Management Theories of Likert, Blake Term Paper

As in the model of Likert, progressively the concern for people increases as we move down the line from 'Exploitative authoritarian' to 'Benevolent authoritarian' to 'Consultative' to finally 'Participative', similarly in the Blake's Managerial Grid the mapping of high concern for people and low concern for production is seen as the score comes to be 1,9. On the other hand a close comparison of G2 stage of the Vroom-Yetton model and the Participative management of Likert model it is seen that both of them bear similarities. In G2 stage of Vroom-Yetton model, the leader shares the crisis and difficulties with the subordinates of his group and based on a consensus all the parties build and evaluate alternatives and try to arrive at a consensus on a solution.

Roughly the same idea is conveyed in the Participative model of Likert wherein the management looks forward to build groups of employees who can arrive on decisions and the process of communication is two way within the organization. However, there are situation where the participative management is best however in other situations it is not. There are a lot of situations when participation is the best. And of late this is becoming increasingly an accepted feature in businesses. In participative approach, participation can range from arriving at decisions exclusively when there is a general consensus to a process in which the manager consults and patiently listens to each and every member of the team, discussing the decision with everybody.

In view of the above it can be seen that a lot of decisions are not suitable to such a process. Major decisions will be appropriate, however the smaller ones would not justify the time that everybody will have to give up. The fact of the matter is that teams who repose trust in their managers are happy to delegate a lot of decision to them. On this note, it is found that there is a general commonality among all the management theories as regards the Participative management. If Likert has Participative model, Blake and Mouton has 9,1 style corresponding to it. Similarly in case of Vroom and Yetton it is the G2 stage which has similarities and last but not the least in case of Kunhert and Lewis it is the stage 4 of Transformational Leadership.

7) Preferred Philosophy as an Employee and as a Manager:-

My preferred philosophy as an employee will be participation or participative management of Likert which indicates employee involvement during the decision making process and inviting every member to think strategically and to undertake personal responsibility of the quality of their tasks and enhance the functioning of the organization. I would subscribe to this philosophy as the essential elements for participative management are sharing of information regarding the business and its results, compensation based in those results, knowledge which permits people to comprehend and contribute to those results and the power to be able to make decisions.It is pertinent that the position carries significance for the person working at it implying as direct correlation between the demands of the job and the scale of values and interest of the employee. (Participative management and organizational culture)

As a Manager: The philosophy of Vroom-Yetton appeals to me the most in the role of a manager. It has a leadership model that stipulates which decision procedures must be the most helpful in every of the specific circumstances. It has been fixed that the overall efficiency of a decision is dependent on two intervening variables: quality of decision and acceptance of the decision by the followers. The quality of decision as well as acceptance of decision is influenced by follower participation at the time of decision making. As also the behavior used by the leader while arriving at decision can affect these variables, it must be taken care that the situation is also a key factor for quality of decision and decision acceptance. Among the Vroom and Yetton's possible decision procedures, two are autocratic, two are considered to be varieties of consultation and one is considered a category of joint decision making and I am in favor of this joint decision making procedure (Leadership Models and Theories)

8) Conclusion fruitful implementation of participative management requires different factors that go with it, among them a suitable culture with certain values which support teamwork, confidence in the staff, and the significance of training and so on. (Participative Management and Organizational Culture)

References

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Inman, Mark Lee. (01 Jun 2000) "The relevance of traditional management theories to the 21st Century" Retrieved at http://www.accaglobal.com/publications/studentaccountant/32495Accessed on 10 February, 2005

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Managerial Grid" (13 February 2005) Retrieved at http://www.theworkingmanager.com/articles/detail.asp?ArticleNo=175. Accessed on 10 February, 2005

The Vroom-Yetton Leadership Model" Retrieved at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1650/qvroom.html. Accessed on 10 February, 2005

Vroom and Yetton's Normative Model" Retrieved at http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/vroom_yetton.htm. Accessed on 10 February, 2005.....