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Leadership Style
The leadership style is determined by the approach a leader takes for getting things done.
Since the primary role of a leader is to get the tasks done through the people, leaders have to
focus on the productivity of the employees along with maintaining good relationship with them.
Leaders who are strong in technical skills would naturally focus on structuring and planning of
the work, defining activities and scheduling them. On the other hand, leaders who have strong
personal traits would focus on building trust, delegating responsibilities and thereby bringing
meaning to their work and motivating them. These two distinct styles are termed as
task-oriented style or people-oriented style of leadership.
Are there leaders who use both these styles simultaneously? The early researcher (Michigan)
concluded that these two traits are mutually exclusive with one another; a leader might only
posses either one of them but not both. However later research showed that these two
independent orientations exists with different degrees in leaders.
Depending upon the scale of concern of each axis, the grid categorizes the leadership into five
distinct styles:1. Impoverished Manager (Low People - Low Task Concern). Such
leaders exhibit lack
of concern for the result of the assigned task or
interpersonal relationship. They act
uninvolved and withdrawn from the
organizations objectives and often give an
impression of incumbency.
However, one ponders how do such leaders rise to their
present position?
Is their style a suggestion of lack of motivation, saturation of position
in organization or something else? Since it might appear that they perform
only to
sustain their employment.
2. Country Club Manager (High People Low Task concern). Such leaders exhibit care and
concern for the people, they create a comfortable and friendly environment
while
Style Variants
Each leader usually has one of the above dominant leadership style, it comes naturally and is
most comfortable for the leader. However, leaders do adapt their styles according to
situations, the kind of task, its urgency and complexity, competence and morale of the team
etc. Variations of styles in a leader makes them unpredictable to the team, they might be
perceived as leaders who are opportunistic, acts gracious only for their selfish interest. In a
long run, they do loose their credibility and trust.