The Filipino Entrepreneur

In general, a study of human personality traits isn’t a very fruitful approach to explaining leadership. This is because not all leaders possess all of the traits, and many nonleaders possess most or all of them! The trait approach also gives no guide as to how much of any trait a person should have. Furthermore, out of dozens of studies, there’s no uniformity of identified facts or any significant correlations of traits with actual instances of leadership.

Nevertheless, some studies have indicated significant correlations between certain traits and leadership effectiveness. Most writers on the subject see a definite correlation between the traits of integrity, intelligence, dependability, courage, initiative, self-confidence, and strong motivation to accomplish effective leadership. Let’s examine this correlation in more detail.

Read the rest of this entry »

To accurately describe the highest dedication style of leadership, such words as responsibility, involvement, and commitment must be used. This style of leadership is characterized by a high degree interest in both work and people.

This leadership style recognizes that effective organizational goals can be achieved only through the participation and involvement of people at all levels The organizational goals must be understood by everyone, since it’s only through mutual respect and understanding that these goals can be achieved. This manager realizes that mutual confidence and respect are essential to successful work performance-that people and work must be interconnects and balanced. This grid (shown below), is used to identify various combinations of leadership styles. The different styles of leadership, when located on the grid, can be visually appreciated in terms of how each style relates to the others with regard to people and tasks.

Read the rest of this entry »

The basic assumption of adequate performance leadership is that a manager should push just enough to get average results, but not so much as to upset people. Such a manager will yield to employees just enough to avoid any problems of low morale or of hostility. The adequate performance manager is the one who will say, “All we want is a fair day’s work, and you’ll receive a fair day’s pay. Just stay out of trouble. I know that the work isn’t as interesting as the work in Department B, but just do what you can to keep busy. Do what the average employee around you does, no more”. Though the words may not be the same, that’s the manager’s tone. The manager who practices this leadership style lives in a world of never-ending compromise. This manager procrastinates more than directs.

The adequate performance manager could be characterized as one who sacrifices other people to avoid taking responsibility or blame for any problem situations. Because you can’t be sure which way such managers will react in any situation, they’re probably the most dangerous kind.

Read the rest of this entry »

The minimum effort style of leadership is based on the philosophy: Avoid getting involved in anything. The manager who follows this approach completely avoids getting involved in work or worker problems. No wonder this style of leadership is often referred to as MBR (Management By Retreat).
Minimum-effort managers accept all the decisions of others without disagreement.

They’re at their desks right on time in the morning and they leave right on the dot at quitting time. They can’t be criticized for being late for work, but they’ll never be tabbed as ”eager beavers” either. They’re never late for meetings, because being late would make them stand out. When they get to the meeting they take copious notes to appear so busy that no one will dare ask them any questions. If they’re asked to give their opinion, they dodge or agree in general with everyone. Their whole purpose in life is to go about unobserved.

Read the rest of this entry »

The basic assumption of democratic leadership is that the social nature and relationships of workers are the most important factors to be considered. The democratic style assumes that if subordinates are happy, they’ll also be efficient and productive. In other words, if you give the workers all they want, they’ll give you all you want.

A democratic manager usually accounts for poor production or low efficiency by making such statements as, ”No harm done; it’ll turn out better the next timeout or ”Well, you experienced a little bad luck, but. don’t sweat about it; we all make mistakes.” Using this approach, the democratic manager hopes not to cross anyone or upset them.

Read the rest of this entry »