Do you consider your organisation to have a ‘traditional’ management style, or a ‘new age’ approach to management, and is it helping deliver your organisation’s goals?
A debate hosted by Culture Amp as part of its Culture First virtual event this week explored the benefits and drawbacks of these opposing management styles and encouraged employers to consider whether their organisation’s approach was working for them.
Alex Alvarez, lead people scientist at the employee experience platform, suggested that a traditional approach to managing people will often mean that employees “pull together” to work on a common goal, which can be beneficial for productivity. Traditional approaches tend to be more hierarchical, where managers have oversight of different teams in their departments, and where everyone has a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities
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He said: “That brings more consistency… there is less variability when it comes to outcomes and expectations because you have a clear management style.
“There is more synergy, which can only improve performance and productivity.”
He said that a traditional management approach can be easily scaled up as an organisation grows, as this structure can be replicated across teams and departments.
He suggested that this could be seen as “more important in challenging times”, as having a clear chain of command could allow an organisation to make decisions quickly “because you don’t need to ask everyone for their opinion”.
A traditional approach also gives managers and employees a clearer distinction between their work and personal lives, he argued.
However, Emma Humphris, senior people scientist at Culture Amp, argued in favour of a “new age” management style, where managers at every level are seen as more approachable and are empowered to make decisions that make sense for them, their projects and their teams.
“This is ultimately going to lead to more engagement because if people are directly involved in those decisions they’re much more likely to be involved in the success of those projects,” she said.
“If we give managers that freedom to take ownership, to be innovative and to come up with those creative solutions that make sense to them, that’s going to have a ricochet effect onto their team.”
Humphris also highlighted that decisions can be reached much quicker if hierarchies are more flexible. Promoting creativity and the need for variation is also good for diversity, equity and inclusion, she said.
“Right now in these ever-changing times that we’re facing in the world of work, it’s flexibility that we need, it’s adaptability, that’s going to help us thrive,” said Humphris.
“[With] traditional management you have to fight through all that red tape, hierarchy, and I think that can hold us back.”
She dispelled the myth that this management style could create bias in decisions around promotions or reward, suggesting that this should not be a problem in organisations with fair performance management structures.
Alvarez advised organisations to identify the goals leadership teams are trying to reach, and understand which management style would be best for meeting these.
He offered several tips for HR professionals seeking to shift their organisation’s management style:
- identify why it is important to move from one style to another, the reasons behind it, and the costs of not changing. He said: “If you have a style that’s not working, highlighting the pitfalls can be quite powerful to encourage and motivate people to change”
- assess the prevalent management style in the organisation and outline its pros and cons
- develop a clear plan for evolving management styles, with a timeline and those nominated for driving the change
- offer managers training in the form of coaching, workshops and seminars, for example. He said: “Often we see that people want to change and understand why it’s important, but they don’t know how”
- pilot a new management style in one department or team first, and identify what lessons can be learnt before attempting to roll it out across other areas
- gather feedback from managers and their reports.
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