Management styles

Most commentators split management styles into three groups:

• Authoritarian or autocratic
• Participative or democratic
• Hands-off or laissez-faire

At ILM we believe these are not hard-and-fast types, but convenient groups on a continuum of management styles.  In addition, management style will vary not only manager by manager, but according to the task in hand and team members themselves.

Authoritarian or autocratic management style

While the word authoritarian carries negative consequences, this can be a highly effective management style and is well suited to specific situations that require absolute clarity on objectives and methods, where time is scarce or team members unable or unwilling to participate in decisions.

Planning for emergencies like a natural disaster or terrorist attack will be best met by an authoritarian style of management, with the clear aim of leading people involved out of danger.

Participative or democratic management style

A democratic management style invites the participation of team members in decision making.  The manager acts as the scene-setter and will play a key role in shaping both the context and the final decision, as well as resolving differences.

The key advantages of this management approach is it exploits skills not held by the manager and also builds the commitment of team members to their own strategic objectives through their involvement in their development. 

There is an obvious time cost to this approach (which is one reason it does not suit emergency situations).  The advantages will however be seen not only in better strategies or plans, but also in the way the team works towards those.

Hands-off management style

This approach, sometimes called laissez-faire, places a great deal of authority in team members to both understand and deliver on objectives.  The risks of this management approach are self-evident: team members may mistake or misunderstand what they are working towards; and it allows a large degree of leeway to underperformance.

A manager who successfully employs this style will normally allow team members to get on with their work, with possible gains in productivity, but will also ensure the manager’s own door is ‘always open’ for consultation and discussion.

With the emergence of coaching in the workplace it should be possible to combine a hands-off management style with one that employs a coaching or mentoring approach, in which the manager acts as the agent, helping team members to achieve bigger and better things.