driving force behind an organization's success.  Linking the organizations' strategic goals with the employee's goals is a critical element of an effective Balanced Scorecard ( BSC) implementation. 

The Management by Performance method uses these techniques:

1. Compiles organizational scorecards, departmental scorecards and individual scorecards for each employee, defines the target values and provides analysis against the targets.
2. Provides a direct link and allocation of defined measures to any single level of the organization. 
3. Its increased transparency drives a performance culture. 

The Balanced Scorecard, developed by Dr. Robert Kaplan and David Norton in the early 1990s, is becoming more popular in public companies and government sector agencies where public accountability and stewardship is increasingly  important.  

  Internet Resources

• A Guide to Management Styles - http://www.libsci.sc.edu/bob/class/clis748/Studentwebguides/ss02/Bivens2.html 
• Introduction to Management Theory - http://web.city.ac.uk/artspol/theorymgt.html/ 

  Books  Disclosure: We get a small commission for purchases made via links to Amazon. 

• The Gamesman: The New Corporate Leaders, Michael Maccoby.  Simon & Schuster 1976 (hardcover); Bantam Books 1978 (paperback) ASIN: 0553230999  

  Articles

• Management by Empowerment - http://www.afr-sd.org:8000/reson/Training/empowerment/empowerment.html and http://www.afr-sd.org:8000/reson/Training/Team%20materials/teamwork%20basics.html 
• W. Edwards Deming's Management theories - http://www.sythink.com/articles/aDeming.htm 
• W. Edwards Deming Institute - http://www.deming.org/ 
• Japanese Management: "Colorado Style" - http://ppl.nhmccd.edu/~mikep/Links/Management/JapaneseMgt.html 
• Guide to a Using a Balanced Scorecard Performance Management Methodology - http://oamweb.osec.doc.gov/bsc/guide.htm 
• Applications of Performance Measurement - http://www.balancedscorecard.org/appl/index.html 
• The Balanced Scorecard - http://www.strategicplanning.organizedchange.com/balancedscorecard.htm
• The Balanced Scorecard Institute - http://www.balancedscorecard.org/basics/bsc1.html 
• Japanese Management style - http://www.maaw.info/ArtSumCrawford98.htm 
• Why Good Management Ideas Fail - Understanding Your Corporate Culture http://www.refresher.com/!neglected.html 
• Team Leadership (Management by Consensus)- http://www.bizbasics.com/html/team_leadership.html 
• Translating Performance Metrics from the Private to the Public Sector - http://www.balancedscorecard.org/metrics/translating.html 
• Harvard University Professor Robert Behn's "Manager's Choice" column in Governing Magazine.

  The Lighter Side  

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. .. Peter Drucker

• Humor is good for the bottom line - http://www.exxelinc.com/Humor.pdf 
• U.S. Employees Agree: A Good Laugh Can Increase Workplace Productivity - http://www.va-interactive.com/inbusiness/editorial/hr/articles/goodlaugh.html 
• Dilbert Management Style quotes - http://mywebpages.comcast.net/russell520/humor/dilbert.htm 
  

About our resource links:  We do not endorse or agree with all the beliefs in these links.  We do keep an open mind about different viewpoints and respect the ability of our readers to decide for themselves what is useful.

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