Free articles on management styles

A colleague of mine recently used the phrase” the airport manager”. By this he meant that sometimes Managers with two hours to kill at the airport have picked up a book at the bookstall usually called something like

“Seven styles of management – to solve all your management problems (you need never worry about problem staff again).”

Now, I don’t know about you, but promises of that sort should always be looked at very sceptically. Books full of ‘How To’ information about management styles can be a bit like a ‘placebo’.

What is a placebo?

According to Wikipedia

A placebo is a sham medical intervention intended to lead the recipient to believe that it may improve his/her condition. In one common placebo procedure, a patient is given an inert sugar pill, and told that it may improve his/her condition.

And that’s the same with books for ‘airport managers’; and for free articles on management styles.

A good manager will learn from his/her mistakes while on the job – not from the books he/she has read, and his or her style of management will develop in the situations which occur.

Learning to swim by watching videos and reading books is the best way to drown.

Yes, It is possible to make a list of the types of management styles that different people use in their own workplaces but there are a whole host of factors which will influence the style of management that you adopt.

These include

Health and safety – This is the biggy. You can’t have a laid back management style if the health and safety of your staff and workforce is at risk. In situations which are hazardous to health, you need clear procedures and control mechanisms.

Legislative and statutory – Whilst not (immediately) hazardous to health. There are likely to be many legal requirements which affect your management style. If you work in food or food preparation, you should know what affects you and how to present this to the staff you have.

Personnel & staffing – This will obviously be a major factor is how you manage. What is the experience level of your staff? What are the skill levels to do the tasks of the job? Can you recruit quickly and easily? Is there a lengthy training program required?

Financial – Financial aspects are tied to personnel & staffing to some extent. For example, if your workforce if performing poorly and output is suffering but there is no money to pay for staff training. Then you have a problem. Which style is appropriate here?

Technological – There are likely to be many factors affecting your management style but these are, again, likely to come under one of the other previous headings. Here is an example. If your processes are heavily automated, but the technology is constantly breaking down and disrupting staff moral, again, you have a problem.

How would you manage these situations?

Hopefully, these ideas have got you to realise that your management style is a lot more than getting a free article (or buying a book from the airport), reading it and living happily ever after.

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Blog post originally from Sharp End Training

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