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Imagine a situation where you’ve got to choose between two job offers.
The first is with a start-up where you’ll have the opportunity to make decisions and communicate directly with the company’s founder. The second is a multinational company where you’ll be part of a team and answerable to your manager.
Each has its pros and cons so it depends on whether you prefer an informal management style or one that’s hierarchical.
A management style determines how a manager communicates with employees and leads their team to success.
Today, it’s easy to observe different ways in which organizations structure their leadership. Some prefer a traditional hierarchical structure while others lean toward a more informal setup. It depends on the level of authority that employees have and if they can bypass middle management to directly interact with top leadership. Most start-ups follow a flat organizational structure where each employee can take the lead on decision-making.
Managers have to be careful when establishing their management style because it needs to work in everyone’s favor. Instead of a rigid structure, modern workplaces prefer a flexible working style so they can navigate a dynamic work environment.
Roles Of A Manager
From navigating workplace conflict, delegating tasks to build strong team dynamics, a manager’s responsible for the smooth functioning of their respective teams. If you’re a manager, regardless of your management style, there are certain roles that you need to fulfill. Some of these are:
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Collaboration
Even if an organization encourages autonomy, at the end of the day you must work with your team to achieve organizational goals. You should open the floor to dialogue to help get everyone on the same page. If you can figure out who should work with whom, it’ll be much easier to work effectively. You might even have to collaborate with different teams for a project. Being flexible will help you tackle potential challenges.
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Feedback
To make sure that every team member understands their roles and responsibilities, you must maintain a feedback channel. Receiving and giving feedback is the simplest way to improve performance. Not only can you enhance performance but also make your employees feel that they can come to you with their concerns.
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Leveraging Skills
An effective manager has the ability to leverage individual team members’ skills for the organization’s benefit. This is especially helpful when you’re assigning tasks based on skills and experience. Knowing whose skills are suitable for which role will save time, effort and resources.
Let’s explore different types of management styles commonly observed in an organization.
Types Of Management Styles
Management styles can vary among teams, departments and organizations. Factors like company rules and regulations, policies and employee skills can affect the way you manage your team. A manager often has to tailor their management style according to different situations. Here are different types of management styles:
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Authoritative
Managers who have an authoritative management style follow a traditional hierarchical structure. This style offers limited independence to individual employees; they must ask for permission before taking action. Channels of communication are restricted to your immediate senior. This has the least amount of flexibility within different management styles. If you enjoy autonomy, working under authoritative management may not be the right fit for you.
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Democratic
This is where everyone contributes to decision-making. Managers invite feedback from their team members, engage in open and friendly conversations and consult where necessary. But the ultimate decision lies with the top leadership. You’re able to build trust within your team so that everyone feels like a valuable member of the organization. Employees are encouraged to share their ideas and opinions for improved performance.
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Hands-Off
A hands-off approach is one where the management is only involved in the planning stage of projects. Once the tasks have been assigned, employees are encouraged to work the way they want. This is mostly seen in start-ups where a manager’s main role is to inspire their employees to innovate and achieve goals through collaboration.
There’s no one size fits all when it comes to types of management styles. You may even observe different management styles in the same organization. Effective management is about changing the way you engage with your team according to the situation. Consider whether they need supervision or if they’re skilled enough to take charge.
Understanding what each member needs to realize their full potential is critical to good management. Learn more about how to navigate different work styles with Harappa Education’s Managing Teamwork course. The course is designed for professionals who want to refine their people skills and manage teams effectively. You’ll learn how to interpret different ways of working and build lasting relationships that’ll help drive efficiency.
Explore topics such as Functions of Management, Quality Management, Principles of TQM, List of Management Skills & MBWA from our Harappa Diaries section and manage your workplace effectively.
