# Management theories on management styles

## Action-centered leadership

Clarifies how a leader is useful relative to getting things done.

Separate out and list a Leader, their Tasks, the Teams, and Individuals.

1. Leaders only exist for a Task.
2. The quality of a Leader comes from how well they understand how to do the Task.
3. The Team is a group devoted to performing the Tasks.
4. Each Individual has various [desires](mind-feelings.md), [fears](mind-feelings-fear.md), [motivations](purpose.md), and [experiences](stories.md).
5. A Leader's job is to encourage the Team to do the Tasks.
6. The Leader will have to modify *how* they encourage the Individual based on that person's context from D.

## Blake-Mouton managerial grid

Defines whether a leader is helping people or results more.

Analyze a manager into 2 spectra:

- People-Concerned - prioritizes [group members'](groups-member.md) benefits, what they enjoy the most, and the best interests for their careers.
- Production-Concerned - prioritizes getting the job done as [effectively](results.md) as possible and the organization's best interests.

These management styles can fit onto a graph:

- Impoverished - doesn't help either people and production.
- Country Club - the workers like it, but it doesn't create results.
- Produce or Perish - gets the job done, but uses and burns out workers.
- Team Leadership - fully provides for people *and* production, which is physically impossible and tends to lean into Country Club or Produce or Perish.
- Middle of the Road - half-concerned for people, half-concerned for results.

## Dunham & Pierce's leadership process model

Generally addresses how each element that associates with leadership is vastly interconnected.

Demarcate several significant factors:

- A **Leader** is anyone in charge of a project or people, no matter what their title is.
- **Followers** are people led by the Leader who create most of the results.
- **Context** includes various conditions for the Leader to manage the team including the project length and what the manager is able to do.
- **Outcomes** are the consequences from the project success or failure.

All the leadership aspects interconnect in a circular (not linear) relationship, using other elements:

- **Relationships** grow between the Leader and Followers.
- **People** tend to use their natural skills and tend to ignore assigned responsibilities outside those skills.
- **Feedback** from the Followers is critical for the Leaders.
- Everything only stays in harmony with [ethical](morality.md), honest behavior from everyone.

## Fiedler's contingency model

Observes on a relationship/task spectrum how various leadership styles and approaches can affect someone.

Have a leader describe their feelings to their least-liked coworker on a scale of 1 to 8:

- Unfriendly to Friendly
- Unpleasant to Pleasant
- Rejecting to Accepting
- Tense to Relaxed
- Cold to Warm
- Boring to Interesting
- Backbiting to Loyal
- Uncooperative to Cooperative
- Hostile to Supportive
- Guarded to Open
- Insincere to Sincere
- Unkind to Kind
- Inconsiderate to Considerate
- Untrustworthy to Trustworthy
- Gloomy to Cheerful
- Quarrelsome to Harmonious

The score (up to 128) determines how people-oriented the leader is, with task-oriented being the alternative.

- Task-oriented managers tend to see less-liked coworkers poorly, and are great in situations requiring tasks or organizing a group but terrible at relationship-building and managing [conflicts](people-5_conflicts.md).
- People-oriented managers tend to see less-liked coworkers more positively, and are great at avoiding/managing conflicts and making complex decisions.

Next, measure 3 factors to determine what the situation is:

- Leader-Member Relations - how much trust and confidence the Members have in the Leader
- Task Structure - how clear the tasks are
- Leader's Position Power - the amount of power the leader has to direct the Members

Generally, if the leader is liked, the tasks are clear, and the leader has lots of power, then task-oriented managers are best, and people-oriented managers are better as things become less favorable.

## Hersey-Blanchard's situational leadership theory

Categorizes management styles based on relationship versus task focus, but considers the manager's past experience in managing.

Telling Style (low relationship, high task)

- The most direct form of leadership: the leader tells them what to do and how they want it done.
- The leader and team members work very little together.
- Works best with Maturity Level 1 (M1) workers: least experienced and needs a leader to tell them how to do almost everything, could be from low-knowledge or subservient background.

Selling Style (high relationship, high task)

- More chances of working together on something than simply telling people what to do.
- The leader speaks more often with team members and convinces them to follow specific methods.
- Works best with Maturity Level 2 (M2): slightly more knowledge and skill than M1s, more willingness to do tasks even when they need assistance.

Participant Style (high relationship, low task)

- The leader builds relationships with team members, who are performing their own tasks independently.
- Often, the leader's tasks will blend in with members' tasks, and the leader might even give some decisions to members.
- Works best with Maturity Level 3 (M3): excited to work on the job, has most of the skills to perform it, can do most of the work alone.

Delegating Style (low relationship, low task)

- The leader passes on most responsibilities for a project or task to team members.
- Leaders with experienced teams will rarely need to direct or interact with members.
- Works best with Maturity Level 4 (M4): fully able and willing to do the tasks without a leader.

## Lewin's leadership styles framework

Less heavily categorized than most, but defines how leaders can respond to contextual situations.

Each person has a context-dependent balance of 3 distinctive leadership styles:

1. Authoritarian Leadership - takes command and doesn't pass on any decision-making responsibility.
2. Participative Leadership - works as part of a team and expects group input.
3. Delegative Leadership - hands off responsibilities entirely to team members and trusts them completely.

## Path-goal theory

Defines leadership as a means of attaining a goal through the leader's [vision](imagination.md) for a path.

All goals have a pathway, and a leader's job is to guide everyone down that path:

1. Clear the path by helping team members see the goal (or clear mid-points if the end isn't in sight).
2. Step in to correct inevitable obstructions which arise on the path.
3. Visualize and remove future obstacles to the project.
4. Offer rewards to keep team members motivated and happy as they go.

In this view, each leader has a mix of 4 different styles:

1. Supporting - builds relationships and shows individual interest with each member.
2. Directing - gives assignments and objectives.
3. Participative - motivates team members by treating them as equals in authority.
4. Achievement-Oriented - offers incentives and rewards to make members feel recognized and accomplished.

## Tannenbaum-Schmidt leadership continuum

Divides along a spectrum between Manager-Oriented leadership (like a dictator) and Team-Oriented Leadership (driven by members' involvement and ideas).

1. Tells - gives direct instructions with limited interaction, usually with a distrusting attitude.
2. Sells - still directly commands, but the leader listens to members' input.
3. Suggests - a softer approach than selling that requests the team's input about decisions.
4. Consults - trusts team members to ask their advice, gives [legitimate power](power-types.md) to members.
5. Joins - the leader is more a member than a dictator, keeps control over choices but makes decisions alongside the team.
6. Delegates - implicitly believes in the team and expects them to perform.
7. Abdicates - leader lets the team run itself from start to finish and is completely uninvolved.