How to Choose a Leadership Pattern

The successful executive was generally pictured as possessing intelligence, imagination, initiative, the capacity to make rapid (and generally wise) decisions, and the ability to inspire subordinates. People tended to think of the world as being divided into “leaders” and “followers.”

Some of the more enthusiastic alumni of behavioral training laboratories began to get the habit of categorizing leader behavior as “democratic” or “authoritarian.” Bosses who made too many decisions themselves were thought of as authoritarian, and their directive behavior was often attributed solely to their personalities. Often they are not quite sure how to behave; there are times when they are torn between exerting “strong” leadership and “permissive” leadership.

Sometimes new knowledge pushes them in one direction (“I should really get the group to help make this decision”), but at the same time their experience pushes them in another direction (“I really understand the problem better than the group and therefore I should make the decision”). They are not sure when a group decision is really appropriate or when holding a staff meeting serves merely as a device for avoiding their own decision-making responsibility.

”According to Tannenbaum & Schmidt (1973), the successful leaders are those who are keenly aware of the forces which are most relevant to their behavior at any given time.

In essence, personal leadership “carries” the professional message to the organization, because actions that occur in the process of professional leadership will impact personal interactions, which will in turn impact willing cooperation (Mastrangelo, Eddy, & Lorenzet, 2004).

Professional leadership encompasses the “formal” part of leadership – setting the vision and mission for the organization, creating a process for achieving organizational goals, and aligning processes and procedures, people and infrastructure, to achieve organizational goals.

Personal leadership can be thought of as the personal behavior of leaders in performing the responsibilities of professional leadership, including expertise, trust, caring, sharing and morals. It can be thought of as the “people” side of leadership. It is through these personal behaviors that leaders ensure the success of the professional leadership.

The second group (feelings and interrelationships) deals with authority, the feeling that he or she belongs in boss’s role; activity, takes a vigorous orientation to problems and needs of the organization; achievement, oriented toward organization’s success rather than personal aggrandizement; sensitivity, able to perceive subtleties of others’ feelings; involvement, sees oneself as a participating member of an organization; maturity, good relationships with authority figures; interdependence, needs of others as well as of him or herself; articulateness, makes a good impression; stamina, physical and mental energy; adaptability, managing stress; sense of humor, not too serious.

They accurately understand themselves, the individuals and groups they are dealing with, and the company and broader social environment in which they operate. And certainly they are able to assess the present readiness for growth of their subordinates. Successful leaders are those who are able to behave appropriately in the light of these perceptions.

If direction is in order, they are able to direct; if considerable participative freedom is called for, they are able to provide such freedom.

Thus, successful managers of people can be primarily characterized neither as strong leaders nor as permissive ones. Rather, they are people who maintain a high batting average in accurately assessing the forces that determine what their most appropriate behavior at any given time should be and in actually being able to behave accordingly.

Being both insightful and flexible, they are less likely to see the problems of leadership as a dilemma.

Source:

Tannenbaum, R., & Schmidt, W. (1973). How to Choose Leadership Pattern. Harvard Business Review .

How to Choose a Leadership Pattern

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