There are many different styles of leadership, and each can have a different impact

on a company. In this post, we’ll cover the most common types of leadership, how
they influence business, and give tools to help you figure out what styles are best
for you. Start reading, or jump to the section you’re looking for:

 Types of Leadership Styles

What is a leadership style?

A leadership style refers to a leader’s methods and behaviors when directing,

motivating, and managing others. A person’s leadership style also determines how
they strategize and implement plans while accounting for the expectations of
stakeholders and the well-being of their team.

Why It’s Important to Know Your Leadership Style

Knowing your leadership style helps you provide adequate guidance and feedback
to employees, and better understand your thoughts, how you make decisions and
strategies you can consider implementing when making business decisions.

It can also help you understand how your direct reports see you and why they may
give you specific feedback. For example, if employees feel stifled at work and
don’t have many opportunities to speak their minds, they may be telling you that
you’re an autocratic leader who can benefit from changing their style.

Ready to find out your own leadership style? Check out the most common styles
below.

Featured Resource
Actionable leadership advice from Hub Spot's Co-Founder, Dharmesh Shah.
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Knowing your leadership styles may help you improve with limited
feedback. Each leadership style has its pitfalls, allowing you to proactively address
areas of improvement. This is critical because some employees might hesitate to
speak up, even in an anonymous survey.

Ready to find out your leadership styles? Check out the most common styles
below.

Types of Leadership Styles

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1. Democratic Leadership:-Decision based on input.
2. Autocratic Leadership:- Decision from a single source.
3. Laissez-Faire Leadership:- Decision come from individual employees.
4. Strategic Leadership:- Decision based on strategic and goals.
5. Transformational Leadership:- Decision pushing to think and work in new ways.
6. Transactional Leadership:- Decisions employees get rewarded for work.
7. Coaching Leadership:- Decision nurtures individuals.
8. Bureaucratic Leadership Decision comes from company policy.
9. Visionary Leadership:- Decision Energetic focus on the future.
10.Pacesetting Leadership:- Decision sets ambitious goals.
11.Situational Leadership:- Decision and leadership styles vary by situations.
1. Democratic Leadership
Also called: Participative or Facilitative Leadership

Democratic leadership is exactly what it sounds like - the leader makes decisions
based on each team member's input. Although a leader makes the final call, each
employee has an equal say in a project's direction.

Why this leadership style works for businesses:

This leadership style resembles how leaders often make decisions in company
board meetings.

For example, a democratic leader might give the team a few decision-related
options in a company board meeting. They could then open a discussion about
each option. After a discussion, this leader might consider the board's thoughts and
feedback, or they might open this decision up to a vote.

Why this leadership style is good for the team:

The democratic leadership style is one of the most effective because it encourages
everyone to participate in all processes, share their opinions, and know that you
will hear them. It also encourages employees to be engaged because they know
you will hear their feedback.

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Team members feeling like they have space to participate can also increase
employee empowerment, motivation, and participation.

Potential challenges for leaders with a Democratic style:

Reaching a consensus can take considerable time, resources, and communication

with a democratic style. It can also impact decision-making because some team
members may not have the right expertise to make critical decisions.

Featured resources:

 How to be a good leader

 Tips for remote leadership

2. Autocratic Leadership
Also called: Authoritarian, Coercive, or Commanding Leadership

Autocratic leadership is the inverse of democratic leadership. In this leadership

style, the leader makes decisions without taking input from anyone who reports to
them.

This style is most useful when a business needs to control specific situations, not as
a standalone leadership style.

Why this leadership style works for businesses:

Autocratic leaders carry out strategies and directives with absolute focus. So, when
a situation calls for it, an authoritative leader can make a quick best-fit decision for
a business without needing to get additional input (helpful on a case-by-case
basis).

Why this leadership style is good for the team:

This type of leadership is most effective when a company makes difficult decisions
that don’t benefit from additional input from others who aren’t fully
knowledgeable on the subject. Responsible parties can make a decision and give
employees a clear sense of direction, and it can also make up for a lack of
experience on a team.

Potential challenges for leaders with an Autocratic style:

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Most organizations can’t sustain such a hegemonic culture without losing
employees, which can significantly lower morale and creative problem-solving.

An example of authoritative leadership gone bad could be when a manager

changes the hours of work shifts for employees without consulting anyone.

Other challenges with autocratic leaders include:

 Intimidation
 Micromanagement
 Over-reliance on a single leader

3. Laissez-Faire Leadership

Also called: Delegative or Hands-off Leadership

If you remember your high-school French, you'll accurately assume that laissez-
faire leadership is the least intrusive form of leadership. The French term "laissez-
faire" literally translates to "let them do."

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Leaders who embrace it give nearly all authority to their employees and don’t often
interject unless the situation calls for it.

Why this leadership style works for businesses:

Laissez-faire leaders make employees accountable for their work. This gives many
employees an incentive to do their best work.

This type of leader often creates a more relaxed company culture. This makes it a
good model for creative businesses like ad agencies or product design. It's also a
good fit for a business with a highly-skilled team.

Why this leadership style is good for the team:

In a young startup, for example, you might see a laissez-faire company founder
who makes no major office policies around work hours or deadlines. They might
put complete trust in their employees while they focus on the overall workings of
running the company.

Because of this high level of trust, employees working for laissez-faire leaders feel
valued. They get the information they need and use their resources and experience
to meet business goals.

Potential challenges for leaders with a Laissez-Faire style:

Although laissez-faire leadership can empower employees by trusting them to

work however they'd like, there are downsides. It can limit team development and
pose a challenge for new or inexperienced employees who would benefit from
guidance as they get ramped up. Roles and responsibilities can also become
unclear, and it can build a culture of working in silos where people might work
autonomously rather than as a cohesive group.
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This style can lead to overlooking critical company growth and learning
opportunities, so keeping this leadership style in check is important.

Featured resources:

 Guide to management

4. Strategic Leadership

Strategic leaders sit between a company's primary operations and its growth
opportunities. This form of leadership requires vision, competitive awareness, and
adaptability.

These leaders accept the burden of executive interests but also ensure that working
conditions are stable for everyone else.

Why this leadership style works for businesses:

Strategic leaders tie plans for growth and strategy to how they manage a team.
They ask questions, develop and execute strategies, and consider future growth.
This approach supports popular business goals like:

 Accountability
 Productivity
 Collaboration
 Transparency

Why this leadership style is good for the team:

This is a desirable leadership style in many companies because strategic thinking

supports many types of employees at once.

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Strategic thinking supports many employees at once, so it’s a desirable style for
many companies. It encourages visualization, planning, and making the most of
existing resources, and it can motivate employees.

Potential challenges for leaders with a strategic leadership style:

Leaders who work strategically might take on too much and risk thinking too far
into the future of possibilities while missing critical present-day issues. It’s
important to learn how to delegate with this leadership style and share the weight
of decision-making.

Compromise, communication skills, and consistent outreach are also essential.

Featured resources:

 Crafting a team vision

 Strategic planning
 Developing leadership skills

5. Transformational Leadership

Transformational leaders gain the trust and confidence of their teams, encourage
team members, and lead employees toward meeting company goals.

Transformational leadership also always improves upon the company’s

conventions and motivates employees to grow and further develop their skills.

Why this leadership style works for businesses:

Transformational leaders can inspire their teams to think in new ways. This can
help companies update business processes to improve productivity and
profitability. It can also help with employee satisfaction, morale, and motivation.
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Why this leadership style is good for the team:

This is a highly encouraging form of leadership where employees are supported

and encouraged to see what they’re capable of.

When starting a job with this type of leader, all employees might get a list of goals
to reach and deadlines for reaching them. The goals might begin quite simple, but
as employees grow and meet their goals, leaders will give them more tasks and
challenges to conquer as they grow with the company.

Potential challenges for leaders with a Transformational style:

Transformational leaders can lose sight of everyone’s individual learning curves in

place of the company's goals. Employee burnout can also become an issue, so it’s
important to work with your team to update benchmarks.

Featured resources:

 Transformational leadership

6. Transactional Leadership

Transactional leadership is based on reward and punishment, and these managers

tell employees they can expect rewards if a goal is met. A transactional leader may
require more 1:1s or check-ins if people aren’t meeting goals.

This leadership style also assumes that teams need structure and monitoring to
meet business goals and that they are reward-motivated.

Why this leadership style works for businesses:

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This style is popular in enterprise companies as it focuses on results, existing
structures, and set systems of rewards or penalties. This leadership style also
recognizes and rewards commitment.

Why this leadership style is good for the team:

Transactional leaders can offer helpful clarity and structure of expectations, which
can help employees feel safe because they understand expectations. Employees
also have a clear view of what they get in return for meeting business goals.

Potential challenges for leaders with a transactional style:

This style is more about using rewards to motivate and less about building
relationships with employees, coaching, and developing team morale. Keeping a
diverse team engaged can be hard if only some are reward-motivated, and it can
lead to low creativity and fear of punishment.

7. Coaching Leadership

Also called: Conscious Leadership

A coaching leader focuses on identifying and nurturing the individual strengths of

each member of the team and developing strategies that will enable teams to work
better together.

This style is similar to strategic and democratic leadership, but it emphasizes

individual employees' success.

A manager with this leadership style might help employees improve on their
strengths by:

 Giving them new tasks to try

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  Offering guidance
 Meeting to discuss constructive feedback

They might also encourage one or more team members to expand on their strengths
by learning new skills from other teammates.

Why this leadership style works for businesses:

Coaching leaders actively support skill development and independent problem-

solving. They meet ambitious business goals by creating a strong company culture
and add to a business's long-term vision as valuable mentors, often even after
leaving a company.

Why this leadership style is good for the team:

This leadership style can motivate employees as they feel supported on the team. It
recognizes that each employee is unique and can build diverse and exciting teams
where each employee offers something different.

This leader focuses on high performance, with employees that can communicate
well and embrace unique skill sets to get work done.

Potential challenges for leaders with a coaching style:

It can take a lot of time to develop employees with a coaching style, but mentoring
isn’t effective for every employee.

Featured resources:

 Servant leadership

8. Bureaucratic Leadership

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Bureaucratic leaders follow the rules. Unlike autocratic leadership, they might
listen and consider the input of employees, but they might reject input that doesn’t
align with company policy or past practices.

Why this leadership style works for businesses:

This style works best for larger, older, or traditional companies that are successful
in their current processes. This leadership style works for these businesses because
they want to maintain existing business models and processes because their current
strategies are successful, and trying something new that doesn't work could waste
time and resources.

Why this leadership style is good for the team:

This leadership style can be challenging for some, but it has many benefits. It
lowers the risk of favoritism and replaces it with central duties, job security, and
predictability.

This clear and efficient leadership style can lead to high levels of creativity for
some employees.

Potential challenges for leaders with a bureaucratic leadership style:

Employees might not feel as controlled as autocratic leadership, but there can be a
lack of freedom in how much people can do in their roles. This approach can shut
down innovation and is not the right fit for companies chasing ambitious goals and
quick growth.

Featured resources:

 Organizational culture

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9. Visionary Leadership

Also called: Affinitive Leadership

Visionary leadership focuses on future and long-term goals. This type of leader
encourages collaboration, emotional intelligence, and teamwork.

Why this leadership style works for businesses:

Visionary leaders can create a clear plan for employees to follow and execute.
They are powerful and persuasive communicators, which helps them energize
teams toward impactful business growth.

As the focus is on future growth, visionary leaders can forecast potential

roadblocks and outline action plans, giving employees increased confidence during
uncertainty or challenging times.

Why this leadership style is good for the team:

Teams can do more and enjoy their work more if they have a vision to work
toward. This type of leader offers vision statements and other tools to inspire and
motivate teams to engage at work.

Potential challenges for leaders with a visionary style:

Visionary leaders can skip over day-to-day issues to focus on long-term ideas,
missing roadblocks that could build up and cause problems in the future. Another
common challenge is hyper-focus on a single goal, which can impact consideration
for other ideas that may be just as valuable to the business.

Featured resources:

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  Crafting a team vision
 Management styles
 Leadership training

10. Pacesetting Leadership

A pacesetting leader sets ambitious standards and expects employees to meet those
goals in the exact manner they’ve laid out. These leaders expect productivity and
high-quality outputs from employees, and they may step in to ensure things are
done correctly and on time.

Why this leadership style works for businesses:

This type of leader sets ambitious goals with a clear and focused effort, so
employees know exactly what is expected of them. For example, pacesetting sales
leaders set and exceed ambitious quarterly sales cadences.

These leaders might also work alongside their team and push performance,
boosting team morale.

Why this leadership style is good for the team:

Skilled and experienced teams often thrive under this kind of leader. They use the
abilities of motivated and competent team members and make meeting goals feel
urgent and exciting.

It can also be gratifying for team members to see their leader working hard
alongside them.

Potential challenges for leaders with a pacesetting style:

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Pacesetting leaders can sometimes create a high-stress workplace environment if
goals are unrealistic, which can overwhelm and demotivate teams. This can impact
engagement and lead to burnout, where people struggle to meet goals and perform
as expected.

Focusing on goals can also stifle creativity and diversity of thought, so employees
don’t feel they can use their expertise to suggest alternative goals or strategies.

Featured resources:

 Leadership behaviors

11. Situational Leadership

Situational leaders change their management style to meet the needs of the
situation or team. This leadership style is proactive and recognizes that change is
the only constant.

Why this leadership style works for businesses:

This leadership approach can motivate employees and ensure that people aren’t
stuck working in a way that doesn’t make sense for the situation. It’s also valuable
for startups or businesses requiring frequent changes and flexible talent and
support.

Why this leadership style is good for the team:

Situational leaders are great communicators and use team feedback to make
decisions. They also analyze market changes and can quickly evaluate and update
processes to ensure success. This can create strong relationships and help
employees see and feel their value to the business.

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Potential challenges for leaders with a situational style:

Leaders need a high level of expertise in all business processes and functions to
make decisions, and they must be able to pivot quickly. It’s important to remember
long-term goals and meet immediate needs; not every leader can do this
effectively.

It can become confusing and stressful for teams if a leader’s approach changes too
often, as they won’t know what to expect.

Featured resources:

 Trait theory leadership

 Self-awareness in leadership

How to choose the right leadership style

1. Get to know yourself

2. Outline your values and challenges

3. Watch leaders you respect

4. Try different leadership styles

5. Find a business coach or mentor

6. Ask colleagues and leaders for feedback

7. Complete a leadership style assessment

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1. Get to know yourself.

Everyone has a unique path to self-discover. Some take risks and try new things
and others prioritize quiet time, writing exercises, and listing strengths and
weaknesses.

Another path to learning about your self is through physical activity and spending
time with other people. However you go about it, getting to know yourself is an
important first step toward being a leader.

2. Outline your values and challenges.

Knowing yourself will help you understand what’s important to you and where you
struggle. Being a leader means working quickly and making decisions quickly, so
having your values mapped out can be extremely helpful.

As you write out your values, look at pivotal moments in your life to date. Then,
look for trends, people you're drawn to, and common themes. If your list is long,
group similar ideas together.

Having an outline can help you see how you react, your strengths and weaknesses,
and a base for your core values.

3. Watch leaders you respect.

Observing leaders you respect can also help you define your leadership style. As
you watch them in meetings, client conversations, and presentations, take notes of
what you like.

Another approach is to view their actions with specific leadership styles in mind,
helping you figure out what their approach is and whether it will work for you.

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4. Try different leadership styles.

A hands-on option is to try out different leadership styles. You can create an
outline of what interests you and review your notes before your next meeting to see
how you can incorporate it into your interactions.

5. Find a business coach or mentor.

Working with a business coach can also help you hone your leadership style.

A mentor can be someone in your workplace you respect and would appreciate
feedback from, whether it’s another leader or a colleague you respect. You can also
check out this guide on how to find a business coach.

6. Ask colleagues and leaders for feedback.

Another way to find the best style for your needs is to ask other colleagues,
leaders, and team members for feedback.

The best approach for this strategy is to plan out what you want to ask and why so
you get the feedback you need. Think about how people might respond and also set
clear guidelines and expectations.

When you get feedback, make sure to listen carefully. You’ll gain valuable
information about your strengths and weaknesses that will help you understand
where you need to improve and the style that will help you improve.

7. Complete a leadership style assessment.

Leadership assessments are helpful tools for leaders, for yourself as an individual,
and to assess your teams.

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A leadership quiz can make it easier to understand your strengths and skills. It can
surface habits and qualities you might not be aware of and give you a clear
direction for growth.

If this is something you want to try, the leadership assessment below is a great
place to start.

2. a. Managerial Grid

MANAGERIAL GRID LEADERSHIP MODEL

What is The Leadership Grid?

The Leadership Grid (developed in 1964 by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton of
the University of Texas) is a two-dimensional leadership model that describes
major leadership styles based on measuring both concern for people and concern
for production.

Originally named as the Managerial Grid, the model was later renamed The
Leadership Grid by Blake and McCanse (1991).

The Leadership Grid builds on the work of the Ohio State and Michigan studies,
as it is applied in describing leadership behaviors along a grid with two axes:
concern for people and concern for production or results.

Based on a week-long seminar, researchers rated leaders on a scale of 1 (low) to 9

(high) according to the two criteria: the concern for people and the concern for
production. The scores for these criteria are plotted on a grid with an axis
corresponding to each concern.

How leaders combine the criteria, concern for people and concern for production,
results in five components of leadership style. The scale for each component
moves from 1 (low) to 9 (high) as shown below in the Leadership Grid Figure.

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 The Leadership Grid Model
Adapted from Leadership Dilemma—Grid Solutions by Robert R. Blake (formerly
the Managerial Grid by Robert R. Blake & Jane S. Mouton).

The five leadership styles resulting from combination of the two criteria, concern
for people, and concern for production, are described as follows:

1. Team Management (9,9)

Team management (9,9) often is considered the most effective style and is
recommended because organization members puts committed efforts to accomplish
tasks; group members are interdependent, and everyone holds a “common stake.” The

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 work climate in this style of leadership is characterized by relationships of trust,
respect, and equality.

2. Country Club Management (1,9)

Country club management (1,9) occurs when primary emphasis is given to people
rather than to work outputs. In this leadership style, the leader pays thoughtful
attention to the needs of group members and fosters a comfortable, friendly
atmosphere and work tempo.

3. Authority-Compliance Management (9,1)

Authority-compliance management (9,1) occurs when efficiency in operations is the

dominant orientation. Here, the leader assumes a position of power by arranging work
conditions efficiently.

2. b. Path-Goal approach

Path-Goal Theory of Leadership (Explained)

Path-Goal Theory, developed by Martin Evans and Robert House, related to the
contingency approach, is derived from the expectancy theory of motivation.

It extracts the essence of the expectancy theory of motivation and the Ohio State
leadership research on initiating structure and consideration.

Let’s understand the path-goal theory of leadership;

 What is Path-Goal Theory?

 Four Components or Types of Path-Goal Theory
o Directive Leadership
o Supportive Leadership
o Participative Leadership
o Achievement Oriented Leadership

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 Situational Factors Path-Goal Theory
o Subordinates’ Characteristics
o Environmental characteristics of workplace

What is Path-Goal Theory?

Path-Goal Theory states that the leader is responsible for providing followers
with the information, support, or other resources necessary to achieve their
goals.

Path-Goal theory indicates that a leader must properly set a path to a goal and
guide and explain how to achieve the goal successfully to followers.

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The term ‘path-goal’ denotes that a leader must illuminate the path to the goal and
explain how to make the journey successful to the followers.

The path-goal theory of leadership indicates that a leader is in charge of clarifying

the subordinates about the actions and behavior, which, if followed, will lead to
goal attainment.

Four Components or Types of Path-Goal Theory

Path goal theory suggests 4 various styles which can be and are used by the same
leader in different situations.

Four components or types of the path-goal theory are;

1. Directive Leadership
2. Supportive Leadership
3. Participative Leadership
4. Achievement Oriented Leadership

Directive Leadership

A directive leader lets subordinates know what is expected of them, gives guidance
and direction, and schedules work according to the expectation.

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Directive leadership gives greater satisfaction to ambiguous or stressful tasks
when they are highly structured and well laid out.

However, it is likely redundant among employees with high ability or considerable

experience.

Supportive Leadership

A supportive leader is friendly and approachable. He is concerned for the

subordinate welfare and treats members as equals.

For performing structured tasks, supportive leadership results in high

performance and satisfaction from the employees.

Participative Leadership

A participative leader always consults with subordinates, asks for suggestions, and
allows participation in decision-making.

Participating in leadership could fail if the employees are not experienced and
skilled.

Also, if the number of employees is large, it may slow down the decision-making
system and, therefore, the production and performance.

Achievement Oriented Leadership

An Achievement-oriented leader sets challenging goals and expects subordinates to

perform at high levels. Encouraging subordinates and showing confidence in
subordinates’ abilities is necessary for him.

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 Achievement-oriented leadership may encourage continued high
performance, but it could back fire if the targets are unclear and vague.

Situational Factors Path-Goal Theory

In path-goal theory, leaders can change their style or behavior to meet the demand
of situations. What style a leader should select depends on a complex analysis of
the situation.

Two situational factors identified by the path-goal theory are;

1. Subordinates’ Characteristics
2. Environmental characteristics of workplace

Subordinates’ characteristics and the Environmental characteristics of the work

place.

Subordinates’ Characteristics

Important personal characteristics include the subordinates’ perception of their

abilities and locus of control. If people think they lack ability, directive leadership
is the preferable method to lead them.

Participative leadership is preferable if a person has the focus of control. Managers

may not be able to change the personal characteristics or the personnel but can
shape their approach to leading and managing by understanding them.

Environmental characteristics of workplace

Task structure and workgroup are the two environmental factors. When the
structure is high, directive leadership is less effective than when the structure is

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low. The nature of the workgroup also affects leadership behavior. The leader must
provide support in the workgroup that is incapable of supporting itself.

Using one of the styles contingents upon situational factors, the leader attempts to
influence subordinates’ perceptions and motivate them, leading to subordinates’
role clarity, goal expectancy, satisfaction, and performance.

Research on this theory supported the hypothesis that the higher the task structure
of the subordinates’ job, the higher the relationship between supportive leaders’
style and subordinates’ satisfaction.

With respect to the second hypothesis—the higher the task structure of the
subordinates’ job, the lower the correlation between directive leadership style and
subordinates’ satisfaction—received mixed support.

2. C. Difference between a leader and manager

What's Your Question?

 History & Geography

 World View
 Science & Technology
 Business & Finance
 Pets & Animals

3. What are some of the organizational and work related factors that
are necessary for job satisfactions?

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What Is the Difference Between a Manager and a Team Leader?

A team leader is someone who motivates and inspires employees while a

manager is responsible for producing results instead of just encouraging the
employees. Managers have far more actual power than team leaders. Management
positions often require more advanced education than team leader roles.

People in management roles are at a higher position in an organization than those

who are team leaders. While both of these positions exercise command over a
group, a team leader is largely responsible for carrying out scheduling and training
decisions made by a manager. Team leaders report to the same manager as those
the leader is responsible for guiding.

A team leader is helpful in splitting up the tasks given to a manager. By providing

more intermediaries for communication and talent oversight, managers are able to
generate better outcomes for their staff members. The point of team leaders is to
facilitate the success of the group by acting as carriers of information between
front line employees and upper level managers.

Team leaders are often not as highly trained or educated as managers. Human
resources and administrative skills are necessary when trying to attain
management-level positions, while team leaders are often promoted directly from
customer-service type positions.

4. What are some of the personal factors, unrelated directly to work

environment, that affect a person’s motivation and his attitude towards
his job?

Personality, Attitudes, and Work Behaviors

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 Successful organizations depend on getting the right mix of individuals in the
right positions at the right times.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

Reading this chapter will help you do the following:

1. Understand the roles of personality and values in determining work

behaviors.
2. Explain the process of perception and how it affects work behaviors.
3. Identify the major work attitudes that affect work behaviors.
4. Define the concept of person-organization fit and how it affects work
behaviors.
5. List the key set of behaviors that matter for organizational performance.
6. Be able to develop your positive attitude skills.

2.2 The P-O-L-C Framework

Individuals bring a number of differences to work. They have a variety of

personalities, values, and attitudes. When they enter into organizations, their stable
or transient characteristics affect how they behave and perform. Moreover,
companies hire people with the expectation that they have certain knowledge,
skills, abilities, personalities, and values.

Recall that you are learning about the principles of management through the
planning-organizing-leading-controlling (P-O-L-C) framework. Employees’
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personalities, attitudes, and work behaviors affect how managers approach each P-
O-L-C dimension. Here are just a few examples:

 When conducting environmental scanning during the planning process, a

manager’s perceptions color the information that is absorbed and processed.
 Employee preferences for job design and enrichment (aspects of organizing)
may be a function of individuals’ personalities and values.
 Leading effectively requires an understanding of employees’ personalities,
values, and attitudes.
 Absenteeism can challenge a manager’s ability to control costs and
performance (both at the group and individual levels).

Therefore, it is important for managers to understand the individual characteristics

that matter for employee and manager behaviors.

2.1 Personality and Values

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Identify the major personality traits that are relevant to organizational

behavior.
2. Explain the potential pitfalls of personality testing.
3. Describe the relationship between personality and work behaviors.
4. Understand what values are.
5. Describe the link between values and work behaviors.

Personality

Personality encompasses a person’s relatively stable feelings, thoughts, and

behavioral patterns. Each of us has a unique personality that differentiates us from
other people, and understanding someone’s personality gives us clues about how
that person is likely to act and feel in a variety of situations. To manage effectively,
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it is helpful to understand the personalities of different employees. Having this
knowledge is also useful for placing people into jobs and organizations.

If personality is stable, does this mean that it does not change? You probably
remember how you have changed and evolved as a result of your own life
experiences, parenting style and attention you have received in early childhood,
successes and failures you experienced over the course of your life, and other life
events. In fact, personality does change over long periods of time. For example, we
tend to become more socially dominant, more conscientious (organized and
dependable), and more emotionally stable between the ages of 20 and 40, whereas
openness to new experiences tends to decline as we age. Roberts, B. W., Walton,
K. E., &Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits
across the life course: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological
Bulletin, 132, 1–25. In other words, even though we treat personality as relatively
stable, change occurs. Moreover, even in childhood, our personality matters, and it
has lasting consequences for us. For example, studies show that part of our career
success and job satisfaction later in life can be explained by our childhood
personality. Judge, T. A., & Higgins, C. A. (1999). The big five personality traits,
general mental ability, and career success across the life span. Personnel
Psychology, 52, 621–652; Staw, B. M., Bell, N. E., & Clausen, J. A. (1986). The
dispositional approach to job attitudes: A lifetime longitudinal
test. Administrative Science Quarterly, 31, 56–77.

Is our behavior in organizations dependent on our personality? To some extent,

yes, and to some extent, no. While we will discuss the effects of personality for
employee behavior, you must remember that the relationships we describe are
modest correlations. For example, having a sociable and outgoing personality may
encourage people to seek friends and prefer social situations. This does not mean
that their personality will immediately affect their work behavior. At work, we
have a job to do and a role to perform. Therefore, our behavior may be more

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strongly affected by what is expected of us, as opposed to how we want to behave.
Especially in jobs that involve a lot of autonomy, or freedom, personality tends to
exert a strong influence on work behavior, Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. (1993).
Autonomy as a moderator of the relationships between the big five personality
dimensions and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 111–
118.something to consider when engaging in organizing activities such as job
design or enrichment.

Big Five Personality Traits

How many personality traits are there? How do we even know? In every language,
there are many words describing a person’s personality. In fact, in the English
language, more than 15,000 words describing personality have been identified.
When researchers analyzed the traits describing personality characteristics, they
realized that many different words were actually pointing to a single dimension of
personality. When these words were grouped, five dimensions seemed to emerge,
and these explain much of the variation in our personalities. Goldberg, L. R.
(1990). An alternative “description of personality”: The big-five factor
structure. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 59, 1216–1229. These
five are not necessarily the only traits out there. There are other, specific traits that
represent other dimensions not captured by the Big Five. Still, understanding them
gives us a good start for describing personality.

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Source: Goldberg, L. R. (1990). An alternative “description of personality”: The
big-five factor structure. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 59,
1216–1229.

As you can see, the Big Five dimensions are openness, conscientiousness,
extraversion, agreeableness, and Neuroticism—if you put the initials together, you
get the acronym OCEAN. Everyone has some degree of each of these traits; it is
the unique configuration of how high a person rates on some traits and how low on
others that produces the individual quality we call personality.

Evaluate Yourself on the Big Five Personality Factors

Other Personality Dimensions

In addition to the Big Five, researchers have proposed various other dimensions, or
traits, of personality. These include self-monitoring, proactive personality, self-
esteem, and self-efficacy.

Self-monitoring refers to the extent to which a person is capable of monitoring his

or her actions and appearance in social situations. People who are social monitors
are social chameleons who understand what the situation demands and act
accordingly, while low social monitors tend to act the way they feel.

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 5. Explain in detail some of the indicators of job dissatisfaction and the
steps that management.

What Is Job Dissatisfaction?

Job dissatisfaction is something every employer should consider when evaluating

the experience of the employees. Job dissatisfaction includes feeling unsatisfied at
work, feeling stale, stagnant and unhappy, experiencing a lack of purpose or
progression and/or a desire to start looking for opportunities outside the company.

What Happens When Employees Are Dissatisfied With Their Job?

If an employer is invested in their employees, checks in often to see how they are
doing and really knows and understands them, they will often be able to identify
when an employee is dissatisfied with their job. Employers have the opportunity to
resolve these problems before they become bigger issues that cause an employee to
leave. Here is what happens when an employee is dissatisfied with their job:

 Decreased productivity. Employees who are dissatisfied are not as productive.

They may feel burnout and have a lack of motivation to perform well.
 Increased mistakes. When employees are dissatisfied with their job, they stop
putting forth quality work and aren’t as worried about the consequences. They
are distracted and may have spiraling thoughts about the future.
 Negative view of the company. Dissatisfied employees may try to talk to their
friends at work about the feelings they are having. They want to feel validated
that what they are experiencing, whatever it may be, is real. They wonder if
other people are experiencing the same issues with their jobs at the company.

Causes of Job Dissatisfaction

The Human Resource Management Textbook says, “Managers often try to change
their compensation packages to keep people from leaving, when compensation
isn’t the reason they are leaving at all.” While pay may be a factor in your
employee deciding to leave, don’t automatically assume this is the cause.

Lack of Growth

One major cause of job dissatisfaction is a lack of growth. If an employee feels that
they are not learning anything, gaining new skills or being effectively utilized, they
can begin to feel discouraged. Perhaps it has been a long time since they received a

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promotion or a well-deserved raise. Employees want a career path. People don’t
like the unknown. They want to know where they are headed and if they have a
reputable future with your company.

Leadership

Leadership can be a huge influence in an employee’s decision to stay or leave a

job. Controlling or unyielding managers can force undue pressure on an employee
to meet unrealistic expectations. Employees in this situation may feel that they are
required to put their personal life as second priority to their work life. A strict or
forceful culture can leave employees feeling helpless and uncomfortable. They
may question their job security after bringing up problems and not being met with
understanding and empathy.

6. Explain some of the contributions of the concept of MBO towards

employee motivation.

An effective management goes a long way in extracting the best out of

employees and make them work as a single unit towards a common goal.

The term Management by Objectives was coined by Peter Drucker in

1954.

What is Management by Objective ?

The process of setting objectives in the organization to give a sense of

direction to the employees is called as Management by Objectives.

It refers to the process of setting goals for the employees so that they know
what they are supposed to do at the workplace.

Management by Objectives defines roles and responsibilities for the

employees and help them chalk out their future course of action in the
organization.

Management by objectives guides the employees to deliver their level best and
achieve the targets within the stipulated time frame.

Need for Management by Objectives (MBO)

 The Management by Objectives process helps the employees to understand
their duties at the workplace.

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  KRAs are designed for each employee as per their interest, specialization and
educational qualification.
 The employees are clear as to what is expected out of them.
 Management by Objectives process leads to satisfied employees. It avoids job
mismatch and unnecessary confusions later on.
 Employees in their own way contribute to the achievement of the goals and
objectives of the organization. Every employee has his own role at the
workplace. Each one feels indispensable for the organization and eventually
develops a feeling of loyalty towards the organization. They tend to stick to
the organization for a longer span of time and contribute effectively. They
enjoy at the workplace and do not treat work as a burden.
 Management by Objectives ensures effective communication amongst the
employees. It leads to a positive ambience at the workplace.
 Management by Objectives leads to well defined hierarchies at the
workplace. It ensures transparency at all levels. A supervisor of any
organization would never directly interact with the Managing Director in case
of queries. He/She would first meet his reporting boss who would then pass
on the message to his senior and so on. Everyone is clear about his position in
the organization.
 The MBO Process leads to highly motivated and committed employees.
 The MBO Process sets a benchmark for every employee. The superiors set
targets for each of the team members. Each employee is given a list of
specific tasks.

Limitations of Management by objectives Process

 It sometimes ignores the prevailing culture and working conditions of the
organization.
 More emphasis is being laid on targets and objectives. It just expects the
employees to achieve their targets and meet the objectives of the organization
without bothering much about the existing circumstances at the workplace.
Employees are just expected to perform and meet the deadlines. The MBO
Process sometimes do treat individuals as mere machines.
 The MBO process increases comparisons between individuals at the
workplace. Employees tend to depend on nasty politics and other
unproductive tasks to outshine their fellow workers. Employees do only what
their superiors ask them to do. Their work lacks innovation, creativity and
sometimes also becomes monotonous.

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 7. Explain in detail the ERG theory of motivation. How does it significantly
differ from Maslow’s model of motivation?

Human beings seldom work without any motivation and both Maslow theory of
motivation, as well as ERG theory of motivation, tries to find out the factors which
motivate people to work hard and by finding out these factors companies can
concentrate on improving upon on those factors so that they get the best possible
output from their workers. While both theories are similar as they try to find out
motivation factors but there are many differences between the two theories, let’s
look at the difference between Maslow theory and ERG theory of motivation –

Maslow Vs ERG Theory of Motivation

Meaning

According to Maslow theory of motivation every individual has five types of needs
and each individual satisfies bottom level needs like food, water, shelter etc., and
then move higher to satisfy higher level needs until he or she reaches at top of the
pyramid to satisfy the self-actualization needs whereas according to ERG theory of
motivation an individual has three types of needs right from existence level needs
to growth needs in no particular order which every individual strive to satisfy.

Levels of Motivation

In the case of Maslow theory there are five levels of motivation, at the bottom level
is the physiological needs like food, clothing, shelter than comes safety needs like
job as well as financial security than third level of needs come which is social
needs which include things like love and affection from friends and family after
which comes esteem needs like recognition at workplace as well as at home and
then comes the last need which is self-actualization needs whereas in case of ERG
theory there are only three levels of motivation which is existence needs like food,
shelter, clothing, safety etc…, relatedness needs like having good relations both at
workplace as well as at home and last level is the growth need which includes

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things like having good reputation in society, and people respecting you at the
workplace and so on.

Order of Levels of Motivation

In case of Maslow theory the order of levels of motivation is fixed that is

physiological level comes first then comes safety level which is followed by social
needs and esteem needs and the last level of needs is self-actualization level and
individual moves gradually from one level to other levels of motivation but as far
as ERG theory is concerned there is no particular order of motivation and
individual can move in any order, hence individual after satisfying existence level
needs can move directly to satisfying growth needs hence skipping relatedness
needs and vice versa.

Timing of Theory

Maslow theory of motivation came earlier than ERG theory of motivation, while
Maslow theory was posses in the year 1943 by Abraham Maslow whereas ERG
theory was proposed by Clayton Alde rfer after 2 decades of Maslow theory of
motivation.

Flexibility

Maslow theory of motivation is rigid in the sense that according to this theory an
individual will have to satisfy the lower level of needs first in order to move to
satisfy higher level of needs but when it comes to ERG theory it is much more
flexible as according to this theory an individual can satisfy any level of need as
there is no particular order of needs in ERG theory.

As one can see from the above that there are many differences between the two
theories of motivation and that is the reason why any individual or company
thinking of following either Maslow theory of motivation or ERG theory of
motivation should carefully see the above differences and then decide which theory
of motivation is best suited for a particular individual or company.

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Categories

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8. Differentiate to Mc Celland’s theory of needs, the primary motive is the

need to succeed in competitive situations. Do you agree with this concept?
Explain your reasons.

What Is the Difference Between the Content and Process Theories of

Motivation?

The main difference between content and process theories is that content
theory focuses on individual needs, while process theory focuses on behavior.
These theories provide insight into what motivates people to act a certain way in a
particular setting and are popular in business management.

Maslow’s Hierarchy Theory:

Abraham Maslow breaks down human motivation into several categories of

personal needs. People are motivated by deep psychological desires for safety,
love, esteem and achievement. In the workplace these translate into things that
make a job appealing. For example, most people want a safe working environment,
to feel appreciated, recognition for hard work and a chance to move up the ladder
of success.
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Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory:

Frederick Herzberg sees motivation being split into two main behavioral
categories. People are motivated to react in positive or negative ways depending on
what they are dealing with in a particular environment. For instance, the poor
hygiene of a co-worker motivates people to stay away from that individual. The
amount of pay someone receives can motivate a person to work harder or become
lazy.

9. According to McClelland’s theory of needs, the primary motive is the

need to succeed in competitive situations.

An Introduction to McClelland’s Theory with Examples

Managing teams with different personalities, mindsets, and perspectives is never a

simple assignment. However, if your job is to manage or lead a team, utilizing
McClelland’s theory is essential to understand what motivates your team, how
they react, and what roles are a perfect fit for them. Further more. This method will
also assist to identify and maintaining people’s motivating drives as well as
keeping them motivated. Meanwhile, if you’re interested in learning more about
the McClelland model, you can continue reading below.

McClelland’s Theory Introduction

 McClelland’s Theory Definition

 Diving Motivators of McClelland’s Theory
 McClelland’s Theory Example
 Benefits of Using McClelland’s Theory

McClelland’s Theory Definition

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McClelland’s theory of needs is a method that explains a motivational theory by
defining what needs are as well as how people should be treated. David
McClelland was a Social Philosopher who established his hierarchy of needs
theory, often known as the Success Motivational theory, which centers on three
key aspects: Achievement, Affiliation, and Power. This idea is also known as the
Experienced Requirements Theory since McClelland proposed that a person’s
particular wants are learned and formed throughout occur as a consequence of his
personal experiences.

Diving Motivators of Mcclelland’s Theory

Need for Achievement

According to McClelland’s theory of motivation, the need for achievement refers

to the desire to achieve, to accomplish in comparison to a predetermined goal, and
to aim higher. In other words, the desire for accomplishment is a competitive
behavior with a high bar of perfection. McClelland discovered that persons with a
strong need for accomplishment outperform those with a moderately low need for
accomplishment, and she also discovered nationally and internationally distinctions
in academic achievement.

Need for Affiliation

McClelland’s theory also includes the need for affiliation, it refers to creating and
sustaining pleasant and warm relationships with other individuals is characterized
as the need for affiliation. In many aspects, the desire for attachment is analogous
to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Need for Power

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The desire for power is focused on having an effect on someone else, influencing
others, changing others, and making a real difference in life. Persons who have a
strong craving for power like having influence over other people and events. Man
is ultimately satisfied as a result of these.

McClelland’s Theory Example

Create a simple yet professional-looking McClelland’s theory of needs model

using Gift Mind. It is the most user-friendly program for making change diagrams
for any organization. It allows for real-time collaborative interaction, which
implies that several individuals may work on diagrams at the same time. In
addition, this free graph tool provides a completely free service and offers limitless
visualizations. Having said that, if you really want to try this strategy, you can visit
its official site or try out some of the templates available below.

Edit this example

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Benefits of Using McClelland’s Theory

Using a McClelland theory of motivation model can give a clear description for the
business organization and decision-makers to know which types of jobs are
appropriate for employees and which types of people can help organizations
succeed. It also provides an overview to deal with the employees and to motivate
staff to undertake and maintain initiatives that might directly or indirectly increase
service productivity. Last but not least, it might also help recognize the main
motivators of the team members. This knowledge may then be used to impact how
to create objectives and leave comments, as well as how to inspire and compensate
members of the team.

Conclusion

Indeed, motivation may have an impact on a company’s production, both in terms

of quantity and quality. All of the information about McClelland’s theory and data
discussed above may be used to more successfully lead, commend, and inspire
your team, as well as to better structure your team’s role.

Our reasons are:-

Using a McClelland theory of motivation model can give a clear description

for the business organization and decision-makers to know which types of jobs
are appropriate for employees and which types of people can help
organizations succeed. It also provides an overview to deal with the employees
and to motivate staff to undertake and maintain initiatives that might directly
or indirectly increase service productivity.

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