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The Harvard Business Review published an article exploring several distinct leadership and management styles.
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The study conducted in-depth interviews and took a random sampling of opinions of nearly 4,000managers from a database of more than 20,000 executives worldwide.
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Coercive
• Demands immediate compliance
• No ifs, ands or buts• Has the most corrosive impact
on an organization
Pros• Very beneficial during a
crisis or in turn-around situations
• To be implemented only when necessary
Cons• Tends to destroy
morale, independent thought and risk-taking
• Erodes motivation
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AUTHORITATIVE• Most effective style for most
situations• Visionaries who move people toward
a common vision• Help people to see how they fit into
long-term plans
Pros• Employees know their
purpose
• Increases buy-in of the organization’s goals and strategies
• Standards and rewards are known to all
• This approach affords leeway to achieving individual goals
Cons• Ill-suited to teams where
subordinates are more experienced
• Leaders of this type can seem “pompous or out-of-touch”
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AFFILIATIVE• Beckons the team to follow and is all
about mandates• Seeks to create harmony amongst
employees• During stressful periods focuses on
teamwork in order to motivate them• People, not organizational goals, come
first
Pros• A good “all-weather”
approach that is particularly useful for building team morale
• Improves communication
• Repairs broken trust
Cons• Inefficient especially in
times of crisis
• Can give the impression of lack of leadership
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PACE-SETTING• Leader uses personal best as
expectation• Everyone expected to follow and
perform at their level best• To be used infrequently
Pros• Everyone expected to
follow and perform at their level best
• Should be used in conjunction with another leadership approach
Cons• Can lead to
micromanaging
• Can cause employees to feel overwhelmed by unreasonable demands.
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Coaching• Helps leaders identify talents of team
members• Shows them how to tie these strengths to
their professional goals• Rarely used in most organizations• Champions and empowers individual
employees to achieve
Pros• Helps employees
identify strengths and weaknesses
• Short-term failures tolerated with an eye to long-term successes
Cons• An ill fit when
employees are resistant to changing
• Motivational efforts can be perceived with fear or disregard
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While this study presents 6 styles, Dr. Peter Bemski, Dean of the School of Business and Technology Management at Northcentral University, suggests there is a 7th style.
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The key to being an effective leader is to have a broad repertoire of styles and to use them appropriately.
The 7th Leadership Style:
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