Management
What is management?
The word management covers the ability to guide others to solve a task. The right management can motivate, engage and get your employees to work the most efficiently. There is not one “correct” way to manage employees, and everyone does not respond the same way to different types of management. Employees are motivated in different ways; therefore, they also need to be managed in different ways.
There are several different management styles:
- Democratic management style: This management style is built on involving your employees in decisions, being engaging and motivating.
- Authoritarian management style: This management style expresses a tight organizational culture. Here, the manager is commanding and supervising, by telling the employees how they should work and on what. So, it is a very dominating management style. This management style can be ideal to use in crisis situations or highly time-constrained situations.
- Laissez-faire management style: A laissez-faire manager is passive and meddles as little as possible. It is the employees themselves that make the decisions.
- Situational management style: This management style means that you as a manager can manage based on several different management styles, depending on the situation you are in. In situational management your management style is based on the situation and the employee's motivation and competencies.
The management styles listed below are based on the employee’s motivations and competencies:
- Instructive management style: With an instructive management style the manager must give clear instructions, be direct, and controlling. This management style can be used with employees who are motivated to solve a specific task, but do not have the skills required – this could for example be a new employee.
- Coaching management style: Here the manager must support the employee in both method and motivation. The manager needs to both coach and advise the employee. This management style can be used if an employee is neither motivated nor has the skills to solve the task at hand.
- Supportive management style: With a supportive management style the manager must motivate the employee. The employee has the right skills to solve the task, but lacks the motivation. The motivation can be that you will get a sufficiently challenging task.
- Delegating management style: If the employee is competent and motivated for the task, then this management style can be used. The manager’s job is to give sufficiently challenging tasks, give feedback, and not be in charge or get too involved. The employee should have self-determination in connection with the task.
The following 5 things are qualities a good manager should have:
- Empathy
- Process understanding
- Authenticity and believability
- Oversight – now and in the future
- Energy