Management Concepts & Organisational Behaviour - Leadership
Managerial Grid - Leadership
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The two dimensions of leadership, viz. concern for people and concern for production have been demonstrated by Robert R. Blake and James S.Mouton in the form of a grid. The word ‘Grid’ means an iron grating, a frame work of parallel bars.
Managerial Grid
The two dimensions of leadership, viz. concern for people and concern for production have been demonstrated by Robert R. Blake and James S. Mouton in the form of a grid. The word ‘Grid’ means an iron grating, a frame work of parallel bars.
Blake and Mouton identified five basic leadership styles of practicing managers representing various combinations of the aforesaid two dimensions as shown in the above diagram. It is, however, important to point out these basic styles are a matter of convenience rather than a fact. A brief description of these styles is given below.
People are regarded as an instrument of production under the 9, 1 management style. It is an autocratic style of leadership. This style places a heavy emphasis on task and job requirement. Human relationships and interactions are minimized. Subordinates are expected to carry out orders with an unquestioning obedience. They are taken as merely means for doing the tasks assigned to them. Little attention is given to their development or communicating with them beyond the issue of instructions and orders. If there is a conflict between a subordinate and the boss, the goal of the boss is to win.
Under this style of management, work is done leisurely. At best people are regarded rather than driven. Subordinates are expected to turn out some work to avoid trouble. The boss is more of a big brother rather than an autocratic leader. Social relationships are more important. The group, not the individual is the key in the organization. The aim is to achieve friendliness and harmony among the members of the organization.
A manager with this orientation exerts minimum influence on the contacts with group members. He expresses little concern for production or people. In a supervisory position, he is most likely to be found executing messenger – carrier functions, communicating orders from the layer above to the layer below. He is an expert in passing on blame to others for failures in such a way that he absolves himself from responsibilities and rarely initiates. His criticism is strictly in self defense. Minimum involvement in organization’s purpose and with its people is all that he wants. Through minimum contact and non- involvement, the 1, 1 style reduces the need to take active steps with respect to managerial responsibilities. Subordinates or members of the group are left to find for themselves the ways of doing the job.
The “people” dimension in the work situation is as important as the “production” dimension. The 5, 5 style seeks to maintain a balance between the two. A basic assumption of this style is that people will work willingly and they are told the reasons for doing so are explained to them. However, just enough is communicated so that people have a general sense of what is going on. If too much is told, it is feared that they might resist. Enough concern is shown for the people so that adequate production may be achieved. This is seen in the 5, 5 approach to management development, communication, and performance reviews. Meetings are held to listen to their suggestions and to create a sense of participation in decision - making.
A major difference between 9, 9 style and other managerial styles is in goal setting and its use as a basic management approach to a large variety of problems. The capability of people in achieving organizational objectives through commitment is fundamental. In other words, the 9, 9 orientation aims at integrating the people and production dimensions of work under conditions of high concern for growth. The key is the involvement and participation of those responsible for it in planning and execution of work. This brings about the kind of team spirit that leads to high organization accomplishment.
Each of the five styles given by Blake and Mouton points out the relative concern for production and people and implies that the most desirable leadership behavior is 9, 9 i.e., maximum concern for both production and people. It may be noted that the five positions emphasized in the Managerial grid are rarely found in their pure form in actual life. That means, a manager may have a style of 8, 2, or 4, 6 or some other. Nevertheless, Managerial Grid is widely used as a technique of managerial training and for identifying various combinations of leadership styles.
In essence, the managerial Grid has given popular terminology to leadership styles within the four quadrants of the Ohio State Studies. However, there is one basic difference between the two. In managerial Grid, ‘concern for’ is a predisposition about something or an attitudinal dimension. Thus, managerial Grid tends to be an attitudinal model that measures the predispositions of a behavioural model that examines how leader actions are perceived by others.
The two dimensions of leadership, viz. concern for people and concern for production have been demonstrated by Robert R. Blake and James S. Mouton in the form of a grid. The word ‘Grid’ means an iron grating, a frame work of parallel bars.
Blake and Mouton identified five basic leadership styles of practicing managers representing various combinations of the aforesaid two dimensions as shown in the above diagram. It is, however, important to point out these basic styles are a matter of convenience rather than a fact. A brief description of these styles is given below.
The 9, 1 managerial Style (Task)
People are regarded as an instrument of production under the 9, 1 management style. It is an autocratic style of leadership. This style places a heavy emphasis on task and job requirement. Human relationships and interactions are minimized. Subordinates are expected to carry out orders with an unquestioning obedience. They are taken as merely means for doing the tasks assigned to them. Little attention is given to their development or communicating with them beyond the issue of instructions and orders. If there is a conflict between a subordinate and the boss, the goal of the boss is to win.
The 1, 9 Managerial style (Country Club)
Under this style of management, work is done leisurely. At best people are regarded rather than driven. Subordinates are expected to turn out some work to avoid trouble. The boss is more of a big brother rather than an autocratic leader. Social relationships are more important. The group, not the individual is the key in the organization. The aim is to achieve friendliness and harmony among the members of the organization.
The 1, 1 Managerial Style (Impoverished)
A manager with this orientation exerts minimum influence on the contacts with group members. He expresses little concern for production or people. In a supervisory position, he is most likely to be found executing messenger – carrier functions, communicating orders from the layer above to the layer below. He is an expert in passing on blame to others for failures in such a way that he absolves himself from responsibilities and rarely initiates. His criticism is strictly in self defense. Minimum involvement in organization’s purpose and with its people is all that he wants. Through minimum contact and non- involvement, the 1, 1 style reduces the need to take active steps with respect to managerial responsibilities. Subordinates or members of the group are left to find for themselves the ways of doing the job.
The 5, 5 managerial Style (Middle Road)
The “people” dimension in the work situation is as important as the “production” dimension. The 5, 5 style seeks to maintain a balance between the two. A basic assumption of this style is that people will work willingly and they are told the reasons for doing so are explained to them. However, just enough is communicated so that people have a general sense of what is going on. If too much is told, it is feared that they might resist. Enough concern is shown for the people so that adequate production may be achieved. This is seen in the 5, 5 approach to management development, communication, and performance reviews. Meetings are held to listen to their suggestions and to create a sense of participation in decision - making.
The 9, 9 Managerial Style (Team)
A major difference between 9, 9 style and other managerial styles is in goal setting and its use as a basic management approach to a large variety of problems. The capability of people in achieving organizational objectives through commitment is fundamental. In other words, the 9, 9 orientation aims at integrating the people and production dimensions of work under conditions of high concern for growth. The key is the involvement and participation of those responsible for it in planning and execution of work. This brings about the kind of team spirit that leads to high organization accomplishment.
Each of the five styles given by Blake and Mouton points out the relative concern for production and people and implies that the most desirable leadership behavior is 9, 9 i.e., maximum concern for both production and people. It may be noted that the five positions emphasized in the Managerial grid are rarely found in their pure form in actual life. That means, a manager may have a style of 8, 2, or 4, 6 or some other. Nevertheless, Managerial Grid is widely used as a technique of managerial training and for identifying various combinations of leadership styles.
In essence, the managerial Grid has given popular terminology to leadership styles within the four quadrants of the Ohio State Studies. However, there is one basic difference between the two. In managerial Grid, ‘concern for’ is a predisposition about something or an attitudinal dimension. Thus, managerial Grid tends to be an attitudinal model that measures the predispositions of a behavioural model that examines how leader actions are perceived by others.
Tags : Management Concepts & Organisational Behaviour - Leadership
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