Elena Humeniuk
PPM Consultant
What style of leadership do you embrace when leading a team? Do you want to lead by demanding high standards or by allowing your staff to take a break? Responses to this question can vary, which is why this guide is essential. Knowledge of various management styles is no longer a luxury; it is a strategic need.
As studies by the most successful platforms confirm, the proper management style can have a direct impact on employee engagement, productivity, and project success. To project managers, learning about different management styles is like acquiring a new toolbox, with each tool corresponding to a specific situation or team.
This article will dive into the details of what management styles are, why they are essential, and how you can adapt them to achieve the defined goals of your organization.
What Are Management Styles?
It is essential to understand the definition of management style before discussing the various types of management styles. Management style refers to how a manager organizes, plans, makes decisions, delegates tasks, and oversees their team.
Personality, organizational culture, experience, and team dynamics play a critical role in determining management styles.
The Importance of Knowing Management Leadership Styles
Management styles in business influence the culture of the workplace and its productivity. A mismatch between a manager’s leadership style and their team’s expectations may result in miscommunication, demotivation, and performance failures.
In contrast, aligning your managerial style with the needs of your team enhances cooperation, confidence, and productivity. It also fosters transparency, accountability, and innovation.
12 Management Styles
Let’s review the 12 management style examples that project managers should be aware of today.
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Autocratic Control of Management
This is characterized by central control. The manager makes decisions with minimal involvement from team members.
Most suitable in cases of crisis or when swift action is required.
Benefits:
- High efficiency
- Clear accountability
- Reduced ambiguity
Drawbacks:
- Low creativity
- Employee disengagement
Properly, and in moderation, the autocratic model of management can be helpful in critical situations.
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Democratic Style of Management
This is a leadership style that facilitates team participation in decision-making. Everyone is heard, but the final decision lies with the manager.
Best suited for creative teams, problem-solving tasks, or cases in which team morale is a priority.
Benefits:
- Good team involvement
- Quality decisions
- Improved collaboration
Drawbacks:
- Time-consuming
- Propensity to conflicts
High levels of innovation and ownership can be fostered in employees through democratic management.
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Transformational Style of Management
This is an innovative strategy. Transformational managers set goals that a team should strive to attain in the long term while also promoting self-development.
Suitable for startups, research and development teams, or companies changing.
Benefits:
- Inspires innovation
- Presence of strong leadership
- Promotes self-development
Drawbacks:
- Might not be structured
- May overpower some team members
It is among the most renowned management leadership styles in industries undergoing rapid change.
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Transactional Management Style
Emphasizes formal positions and clarified rewards and punishments. It is anchored in performance-based results.
Suitable for large-scale organizations, sales departments, or those that require strict compliance.
Benefits:
- Consistency
- Performance clarity
- Simple to carry out
Drawbacks:
- Little innovation
- Impersonal
Transactional types of management can be employed in an organization where strict control and clarity of processes are needed.
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Laissez-Faire Management Style
This non-interventive management style empowers employees to make decisions independently and manage their workloads.
Best suited for self-motivated, highly skilled teams.
Benefits:
- Encourages autonomy
- Boosts innovation
- Reduces micromanagement
Drawbacks:
- Danger of disorder
- Lack of responsibility
The laissez-faire style of management suits creative enterprises or teams that are research-oriented.
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Coaching Management Style
This style is development-driven and focused on long-term success, so it invests in the mentoring and upskilling of team members.
Best suited for companies that prioritize long-term employee development and staff retention.
Benefits:
- Encourages learning
- Builds trust
- Enhances loyalty
Drawbacks:
- Time-intensive
- Not all personality types may fit
Coaching is one of the most effective approaches for performance reviews and succession planning.
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Visionary Style of Management
Just like transformational, this management style also provides a clear picture of the future and rallies employees toward it.
Suitable for change, growth, or crisis.
Benefits:
- Clear direction
- Energizes the team
- Aligns efforts
Drawbacks:
- May disregard short-term needs
- Poor at detail-oriented work
Apply this style to the creation of long-term objectives or the initiation of new strategic plans.
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Servant Leading Style
In this case, the manager serves the team by eliminating barriers, fulfilling needs, and helping to maintain professionalism.
Suitable for non-profits, education, or service industries.
Benefits:
- Promotes empathy
- Builds the team to its fullest extent
- Creates good culture
Drawbacks:
- Potential of failing
- Blurs authority
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Pacesetter Style of Management
This is an outcome-oriented style. Managers are challenging in terms of their high demands for performance and by their example.
Best suited for teams that need to perform at a high level and are under a tight deadline.
Benefits:
- Drives excellence
- Encourages the best
- Makes teams sharp
Drawbacks:
- Burnout
- Limited collaboration
Although this approach may work in the short term, it should be applied selectively to prevent team exhaustion.
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Bureaucratic Style of Management
Rules, regulations, and procedures characterize this style. There is a chain of command for making decisions.
Best suited for government agencies or organizations belonging to tightly regulated industries.
Benefits:
- Compliance assurance
- Operational stability
- Clear structure
Drawbacks:
- Inflexibility
- Slow decision-making
This is a management style that ensures precision and responsibility.
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Affiliative Management Style
In this case, the importance of harmony and emotional appeals are given great consideration. Managers with this style foster a people-first culture.
Best suited for conflict management, post-disaster recovery, or boosting morale.
Benefits:
- Fosters good relationships
- Improves teamwork spirit
- Reduces conflict
Drawbacks:
- Lacks direction
- Danger of non-performance
Appropriate for emotionally sensitive situations.
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Charismatic Style of Management
This style is motivated by the manager’s personality and presence, which is characterized by enthusiasm and charm.
Best suited for inspiring change and rallying the troops.
Benefits:
- Highly engaging
- Energizes teams
- Inspires loyalty
Drawbacks:
- Depends too much on the leader
- May not be consistent
This is a high-risk, high-reward style of management most suited for a team that is passionate and operates at a fast pace.
Management Styles: Which Is the Best for Your Team?
So how will you know which management style to use for your project? In this regard, consider team maturity (i.e., whether it consists of beginners or professionals). Another important dimension to consider is the type of project. It is essential to determine whether the project is creative or governing. Timelines also need to be considered in this regard, as the frequency of decisions has an impact. Culture fit is also an important aspect that influences management style.
A combination of management styles is generally better than a single style. Essential characteristics of contemporary managers are flexibility, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence.
Management Style vs. Leadership Style: What’s the Difference?
People often use these terms interchangeably so that the following brief will clarify the differences.
Management style refers to the way things are done; in other words, it involves organizing, supervising, and executing tasks. The concept of leadership style is more closely related to motivating, persuading, and generating vision.
There can be bad leadership, but good managers can also exist. However, a combination of the two will likely make the whole team more successful. You can think of it as leadership defining where you are headed and management working on the roadmap toward that goal.
Conclusion
Understanding various management styles and their effective implementation is crucial to achieving successful management. It is also crucial for modern managers to guide a diverse team in achieving successful outcomes. It is also worth noting that there can be multiple ways to solve a problem; that is why successful leaders must understand that management approaches must be adapted to the team, project complexity, organizational structure, and goals.
Mastering a range of styles (for example, democratic or transformational, or coaching or pacesetting), managers can adapt their strategies to motivate and enable their teams to perform. These agile methods enable team members to build trust and collaboration. Technological changes in business environments are an ongoing process. Awareness of existing management styles can provide business owners with a significant competitive advantage. Whether there is a high-pressure deadline or a long-term growth culture, implementing the right management practices will lead to the creation of strong, performing workforces.
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