Analysis Of The Four Situational Supervisory Styles And Its Use In My Practice
The autocratic style is high-directive-low-supportive. Which means for me I would use this when I have employees who are not willing to do as they are directed, and I would have to constantly be looking over their shoulder to make sure the task is done the right way. As far as them not giving me any support or input on the tasks at hand means that I would be making the majority of the decisions myself. The consultative style is high-directive-high-supportive. I can use this approach when fellow workers are able to do the job and have the ambition to get it done, I can (if needed), delegate tasks to the employees, and at different times check on their performance, as far as how well they are doing the job. Maybe there is a better way of doing business? Or a better way to deal with a conflict? I could us their input and get a supportive group going.
The participative style is low-directive-high-supportive. As in a morning meeting I exhibit this style upon delegating the tasks of the week. I am able to make my suggestions known and to set a deadline for such tasks that need to be done on a specific day. What my expectations are and we as a group can make decisions together to utilize a more productive way of working. The laissez-faire is low-directive-low-supportive. This is like going into a job that has no regulations or no support staff to be employed. If we all know what to do we wouldn’t have any bosses or supervisors to oversee our daily duties. But I have been in a job where we walked in and everyone got their items that they needed for that day and went right to their stations and started working, without no one telling any of us first where and what we should be doing.
During the shift is when the supervisor would tell us what needed to be done and who was needed elsewhere and they were told from their manager. But that leaded to conflict and the other workers would take offense to who was to be in what area, as if to say, they were not ready to be a baker, or a sandwich maker. It was ridiculous. Now that I have a better understanding of all these styles I can look back on them and hopefully use it to my advantage upon making and meeting new staff and co-workers. If I know what the styles are, I am more adapt to speaking to them in a different tone than I usually would. This is a better understanding of visual appearance of a supervisor, I need to remember which directive goes with what style. As a former supervisor in the service industry I have dealt with many people of diverse culture. With different styles we need to be culturally sensitive to those who are not from our country. Some tasks that we may have the employees do may not be suitable for those who may see it as a form of disrespect and we need to respect their differences as well as be able to work with them and show them a different way of getting the task done.
