by Adele Gregory

Created on: September 01, 2011

Management styles are more than how a manager behaves or relates to staff. The style someone adopts is more about their philosophy of leadership than their training or personality. It is underpinned by what people think good leadership is and what it should do.

The most fundamental difference between management styles is where leaders place authority. Everything else stems from this.  How managers view authority will determine the methods they use to make decisions, the responses they want from their team and the qualities they’ll see as most valuable in their role. Management styles are typically divided into four main types: authoritarian, bureaucratic, consensual (sometimes called democratic or collaborative) and laissez faire.

Authoritarian
In the authoritarian style, authority resides within the person of the manager, like a general leading his troops. Information and intelligence are sent up the way; a personal decision is then made and passed back down. The manager alone is where the decisions start and the buck stops. Other information may be imparted on a need-to-know basis. Little time is spent on consultation and even less on quibbling.

Authoritarian leaders tend to be no-nonsense and direct. You will know where you stand and what you are expected to do. You might not get emotional support or a listening ear, but you’ll rarely leave without an answer or decision. The authoritarian style believes that a good leader should be strong, courageous, responsible and decisive. In this model of leadership they have to be because the ultimate authority and all of the burdens that go with it rests on their own wide shoulders.

Authoritarian leaders are most likely to go astray when they give in to personal emotions and desires. Pride, fear or greed  can turn them quickly into despots. It’s a powerful position and they must be ever cautious not to let that power corrupt. Because of this, authoritarian leaders are sometimes portrayed as the baddies of the group. But there are no absolute heroes or villains in management styles. How effective or appropriate a style is depends on the circumstances. An authoritarian manager can stifle creativity but he or she is exactly the kind of “take charge” leader you want in a crisis.

Bureaucratic
In bureaucratic management the workplace is governed by laws rather than by men, like a constitutional government. Instead of making decisions arbitrarily, a bureaucratic manager will use codes

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