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Contemporary approaches to leadership are the descendants of Taylor, Mayo and the Ohio State Leadership studies. The evolution of contemporary theories went through several stages.
The first was Taylors scientific management, in which managements role was entirely technical -- they were to stay completely clear from their employess human affairs and emotions. It was the role of employees to adjust to management.
Secondly came a swing in the opposite direction to Elton Mayo and the Human Relations movement. Here the main focus was on individual needs and not on the needs of the organization. In other words, human relations emphasized relationships with people, while scientific management emphasized the importance of organizational tasks.
It was at OSU that the grid defining four combinations of task/relationship leadership styles originated. Blake and Mouton took the grid public and became famous for its use in OD work.
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(1) The Managerial Grid
The most popular management tool to come out of psychology may very well be Blake and Moutons managerial grid. Blake and Mouton identified five basic management styles based on their location on the people vs. task oriented grid.
The five styles are
Impoverished (1,1) -- exertion of minimal effort
Country-Club (1,) -- maintainence of a comfortable/friendly organization
Scientific (,1) -- minimum human interference with tasks
Middle of the Road (5,5) -- balanced task/relationship by not making waves
Team Management (,) -- commitment, interdependence, trust and respect
An individual manager usually does not stay in one style at all times and under all circumstances. He usually has a dominant style and a back-up style. Under stress, a particular situation, or with a particular person a managers style may change. Also, combinations of different points on the grid result in combined styles. For example, a pendulum style is the result of swings from (1,1) to (,1). A combination of (,1) and (1,) results in a paternalistic style, which can be very exposive. Ive tried to be a nice guy, but now look what youve done!.
The managerial grid theory holds that there is a best management style, namely, team management or (,), and much of the work that Blake and Mouton have done is to assist managers and teams to change their styles to a (,) orientation. A grid intervention for changing a management teams style to (,) will be based on knowing grid theory and what (,) style is, clearing away self-deception, developing and encouraging the motivation to change and establishing on-going team support.
There are many strengths associated with the managerial grid. Many organizations spend enormous amounts of time, energy and resources either avoiding direct confrontation with problems, or attacking the wrong problems. The stress on clearing away self-deception is a giant step in the direction of facing problems directly and honestly. The grid model has tremendous general applicability in assessing individual managers personal and decision-making styles. It is a great tool in conflict resolution. Finally, (,) style managers and teams develop win/win attitudes which
clearly add to the effectiveness of the organization.
One weakness of grid management is that getting people to change their styles is very difficult. A second weakeness is the assumption that there is one best style for all situations. A single, best style may be ineffective due to the abilities of the leader, needs of the followers and other contingency factors.
() Fiedlers Contingency Model
The leadership contingency model was developed by Fred Fiedler. He identified three situational variables which determine a leaders effectiveness in a particular situation leader-member relations,
task structure and position power. The results of his studies showed that in terms of the three situational variables task oriented leaders performed best in either a very favorable situation to the leader or a very unfavorable situation to the leader, and relationship oriented leaders performed best in situations that were in the middle (neither highly favorable nor highly unfavorable).
Fiedler avoids the inherent problems with trying to change a managers style by recommending that the style be left as it is. Instead of changing a managers style, alter the situation. Fiedler says, check the compatibility of the manager to the situation. If it matches, leave it alone. If it doesnt match, alter one or more of the situational variables, or rotate in a new manager with a style that fits the situation.
Although somewhat intuitively and intellectually appealing, two of the three situational variables do not change easily at all, and the third is also somewhat resistant to change. You certainly dont want to change the leader-member relations from good to poor to get a better match. Similar negative effects with management and peers exist with position power changes. That leaves task structure as the only practical candidate for change, and tasks tend to carry their own inherent best level of structure. Additionally, Fiedlers work implies a one-dimensional tradeoff between relation and task orientation for managers. The two-dimensional grid combinations are more realistic both in theory and applied work.
() Life Cycle Contingency Theory
A second situational theory is the life cycle leadership theory of Hersey and Blanchard. Hersey and Blanchard add a third dimension to the task/relationship grid, namely task relevant maturity or TRM. For a particular level of TRM, there is a best leadership style. High task/low relationship works best with low TRM. Then, decreasing amounts of task orientation with increasing amounts of relationship orientation work best for moderate TRM. Low task/low relationship works best with high TRM.
A manager should vary his/her style from Q1 (telling), to Q (selling), to Q (participating) to Q4 (delegating), depending on the TRM of the workers. This theory seems both intuitively correct and very practical. Newcomers to a job need help getting their task skills upgraded more than anything else. As they learn skills, they require reinforecement for their efforts. Veteran or highly skilled workers need maximum autonomy.
Hersey and Blanchards Leadership Effectiveness & Adaptability Description (LEAD) is a simple, but powerful assessment tool in determining ones basic leadership style. More recently, Hersey and Blanchard have developed another LEAD survey which is completed by subordinates, superiors and associates to gather additional information for additional work with organizations.
At XYZ Company, the company I worked for which was acquired by a Japanese firm, the leadership in Japan had obvious plans to shift our basic mission and tasks. At the same time, they maintained a Q4 style of leadership from the beginning of the joint venture. They believed that they were giving Americans the autonomy which they required. What was required was a contingency style of leadership which recognized that the leaders must begin in a Q1 style and move to Q, Q and Q4 as FBCS developed more task relevant maturity.
(4) Principle Centered Leadership
Founded on the ideas of personal change through the practice of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Coveys earlier book) - the ideas is basically that change must come from the inside out. As Michael Jackson said If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and make a change. Coveys second book, Principle Centered Leadership has more on how organizations can bring about a paradigm shift to what he calls his PS paradigm. The PS paradigm encompasses people, self, style, skills, shared vision and principles, and structure and systems.
People want meaning, a sense of doing something that matters. The cause people work for must include purposes that lift, ennoble and bring them to their highest selves. People who lead via the PS paradigm are aware of peoples needs, including their own. They embody the values and principles which have characterized every great society. They lead by example and contribute where they can to the enrichment of those around them through their honesty, integrity, open-mindedness, willingness to serve others, and consistency.
There is no conflict with situational leadership within principle centered leadership. Consistency is not using the same style all the time. Consistency is using the same style for all similar situations, and varying the style appropriately as the situation changes.
Covey appears to be a further popular extension of Blake and Mouton. Covey emphasizes participative management and describes the leader more as a facilitator or servant in an ideal situation. He also emphasizes the importance of interdependence (as opposed to dependence, counter-dependence and codependence) within individuals and organizations. I know of a company that is using Covey as their TQM program and claiming great success with it. Covey lists a number of companies using his Principle Centered Leadership program, including Joliet Junior College in our area.
Conclusions
In eigth grade as an answer to a Social Studies question What is the most important institution you belong to?, I copied out the correct answer from the book as follows
The home is the most important institution to which any individual ever belongs because it is the center of training and all of your traits of your character are begun in the home.
My handwriting wasnt the only part of me that was stilted. I had become robot-like from a process very similar to post tramatic shock syndrome. For as long as I could remember, my father has been coming home drunk with no money and my parents would have terrible, angry and terrifying fights - usually ending in my Mom crying alone in a locked room. I grew up developing victim traits and ACOA survival traits. Was this an extreme case? I believe not.
In this months Changes magazine, David Lenfest states that studies have shown that the most common trait of male executives is that they were raised in dysfunctional homes. What is the most likely motive - other than fleeing for ones life and sanity that a child in a dysfunctional home develops? Control. An intense, obsessive relationship with the need to control. It is this character trait which keeps the alcoholic out of treatment. It is the same character trait which has been rewarded in traditional Taylor-style companies by promotions to executive levels.
The very essence of the characters (founded on survival) of many of todays current executives is what we are trying to change when we suggest movement out of Grid styles other that (,). Yes, I believe all of the other styles are based on control and fear (survival). (,1) is overt control and fear of relationships. (1,) is reaction to overt control which says, Ill never do that and controls via manipulation of people (soft X style management). (1,1) is just leave me alone the overt hiding style, or giving up (depressed style), and (5,5) is the suppressed hiding style - you cant criticize me cause Ill appear to be in the middle on every issue.
What is the opposite of fear and control? Stephen King, in The Library Police, suggests that the opposite of fear is honesty and belief. Is there a better foundation to build on? I think not.
It takes a healthy person inside to be a (,) manager. It also takes a healthy person inside to be able to adapt ala situational leadership to several or all styles where appropriate. In other words, it takes strength of character to demonstrate real, honest strength of character (,), or to feel safe enough, centered enough to utilize situational methods and not lose oneself at the same time.
I believe we have a leadership crisis in America. I also believe teaching the way out will not work in the majority of cases. I believe Blake and Mouton are on the best track in that what they are doing is essentially setting up group therapy units within management teams by doing grid interventions.
There are no simple solutions to these issues, but a necessary condition for change is an open-mindedness and willingness to change. An overriding problem with all change theories is the possible underestimation of the force of resistance to change. Actually, the theories which best acknowledge this are the situational leadership schools chich say dont even try to change the individuals -- fix the situation.
I believe we need to fix the individuals, but the individuals gotta want to get fixed. When Covey was asked by a companys management, How long will it take to fix (our culture)?, he replied, It depends how bad youre hurting. If youre not hurting, it may never happen.
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