8 Management Styles: How to Effectively Manage a Team

In the business world, a management style refers to how a manager does their job. Also known as leadership style, management style describes a manager’s ability to meet the goals of their job description, how they communicate with employees or team members, set goals, delegate tasks, exhibit leadership, and generally influence the culture of the office or workspace.

Management styles are challenging to classify, but managers can fall into a few general categories. Read on to learn about the defining characteristics of these different management styles:

1. 1. Affiliative management: Affiliate leadership creates a sense of belonging among the employees working under a manager. It works particularly well in workplaces where disruption has lowered overall levels of trust and boosted stress levels or where there are a lot of new employees who might need to develop their confidence and teamwork. On the negative side, this style can cause managers to lose sight of work benchmarks.
2. 2. Autocratic management style: Autocratic leadership is top-down, hands-on management of employees. The autocratic or authoritarian style can lead to resentment and employee stress. Moreover, micromanaging and the need for managers to make final decisions can be inefficient.
3. 3. Coaching management style: The coaching management style is great for the long-term development of employees. In this type of leadership, managers take a special interest in cultivating their subordinates, guiding them as they work to meet the organization’s goals. Good coaching can boost employee loyalty and motivation. However, coaching takes extra time and energy and can be a poor fit for some workplaces.
4. 4. Democratic management style: Democratic leadership is a kind of participative management style that empowers employees to be involved in the decision-making process. This leadership style also encourages employees to provide feedback, which creates a consultative work environment. Managers can learn from and rely upon their team members for employee engagement and collaboration.
5. 5. Laissez-faire management style: This is a more hands-off approach to management. Leaders encourage employees to independently manage their time and strategies with little oversight or supervision. This management style, also known as delegative leadership, can be great for creativity and novel problem solving and can free up the manager’s time and energy. It can also lead to inefficiency and lack of direction in some situations.
6. 6. Pacesetting management: Pacesetting style is another example of a manager leading by example. It is heavily results-oriented with clear, specific, long and short-term goals. This works best with more experienced teams who can implement the goals at the pace the manager has set. Those who can’t keep up with the pace will quickly be left behind, however, leading to potentially high employee turnover.
7. 7. Transformational management style: This style, similar to coaching, focuses on the employees’ professional development with an urgency of meeting goals. Transformational management can prompt big leaps in the growth of employees and spur innovation, but it is also high-pressure and can cause burnout.
8. 8. Visionary management style: The visionary style of leadership is about inspiring employees. Visionary leadership motivates employees to work harder, push themselves, and try to grow their reach and abilities. The challenge is that not everyone has the charisma to be a visionary leader. Placing too much emphasis on one person’s inspiring qualities can make the organization vulnerable if and when that person leaves. Visionary leaders can also be highly independent and might not fit well with the overall corporate culture well.

Not every style matches the needs of every workplace; your ability to adopt a style depends on the job goals, your personality, and the employees you manage.

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