management styles

[Ursus]

I attended one of my frequent business trips this week.

 

One of the key speakers spoke on inter-personal dynamics. He divided people broadly into four management styles.

 

1) The Executive. Goal driven. Makes check lists and sees that they are complete. Over achiever. Very demanding of self and usually of others. Usually works long hours. Concerned with completing projects and the bottom line. Can alienate others with sole focus on completing a task.

 

2) The Salesman. Adventurous people person. Boisterous and dynamic. Passionate. Leads through force of personality by making friends and radiating charisma. Not above bending rules and manipulating people. Can inspire others and make them feel motivated, but not always well organized or conversant with details.

 

3) The Caregiver. Is concerned about people and how they feel. Makes relations based on feelings and subjective values. Can nurture people and let them feel appreciated, but sometimes cannot make objective decisions if they hurt people.

 

4) The Analyst. Detailed, precise, reliable. Often withdrawn from other people. Focuses on policies and data. Is always conversant with the details of an available project, but can alienate people with focus on adhering rigidly to guidelines and numbers.

 

Dynamics:

Executive - Salesmen. Minimal friction. The main conflict is that the Executive wants to complete a project regardless of the personal issues and feelings of their subordinates, whereas a Salesmen will try to convince a subordinate that completing a project is in their best interests.

 

Executive - Caregiver. Major friction. Hard-nosed Executives see Caregivers as ineffective and touchy-feely, whereas Caregivers see Executives as harsh and unfeeling.

 

Executive - Analyst. Moderate friction. An Executive's main concern is to get the job done on time, and is willing to cut corners if need be. An Analyst's main concern is the that job is done right according to policies and data, and does not like cutting corners to do it.

 

Salesmen - Caregiver. Moderate friction. The Caregiver assesses personalities to nurture them; the Salesmen assesses personalities to influence them. This usually clashes when the Salesmen try to manipulate the Caregiver by taking advantage of their good nature.

 

Salesmen - Analyst. Major friction. The adventurous Salesman bends rules; the Analyst enforces rules. The personable Salesman finds it hard to influence the impersonal Analyst; the impersonal Analyst finds it hard to appreciate the people-seeking Salesman.

 

Caregiver - Analyst. Moderate friction. The Caregiver's concern for personal feelings often does not mesh well with the Analysts concern for rules and objective data.

 

After taking a rather unscientific test, and reading over the descriptions, I came out an Executive/Analyst hybrid.

 

What is yours?

[Nephele]

I don't think people can easily be divided into "four management styles," and I'm suspicious of people who make their living as "key speakers" on "inter-personal dynamics."

 

Pop psychology personality tests can be fun -- when one takes them with friends or for one's own amusement. However, there's something perfidious in one's employer (or school or government) playing around with such tests, with the intention of conveniently labeling the employee (or student or citizen) for future note.

 

But if I have to give up my "management style," then I'll do so on my own terms. And, this is my style:

 

5) The Skeptic. Suspicious of extraordinary claims. Insists that assertions be backed up with documentation. Contemptuous of time-wasting meetings and self-promotion. Possesses zero tolerance for drama in the workplace. Not interested in others' checklists, long hours, robot-like focus, "nurturing," office pep, or any other personality quirks, as long as the job gets done.

 

Dynamics:

Skeptic - Executive. Moderate friction. Being goal-oriented is good, and the Skeptic can appreciate the Executive's desire to get the job done on time. However, Skeptics are naturally suspicious of "over-achievers."

 

Skeptic - Salesman. Major friction. Don't try to "sell" a Skeptic anything -- least of all yourself.

 

Skeptic - Caregiver. Major friction. Skeptics have no patience for the Caregiver's "subjective values."

 

Skeptic - Analyst. Minimal friction. While Skeptics admire an analytical nature and can appreciate the Analyst's desire to get the job done right, Skeptics also know deep down inside that the Analyst's numbers and statistics can be manipulated.

 

-- Nephele

[caldrail]

i get a bit irritated by this sort of stereotyping, but then, human beings do pin labels on things, and if I were honest I'd probably do the same unwittingly. A tv expert psychiatrist reckoned its one of our primeval instincts coming to the fore, the reason why so many men become nerds or incredibly anal about specialist subjects. What happens is that male humans (being the hunters, although some women are afflicted by this phenomenon too) are programmed to recognise signs and tracks. Its a survival trait we no longer use, but one that sits there in the background. So in other words, if someone glances at a steam engine and recalls an incredible amount of dull information about it, what he's actually doing is exactly the same as spotting a pawprint in the sand and recalling the creatures known habits and whereabouts.

 

So this sort of thing bubbles over in modern life and our lecturer is simply classifying managers in the same way he would do for animals if he wore furry swimming trunks in ice age europe. The only difference is these animals are tasty to eat and provide furs and stuff for survival. Killing managers is regarded as a serious crime unfortunately, though I suspect I would sympathise with the culprit

[Nephele]

A tv expert psychiatrist reckoned its one of our primeval instincts coming to the fore...

 

Which "tv expert psychiatrist" would that be? Dr. Phil?

 

-- Nephele

[Ursus]

I don't think people can easily be divided into "four management styles"

 

Oh, I disagree. I think a great many people are wonderfully two dimensional, especially in my company.

 

 

Skeptic - Executive. Moderate friction. Being goal-oriented is good, and the Skeptic can appreciate the Executive's desire to get the job done on time. However, Skeptics are naturally suspicious of "over-achievers."

 

The over-achievers probably regard the skeptics as slackers. ;-)

[Nephele]

The over-achievers probably regard the skeptics as slackers. ;-)

 

Hahahaha! Yah, long before becoming a Pastafarian, I was a proselytizer for the Church of the SubGenius and dedicated to the enlightened pursuit of Total Slack.

 

-- Nephele

[caldrail]

A tv expert psychiatrist reckoned its one of our primeval instincts coming to the fore...

 

Which "tv expert psychiatrist" would that be? Dr. Phil?

 

-- Nephele

 

 

No, he was an asian guy who regularly appeared on 'Richard & Judy' (now relegated to an obscure cable channel). For the life of me I simply cannot remember his name. He was on the news recently if I remember right, on trial for plagiarism in his latest book.