| Management Style | ||
Autocratic Most successful leaders have a strong tendency towards an autocratic style, for example Sir John Harvey-Jones, a top consultant who is sure of his knowledge and opinion and knows what is good for a business. He may be controversial, but he knows his stuff. A manager (or consultant) needs to be autocratic, but at the right times. A decisive, lead from the front is often necessary to ensure everybody is pulling in the same direct. I believe I have the ability to make the right decisions when decisions are needed. |
Democratic There is no point in having technical staff and advisors if you don't take any notice of their opinion. However learned a manager is, he/she should be able to rely on information staff offer and must give them due consideration. Possibly more importantly, staff need to feel that they contribute to the organisation's success and that they are a valued member of the team, this is one reason why democratic management techniques are required. I believe I have a good balance between democratic and autocratic management styles. No one style is right all the time, both are needed on the right occasion. |
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| Team building |
I'm a great believer in pro-active team building activities, they don't have to cost the earth and blow the budget, reasonably simple ideas such as the traditional, but occasional Friday pub lunch or curry, team regalia such as sweatshirts, a regular newsletter informing users of the team's achievements and obviously Christmas is a good time to reward staff with a Christmas lunch if the year has been profitable. Some old ideas are still good today, the suggestion box for example, updated to be accesses via the company intranet of course. |
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In his book "Beyond Reengineering", Michael Hammer claims that the people who make the most difference in an organisation are the those who create value for customers. This simple premise is obviously true but managers or workers can get in the way of production. My approach is to delegate responsibility for creating and delivering that value to one person or a team of persons who own the whole process, i.e. vertical teams. For example, core team members would be responsible for a project from conception through specification, development testing implementation and support. They would ensure quality, user satisfaction and conformity to installation standards. This assures them of the feeling of ownership and the responsibility that entails, plus they get a wide variety of work to keep them interested. People can belong to more than one team and project managers can still project manage one or more projects by being part of those project teams. |
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