Understanding the Style Approach

¶ … Mark Young, he clearly experienced an evolution of leadership style, not only according to his previous work experience, but also according to the situational demands of his workplace. At first, he was very task oriented, generally taking most of the responsibility and making decisions independently, while his team worked as subordinates, simply taking orders and carrying out work. Later, when he became more used to being part of a team, Mark began to create a greater balance between his relationships and the tasks required to make his work successful.

This created of his workplace the most successful department at the hospital. The question that remains would be how to maintain the great success that Mark has established with the painting department. While it is good that he has established a successful balance between task- and relationship-oriented tasks, it is possible that these would flow into a lack of balance once more, since both tasks and relationships tend to be fluid rather than static.

Hence, a consultant might consider Mark's situation not necessarily from the perspective of his present success, but according to future issues that might arise. As mentioned, both Mark's task and relationship orientations are high, which places him within the Team Management leadership style, according to Blake and Mouton's grid (Chapter 23, n.d.). In other words, he is concerned both with production and the human needs of his workers, taking time to "hang out" with them, take them for lunch, and the like.

In this way, he provides a platform for a meaningful and "fun" work experience for his subordinates. According to many leadership experts, this is a vital component of leadership, since it creates a consistently positive experience among followers, which also cultivates a high level of loyalty among them. Mark's leadership style changed significantly throughout his work. Initially, one might deduct that his previous status as independent contractor created a drive towards completing tasks independently, while regarding workers as instruments for accomplishing the tasks required for the work to be done.

Later, however, he became more team oriented, delegating work while still keeping a close eye on operations and making sure that tasks do not take a subordinate position to relationships. CASE 4.2 In the case of Susan Parks, her leadership style appears to be more static than Mark's. Like Mark, she appears to have let her situation dictate the way in which she conducts her business and its related relationships.

While her extremely driven nature has created success for her business, the same is not consistent for her relationships with the teams working under her. As such, Susan is disproportionately task oriented without balancing this with some sense of the needs of those working for her. Indeed, Susan's business sense dictates that she focuses on tasks to be accomplished to promote success and growth rather than cultivating relationships within her workplace. This is then also the reason why there are divergent reactions to her leadership style.

These divergent reactions would then also be the focus question in this case. If Susan is to increase the happiness and loyalty of her team, she will need to make some changes in her leadership style. As mentioned, Susan's task-oriented leadership is disproportionate to her orientation towards relationships. Her high focus on tasks and low focus on relationships places her within the Authority-Obedience category (Chapter 23, n.d.). She is far more concerned with production than with the personal or human needs of those working for her.

This is then also the reason why those working for her display such a wide array of reactions to her style. While some of her workers clearly do share her focus on production and admire the fact that she is very driven, others value a more personable approach. Susan's lack of such an approach has a tendency to alienate them, creating a lack of consistency in the loyalty and satisfaction of her workers.

I believe that Susan should change her style and that she can be even more effective if she does so. Currently, her focus on production creates a significant burden for Susan herself. She accomplishes all of the management tasks, while subordinates are required to accomplish the tasks she considers necessary to maintain the shop's success and growth.

A more balanced focus on both tasks and relationships would enable her to delegate some of the work while still maintaining control over production and at the same time winning loyalty and creating satisfaction among her workers. Style Questionnaire The style questionnaire revealed me to be slightly higher in terms of task orientation than relationship orientation. This means that, on the Blake and Mouton grid, I would be within the Team Leader square, but tending a little towards Authoritarian (Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid, n.d.).

I would agree with this result, since it is my aim to not only focus on tasks, but also on how to motivate my people most effectively to accomplish these tasks. At the same time, I also feel that tasks should take precedence, since these are the backbone of the business and its success. Specifically, I think the questions themselves can drive my future actions to become a more effective leader.

My lowest score, for example, is for responding "favorably to suggestions made by others," which I marked with a score of 2. In this regard, I think I can take more care to value suggestions made by others within my team of workers. Indeed, a good leader is a good listener, and communication is vital to accomplish optimal success within teams.

To accomplish this, I will implement something like a suggestion box to give me time to think about and respond to suggestions rather than offering a "gut reaction" that could negatively affect my relationships with those under me. Another significant factor is that I marked only one question with a score of 5, which was awarded for the statement "communicates effectively with group members." Significantly, both my lowest and highest scores focus on relationship and communication concerns. As such, all the other areas offer room for.