Management Styles - List of Different Types Of Management Styles

Management Styles are concepts and theories that influence the general work environment of an organization. Different management styles can vary a little bit with a change in leadership, however, the crux of the style mostly remains the same.

Through the years, economists and business gurus have fostered and developed several management styles, each surfacing from a different school of thought. However, they all have the same bottom line, that is profit! Be it Maslow, Mayo or Drucker. They may follow different routes but all are headed to the same destination, good business! Different "styles" are also propounded with reference to the leadership style that a manager follows. Styles of management have seen an evolution of sorts due to the dynamism of the corporate world as an entity. Let us learn about the different management styles that the corporate world has seen, with the help of this leadership and management styles list.

Management Styles # 1 - Scientific Management
This is one of the earliest management styles. Propounded and developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor in 1900, the concept of Scientific Management is also known as "Taylorism". This method believed in the concept of "One best method" to perform a certain task. In general, Taylorism believed in the following principles:

• It believed that decision making should be under the purview of the management. This ensures that emotions are not the governing factor for a business. More so, decision making can be more professional when in the hands of managers. This is because they can be unbiased and have a scientific approach towards management.
• It also believed in developing a standard method to perform each job. This helps in having uniformity in the production. Taylorism caters more to shop floor management. Standard methods speed up the production process and create an environment of expertise.
• Taylorism believed in selecting workers with appropriate abilities for each job. This ensured a general environment of excellence and complete understanding of the task at hand. More so, the learning curve for each employee did not need to be very long either.
• As per Taylorism, workers used to be trained along the standard methods that were previously developed and fine tuned. They were the "one best method". This aspect of Taylorism is still being followed in many organizations, however, it is facing a lot of opposition.
• Taylorism believed in providing complete support to the employees in order to plan their work and eliminate interruptions. This was to ensure that when at work, the employee would not think of anything but the job at hand. This was believed to be very good for efficiency.
• The concept of wage incentives was, in fact, first propounded by Taylor. As per this management style, it was believed that in case of increased output by a certain employee, he was rewarded with a wage incentive or a bonus. This was to ensure that the employees were motivated to perform as much as they could.

Scientific management style is the first official management style that came into existence. It greatly impacted the world economy and led to several organizational reforms.

Management Styles # 2 - Process Approach
This is the second of the early business management styles.The process approach was propounded by Henry Fayol in the 1920s. As such it is popularly known as "Fayolism". Fayolism is a modification of Taylorism. However, these modifications made this management style very different from Taylorism, as it was broader in perspective. It defined management in a different manner. Fayolism follows 14 principles of Administration:

1. Division of work
2. Authority
3. Discipline
4. Unity of command
5. Unity of direction
6. Subordination of Individual Interests to the Common Interest
7. Remuneration of personnel
8. Centralization
9. Scalar chain
10. Order
11. Equity
12. Stability of personnel tenure
13. Initiative
14. Esprit de corps (Union is strength)

Fayolism believed and propounded that each organization has 16 management duties. They are

1. To give serious thought to activity plans and have them firmly executed.
2. To have employed people and used equipment be relevant to the goal, the resources and the needs of the organization.
3. To set up a unique Direction (top management) which is skilled and vigorous.
4. To consult others before taking actions in order to coordinate efforts.
5. To work at formulating decisions in a clear, clean and precise way.
6. To have an efficient recruitment, each department needing to be led by a skilled and active man, each employee being at the place where he can provide the most services.
7. To define clearly the job description.
8. To encourage people for taking initiatives and responsibilities.
9. To pay appropriately, fairly and expertly for the services provided to the Organization.
10. To correct faults and errors.
11. To ensure discipline.
12. To aim at having individual interests subordinated to the Organization's interest.
13. To give special attention to the Unity of Command.
14. To supervise the material order and social order, to keep the place tidy and to avoid strikes.
15. To verify everything by applying quality control on every operation.
16. To conquer the "red ribbon" attitude.

As per Fayolism, a manager has to have the following 7 qualities:

1. Health and vigour
2. Cleverness
3. Moral qualities
4. General knowledge (culture)
5. Management capacity
6. Notions about other functions (activities)
7. The strongest skills in the function managed

The process approach really simplified several production as well as service functions and is still widely followed and studied. In fact, it is known as one of the most effective management styles.

Management Styles # 3 - Hawthorne Effect
Developed in the 1930s and 1940s, the Hawthorne experiments by Elton Mayo were the basis of this management style. This management style believes in the concept of: "a happy worker, is a good worker". This is why, as per this management style, majority of the concentration was to keep the workers happy by providing them with required amenities. Adequate light, healthy diet and conducive environment should be provided to the employees to ensure optimum output from the employees. This concept was developed on the basis of two beliefs:

1. People are not the rational and economic beings assumed by classical theorists
2. Social interaction is important and people work well if they feel valued

The Hawthorne experiments were in 3 parts.

1. In the first part, a set of changes were made to the general work environment and timings.
   • They changed the pay rules so that the group was paid for overall group production, not individual production.
   • The employees were given two 5-minute breaks (after a discussion with them on the best length of time) and then changing to two 10-minute breaks (not their preference). Productivity increased but when they were given six 5-minute rests, they disliked it and reduced output.
   • The employees were provided food during the breaks
   • They tried shortening the day by 30 minutes (output went up); shortening it more (output per hour went up, but overall output decreased); returning to the first condition (where output peaked).
2. The second part were interviews with each of the employees. This was to verify the impact of the experiments. As a result of the interview, it was concluded that the changes were welcome and the productivity and morale were high.
3. The third part was to see if the payment incentives had any impact on the productivity. As a result, it was found that peer compatibility and comparison had more consequential impact as compared to payment incentives.

The Hawthorne experiments and the Hawthorne effect highlighted to the corporate world that human beings were the main resources for any organization and had to be kept happy to ensure high productivity.

Management Styles # 4 - Human Needs & Motives
Maslow's theory on the Hierarchy of Needs had many implications for management style. According to Maslow, every individual's needs are divided into a certain hierarchy.

1. Physiological needs: These are basic primal needs that every individual feels. They include
   • Food
   • Shelter
   • Clothing
   • Warmth, etc
   These needs are the basic needs. According to this theory, a person's motivation begins with sufficiently satisfying these needs.
2. Safety Needs: Once the physiological needs are met, an individual then aims at meeting his safety needs. They include
   • Personal security
   • Financial security
   • Health and well-being
   • Safety net against accidents/illness and the adverse impacts
   It is natural for any individual to see importance in these needs
3. Social Needs: Once the safety needs are met, an individual would then graduate further to the social needs. This is when they will feel the need and requirement for
   • Friends
   • Intimacy
   • Relationships
   • Family
   The individual is now in a position to "indulge"in these aspects. The individual also requires a feeling of belongingness and support.
4. Esteem Needs: Now we come to the need for self esteem. By this stage, the individual feels the need for acceptance and status. This is when some people feel the need for fame and popularity as well. Maslow stated two types of esteem needs. A lower one and a higher one. The lower one is the need for the respect from others, the need for status, recognition, fame, prestige, and attention. The higher one, on the other hand, is the need for self-esteem, strength, competence, mastery, self-confidence, independence and freedom. The higher one comes later, because it rests more on inner competence won with the help of experience. Deprivation of these needs can lead to an inferiority complex, weakness and helplessness, rendering the individual demotivated.
5. Self Actualization Need: Once the esteem needs are met, an individual goes higher up the ladder. This is when he feels the need for self actualizing. This is where he needs to identify and realize the maximum of his potential. This is the motive that all the lower motives lead to. People who are at this stage have a high level of self motivation. Self actualization is the final step in the motivation ladder.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is studied in management even today and followed to quite an extent by many organizations. It is used as a guide for employee satisfaction and general need allocation in life as well. Read more on employee motivation and employee satisfaction surveys.

Management Styles # 5 - Complex man
This management style is a critique on all the previous management style. It believed in Safety Culture. Propounded by EH Schein in the 1960s, safety culture was developed because:

• No single management style can succeed in improving the performance of all workers
• The motives of an individual may be extremely complex and liable to change over time
• A high level of satisfaction does not necessarily lead to increased productivity (the other way round?)

Further, it was also seen that the other management styles were too simplistic whereas man is a very complex being. It is believed that safety is the one common requirement of all human beings. As per safety culture, the following were required to be committed by the management for the ideal safety culture management:

• Prioritization of safety over production
• Maintaining a high profile for safety in meetings
• Personal attendance of managers at safety meetings and in walk-abouts
• Face-to-face meetings with employees that feature safety as a topic
• Job descriptions that include safety contracts
• Communication about safety issues, including pervasive channels of formal and informal communication and regular communication between management, supervisors and the workforce.
• Involvement of employees, for empowerment, as well as delegation of responsibility for safety, and encouragement to commit to the organization.

This style is used to a moderate extent with certain organization-specific modifications.

Management Styles # 6 - Management by Objectives
This is one of the recent management styles and in today's diverse market, it is very useful. It was popularized by Peter Drucker in 1954. The objective of Management by Objectives is "to create empowered employees who have clarity of the roles and responsibilities expected from them, understand their objectives to be achieved and thus help in the achievement of organizational as well as personal goals." It has the following advantages

1. Motivation: Participative environment that included employees in goal setting, etc., led the employees to being more motivated to come to work and increase the output.
2. Better Communication and coordination: This method has made general communication and coordination much easier and smoother. Regular reviews, feed backs and a general open door policy help create an amicable environment in the organization.
3. Clarity of Goals: With MBO, the objectives are "SMART":
   • S - Specific
   • M - Measurable
   • A - Achievable
   • R - Relevant
   • T - Time bound

This makes them very clear-cut. It also forges a link between the company as well as the individual personal goals. However, MBO has a few limitations. It concentrates on goals more than outcome. More so, it fails to state the context in which the goals are set. Appraisals are based on "what an employee should be" not "what an employee should do" and a few other organization-specific limitations. However, principles of this management style are kept in mind for a general management benefit.

As management encompasses man, money and material, there are several aspects that govern and are governed by management styles. Since man is the first and foremost consideration, the leadership styles followed by different managers has led to forging different management styles as well. There are a few such popular management styles.

Autocratic or Authoritarian: In this style the complete authority is in one person's hand and no one else can question it. It is also known as totalitarianism or dictatorship. It does forge an atmosphere of discipline in the organization. However, it can at times cause dissatisfaction and a lack of "creative space" for the employees. For such a manager, the employees are just a replaceable resource and not the core of the organization. The manager believes in top-down communication, wherein orders are given by the higher hierarchical level to the lower ones. The concept of "employee satisfaction" does not hold importance for such a manager.

Paternalistic: In this style, the authority is in the hand of one individual. However, that one individual cares more about the employees than outcomes and profits. That means the the manager will be more like a parent rather than a boss. In this kind of a management style also, the complete authority lies in the hands of one individual, however the method of functioning is very different as compared to Autocratic. In such a management style, the employees are the heart of the organization. "Employee satisfaction" holds higher priority than profits. This kind of a manager believes in top-down as well as bottom-up communication.

Democratic: in this management style, the management allows the employees to voice their opinions. Most company policies and decisions are made, taking into consideration employee opinions. It is also known as Participative style. This means that a meeting is held with representatives from each hierarchical level, in order to take a decision about the smallest company policies, as well as the major ones. Such a manager will prefer to have an open-door policy in the organization to ensure that the management and the employees communicate openly and freely with each other. "Confidentiality" is not of much substance to such a manager.

Laissez-faire: In this management style, the targets are communicated to the employees, however, the employees can go about meeting those targets in whichever way they want. It is a very liberal management style. However, there is a lot of chaos in the delegation of authority as well as responsibility. Communication is free, however, more through the grapevine. This leads to the employees taking their work for granted. On the other hand, the manager evades his duty very conveniently. If out of control, this management style can spell "doom" for an organization. However, it is adopted in control by many organizations these days and working well, when in compatibility with the other 3 styles.

The above mentioned management styles are more closely linked to the personality and leadership qualities of a leader-manager. They are based on the style and principles followed by a manager in particular, not the organization, as a whole. If there is a change in a manager, an autocratically managed organization can become a paternalistic one!

Further, different requirements in organizations have led to development of many more management styles. They are as follows.

Management by Coaching and Development (MBCD):
In this management style, the manager is more like a coach in a nurturing role. The employees have a long learning curve and the general work experience is more like a learning experience. In this management style, the manager leads not by ordering but by coaching and in this way performs his role of employee training.

Management by Competitive Edge (MBCE):
In this management style, the concept of healthy competition is duly fostered. In an organization following such a management style, all the employees and encouraged to compete with each other. This is mostly done with the help of R&R strategies (rewards and recognition strategies). Read more on business competition.

Management by Consensus (MBC):
This management style is more along the lines of democratic style. It encourages the employees to give their opinions, suggestions and feedback. This helps the organization in taking adequate employee-centric decisions. It is followed to quite an extent in organizations these days.

Management by Decision Models (MBDM):
In this management style, decision models are prepared in order to work as precedent. These decision models are prepared with the help of hypothetical situations and projections made therefrom. This kind of a plan of action can work at many times, however, in case of a contingency, it would fail.

Management by Exception (MBE):
In this management style, the concept of delegation of authority is highly followed. Each manager delegates as much responsibility and authority down the ladder, as possible. He only steps in as an end responsible and when consulted.

Management by Information Systems (MBIS):
As the name of the management style amply suggests, this style is based on results generated out of a data base. The IS is depended upon for decision making and inter-relatedness. It is used for efficiency analysis and to increase efficiency as well.

Management by Matrices (MBM):
In this management style, decisions and policies are made with reference to charts and variables. These charts help the management to figure out the efficiency, productivity, interrelation and other factors.

Management by Organizational Development (MBOD):
In this management style, the managers work on improving the employee communication and relations. It is like the paternalistic style, but the organization's priority is profit rather the "employee satisfaction". Nonetheless, an organization following this management style, will work on having good employee relations and communication as well.

Management by Performance (MBP):
In this management style the key is performance. The managers believe that profitability is a derivative of performance. Hence, the work on motivating the employees to achieve higher and higher performance. They do this with the help of R&R combined with employee satisfaction techniques.

Management by Styles (MBS):
This is probably the most flexible of all management styles. It believes in changing the management style and adapting it as per the changing scenario and requirement. As such, this management style is prepared for contingency inspite of being flexible.

Management by Walking Around (MBWA):
Yes, it sounds a little "out there", but Dave Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, developed this management style. It believes in the manager walking around the office interacting with the employees. This not only helps the manager get the feel of the employee sector, but also makes the employees feel cared for and connected to the management. It helps motivate the employees and results in better output and loyalty form the employees. This style is based on the premise that communication is the key. For more on corporate communication, read workplace communication.

Management by Work Simplification (MBWS):
This management style believes in only one method. Simplification! So if it means that the work gets divided to double the amount of people or change in a policy, that is what they will do. This is a very liberal method, yet it also leads to a lot of discipline and control. Further, employees feel secure and satisfied.

Management by Intercourse:
Now, before you start imagining, this management style is also known as Management by Interaction. This management style believes that both male and female employees are required in an organization, to achieve a balance and optimum equilibrium of performance and profitability. Hence, it works on having conducive interpersonal relations between all employees.

The bottom line that any management needs to keep in mind is that along with profits, they need to ensure employee satisfaction as well. The perfect blend of all the positive and conducive aspects of all the management styles and techniques can lead to a harmonious and profitable organization-specific management style. This is where I sign off!! All the best!!