Types of Management Styles and Their Key Characteristics

Running head: THEORIES
THEORIES
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1THEORIES
Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid:
No one managerial style is appropriate for one company but it is useful to understand the
natural approach and how the company can develop skills. It is advised to neglect the people
working in a company and their tasks but equally compromising between these two approaches
can result in growing average team performance. Blake Mouton Managerial Grid is a popular
framework for thinking about the leaders and task versus person orientation.
In the case of Apple. Inc, three steps are to be followed. Firstly the company identifies its
Managerial skill, secondly identify the areas where the company can improve and develop its
leadership skills and in step 3 it puts the grid in context (Roy 2019).
No one managerial style is appropriate for one company but it is useful to understand the natural
approach and how the company can develop skills. It is advised to neglect the people working in
a company and their tasks but equally compromising between these two approaches can result in
growing average team performance. Blake Mouton Managerial Grid is a popular framework for
thinking about the leaders and task versus person orientation.
In the case of Apple. Inc, three steps are to be followed. Firstly the company identifies its
Managerial skill, secondly identify the areas where the company can improve and develop its
leadership skills and in step 3 it puts the grid in context.
House’s Path Goal Theory
The path goal theory of achievement refers that the leader’s behaviour relates to the
employee satisfaction and motivation along with the performance of the employees according to
this theory a good leader provides a perfect direction and sets higher goals so that employees feel
engaged with their organisation and achieve goals (Phillips and Phillips 2016). The path goal

2THEORIES
leadership styles include achievement oriented leadership, directive leadership, participative
leadership and supportive leadership. In the Apple Inc. Leader like Steve Jobs have followed
different paths so that the employees get proper understanding of the goal and choose different
path to achieve the organisational objectives. The main goal is to win the game but the leadership
follows supportive path in this company. This leads to develop supportive communication in the
company.
Great Man Theory
The great man theory refers to the fact that there are some people with unique talents and
highly influential decision making capabilities that make them stand out in the crowd. This
people have superior intellect and hero courage. This is the reason why they are referred to be
great man in the history. According to this theory every great leader is born with certain
leadership traits that enable them to rise and lead the crowd (Spector 2016). The reason why
these great men become great because of the need of the situation which develop their traits and
allow them to lead. In the case of Apple Inc. Steve Jobs has been seen to be great man in terms
of leadership. He had an exceptional intelligence, intellect and traits to motivate the subordinates
in such a way which makes him a hero. The possibility of the revolution in the information
technology sector has been initiated by this particular person.
Trait Theory
Trait theory is just opposite of great man theory in terms of leadership because according to this
theory no leader is born with any leadership trait but they learn from the situations and grow
ttheir capabilities. It is their behaviour and approach which determine their personality and
convince the subordinates to follow them. According to the trait theory the thoughts, behaviour

3THEORIES
and emotions of the leader attract the followers which convince them with the decision making
ability of their leaders and influence their actions. The traits of leadership in Steve Jobs where
enough to motivate the employees in the company like Apple. This enables the followers of the
employees of this company to get motivated for innovation and contribute their best skills for the
growth of the company. This is also supportive of cross cultural growth.
Leadership-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory:
Leader member exchange theory refers to the relationship connection with the members of the
teams and the organisation. This particular theory claims that the leaders may not treat every
subordinate in unequal manner. they possess work-related attitudes as well as behaviours of
those members depending upon how they are treating by their leaders (Gregory and
Osmonbekov 2019). This is related with the motivation of the team members and relationship
based approach that engages the team members with the team or for that matter the organisation
more effectively. However there are various cases in which the employees of Apple Inc. have
reported to be treated differently by their team leaders which rightly captures the essence of this
particular theory.
Transformational and Transactional Leadership:
Transformational leadership and transactional leadership are two ways of motivating the
employees so that it can increase productivity in a company as well as promote engagement.
Transactional leadership allows the managers to motivate the employees by providing them
monetary facilities and rewards (Afsar et al. 2017). These leaders focus working system in one
hand but punish strictly for any type of misconduct or not achievement of goals stuff this type of
leadership is task oriented and increase competitiveness among the employees. The

4THEORIES
transformational leadership on the other hand, try to motivate the employees by empowering
them. This type of leaders allowed the employees in their decision making system in which the
employees think themselves important for the growth of the organisation. This is the process
through which employee loyalty and productivity are increased in the organisation and a great
bonding between the leader and the subordinates are developed.
Likert’s Management System
Likart’s management systems are any important management styles developed in 1960.
According to this theory there are four systems of Management for describing relationship roles
of the manager and involvement of the subordinates in the industrial setting in this particular
system exploitative authoritative, benevolent authoritative, consultative system and participatory
system are included. Index relative authoritative systems the leaders have low concern for the
subordinates and use the methods of threat and fear to achieve the organisational goal
(Lewandowski 2020). In the benevolent authoritative system the leaders use please control over
the employees but motivate through potential rewards and punishment. The lower level
employees are motivated and feel more involved in the decision making process. In the
consultative system main focus remains in the human relations theory. The subordinates near
gain motivation through occasional punishment rewards and little involvement in making the
decisions for the organisation and setting organisational goals. Finally in participatory system the
organisation promotes genuine participation in the process of decision making as well as goal
setting so that it can promote such a work place where all the members share information
equally. The theorist points out that the employees are more involved and feel empowered which
can be seen in the company like Apple Inc.

5THEORIES
Hersey Blanchard Model
This model suggests that there is no particular leadership style is best for developing employee
engagement. Instead of focusing on the workplace factors this model suggests that the leaders
can adjust their styles to the abilities of the followers. A successful leadership therefore is both
task relevant as well as relationship relevant (Raza and Sikandar 2018). This is an adaptive and
flexible style where the leaders considered their followers both as individuals as well as team.
The concealer the working environment before they choose their leadership styles. This is the
reason why the international IT Company like Apple has gained so much success and ensure that
it will meet its goal within desired time.
Fiedler’s Contingency Model
This model is related to the choice of leadership style to match the situation. This theory states
that there can be any change in the organisation and the demand of the markets. This is the
reason why changes need to be made to inspire the employees in a positive way. Any external
factor can negatively influence the organisational growth for which the employees feel
demotivated (Yadav and Kala 2018). This is the reason why the responsibility of a leader is to
decide particular leadership skill and style so that situational favourableness can meet the
changing demands. In the growth of Apple Inc., the situational control is brought about with it.

6THEORIES
References:
Afsar, B., Badir, Y.F., Saeed, B.B. and Hafeez, S., 2017. Transformational and transactional
leadership and employee’s entrepreneurial behavior in knowledge–intensive industries. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(2), pp.307-332.
Gregory, B. and Osmonbekov, T., 2019. Leader–member exchange and employee health: an
exploration of explanatory mechanisms. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.
Lewandowski, R., 2020, February. Evaluating the Interdependent Effect for Likert Scale Items.
In Business Information Systems Workshops: BIS 2019 International Workshops, Seville, Spain,
June 26–28, 2019, Revised Papers (Vol. 373, p. 26). Springer Nature.
Phillips, A.S. and Phillips, C.R., 2016. Behavioral styles of path-goal theory: An exercise for
developing leadership skills. Management Teaching Review, 1(3), pp.148-154.
Raza, S.A. and Sikandar, A., 2018. Impact of Leadership Style of Teacher on the Performance of
Students: An Application of Hersey and Blanchard Situational Model. Bulletin of Education and
Research, 40(3), pp.73-94.
Roy, D., 2019. Managerial grid in macroeconomic perspective: An empirical study (2008–
2017). Journal of Transnational Management, 24(3), pp.165-184.
Spector, B.A., 2016. Carlyle, Freud, and the great man theory more fully
considered. Leadership, 12(2), pp.250-260.
Yadav, R. and Kala, S., 2018. School Leadership: Qualitative Mapping of Fiedler
Model. International Journal on Leadership, 6(1), p.46.