An individual’s management style is shaped by many different factors including internal and external business environments, and how one views the role of work in the lives of employees.
Less skilled or motivated employees would require a style that is more controlling and fosters consistent supervision to ensure productivity.
These types of organizations require more controlling management styles in order to meet objectives and get things done as specified.
[3] This psychological concept proposed that how one viewed human relationships to those of an enterprise determined their style of management.
Theory X proposes that people inherently lack the motivation and desire for responsibility and need to be closely supervised, directed, and tightly controlled in order to achieve team objectives.
This is considered the more conventional theory and results in management styles that have high degrees of control over employees.
Theory Y conversely suggests that it is human nature to be motivated by objectives and gain satisfaction through the completion of work.
[3] This perspective leads to management styles that give the workers more decision making control and provide less supervision.
[4] Roles and tasks are clearly defined, and workers are expected to follow these directions without question while being consistently checked and supervised.
[1] This type of style is particularly useful in organizations with hierarchical structures where management makes all of the decisions based on positioning in the hierarchy.
Employees that benefit from this style of management include those who are new, unskilled, or unmotivated, as they need the supervision and clear direction.
[5] The advantages of the autocratic management style are little uncertainty, clearly defined roles and expectations for employees, and the speed of decision-making.
[1] All decisions are made by the manager and employees are expected to be compliant leaving little room for variation or confusion.
Disadvantages of the democratic management style are the time it takes to make a decision due to the gathering of ideas and opinions.
There is also the potential conflict of different viewpoints playing a role in the decision making and as a result, employees can feel less valued if their input is not taken, leading to decreased morale and productivity.
The manager believes that involving everyone and making the team take ownership will result in the best decisions made.
[4] Disadvantages include the risk of low productivity by unsupervised staff, loss of direction due to the hands-off style of management.
The major drawbacks of this style are lack of uniformity among team members and uncoordinated efforts toward productivity.
They believe that managers have a tendency to become separated from staff and should focus efforts on understanding employees’ work and being visible and accessible.