Managerial Styles
Over the course of the next few months, I will be taking a look at some of the various managerial styles that are being used by managers in the business world today. I will try to analyze their effectivess in terms of productivity as well as employee happiness, if possible. I am also curious to read about any stories all of you might have about a current or former manager and the approach he or she took toward managing the people or tasks in the organization. Speaking of people and tasks, right off of the bat, two managerial styles that are mentioned in the book Reframing Organizations are task-oriented versus people-oriented managers. The difference between the two being one, task-oriented, focuses more on the work being done, while the other, people-oriented, focuses more on the people who are doing this work. Have any of you had experience with a manager that fits one of these descriptions? If so, I'd appreciate it if you could share this experience with us.
Comments
Posted by: Matt Eberhardt
Posted on: February 8, 2006 01:14 PM
I have dealt with a task-oriented manager before. I was working a retail job in the mall at a clothing store. It seemed as though the only thing these managers cared about was selling clothes and making money. They were very hard to communicate with, especially on days when sales were down. They also seemed to not care about the workers and their needs. Hardly ever did an employee get a 15 minute break, unless they were working an 8 hour day in which case the 15 minute break was considered their "lunch break". Also, everytime an employee would approach a manager about a problem they would ignore them and tell them to get back out on the sales floor.
Not only do I disagree with the way these managers operate their store, but I also feel that it is not the most effective way. If the managers would put some effort into treating their employees better then the employees might perform better. They would also keep employees longer, instead of having to hire new people every few weeks.
Posted by: Andres Gonzalez
Posted on: February 8, 2006 02:05 PM
I currently work at a recreation center and my boss, in my opinion, is very people-oriented. I feel that this managerial position must require him to be people-oriented. They are on a day to day basis interacting with not just employees but also members. At times I feel having a people-oriented manager is very effective. It makes it easy to communicate and effectively understand what the manager is trying to accomplish. But it also has some draw backs. At times I find that my manager does things to please the people that he forgets about the work at hand. Also it is very difficult to talk to him about things such as raises, and work hours because daily he talks to so many people that he quite often forgets about what you told him. I think an effective manager should be both task and people oriented to be effective.
Posted by: Alex Abrams
Posted on: February 15, 2006 03:16 PM
I currently work with a manager who is extremely people-oriented. She tends to find herself so deep in conversation with her employees that she completely forgets about work that needs to be done. She likes to be friends with her employees. For example, on my first day of work, she took me to her office and showed me all of the clothes she had bought during her lunch hour.Though she is a great boss, I do feel that she should start paying more attention to the amount of time she spends socializing at work.
What about you Kevin, have you ever encountered a people or task-oriented manager??