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Mohankrishna
Manager, India
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Preferred Management Style for Professionals?
What is the preferred management style for handling a team of professionals? Why?
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Jaap de Jonge
Editor, Netherlands
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Preferred Style for Managing Professionals According to the situational leadership model, we should adapt our management style to the situation, in particular to the development level of the employees. This development level of the employees depends on 2 main variables: competence in the task (area) and commitment to the task (area).
1. You start by examining their competence. Your team is composed of professionals. Assuming they are operating inside their domain of expertise, they have a moderate or even high level of competence in their task areas. So they fall in category D3 or D4 in the picture of the summary of Situational Leadership and the matching management style is either S3 or S4.
2. Now you consider their commitment to the task area:
If their task commitment/motivation is high, then they should be seen as D4 and the preferred management style would be S4: Delegating. In this situation, both the directive and the supportive behavior of the manager can be and should be low.
- If their task commitment/motivation is variable or moderate, they should be regarded D3, so your preferred management style would be S3: Participating/Supporting. In this situation, the directive behavior of the manager should be low, and the manager should focus on the relationship, supporting such professionals.
Note 1: You can find another angle to how you should manage professionals in the discussion "How can you Motivate Knowledge Workers?" which focuses on giving knowledge professionals a sense of making progress in meaningful work. Ultimately this approach arrives at the same conclusion as the above: TASK AUTONOMY AND PERSONAL SUPPORT.
Note 2: See also this best practice on Team Coaching of Smart Creatives in innovative firms.
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Dil Prasad Shrestha, PhD
Management Consultant, Nepal
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Consider also the Context when Managing Professionals In addition to two variables of the employees/ development, there should be a third variable:
3. The context - where the organization is operating in.
One example, would be that the context is a learning organization. If the organization is promoting learning internally, employees falling in category D2 (with moderate or low level of commitment/motivation) can be considered as D3 and the preferred leadership style would be S3, with a good relation and minimum level of directive behavior. Because the employees in this type of organizational context quickly learn and increase the level of commitment/motivation.
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Erik van geel
Management Consultant, Netherlands
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Preferred Management Styles for Professionals @Dil Prasad Shrestha, PhD: I Think it's an interesting aspect you introduce. Leadership is not only dependent on development and commitment of the employee, but also on the business context.
However, in the example you give (learning organization) I believe that D2 employees aren't acceptable. You can recognize this in a lot of consulting firms where the motto is: "Grow or go", also called: "Up or out". Consultants who don't make the step fast enough, are out.
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Alan Kennedy, Canada
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Managing Professionals: First Expectations and Responsibilities It seems to me that management of a team of professionals has to begin with an explicit understanding of and agreement on the expectations the team and individuals are supposed to meet and the responsibilities they have each been given to contribute to meeting the expectations. In my experience, we somttimes assume too much about both and then wonder why things are going offside.
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Javier Elenes
Business Consultant, Mexico
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Managing Professionals by MBPO I suggest MBPO, in which an extra letter P has been added to the classic MBO acronym.
In such Management By Pulling Objectives the extra P reflects the necessity that the professional needs to consider the objective a worthy one.
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Karel V , South Africa
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Preferred Management Styles for Professionals In my observations, professional people do not like the command and control, or coercive styles of leadership.
These styles are mostly adopted by managers who have reached the high hierarchy level way back, probably by heroic achievement, and not academically attained knowledge for their positions. This is common in military and police organizations. Managers with a background like that trust in bureaucracy and imposing their teams to change or the issuing of edits about change. They will not exercise flexibility in implementing strategies from the corporate level, but will insist that their followers should do as they are instructed. No empathy nor social communication is promoted.
But people, especially professionals, love collaboration, participation, democratic and coaching as Johnson et al (2011) and Louw & Venter (2010) suggest.
Education also plays an important role on informing the team of the details of the strategy and what is expected of them to achieve it.
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Oshun, Grace Okaima
Lecturer, Nigeria
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Use Situational Leadership Style for Professionals I agree with the analysis of the situational leadership style by @Jaap de Jonge. For any job to qualify as a profession, it is expected that members have acquired proficiency in their chosen field of study, usually up to the degree level. Therefore, professional who are highly intelligent people ought to be treated with respect and decorum. One finds that people who are well educated and intelligent are easy to deal with, because they are able to analyze situations and reason with the leader.
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Briolett, Canada
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Managing Professionals Hmmm. A lot of good points raised. My thoughts...
- Well educated doesn't equate to intelligent. There are many professionals in our world who memorize well but can't apply the knowledge well.
- Professionalism is a state of mind (a way of thinking), either you are a professional or you aren't.
- Like Alan pointed out, if you don't specify expectations there is no direction; without direction anything can happen, usually not productive.
- It's important to keep our minds open to new ideas (from all levels), if we don't we stagnate as individuals and companies limiting our potential and the potential of others.
- All people should be treated with a basic level of respect and decorum - we all have something positive to offer. As managers and educators it's our responsibility to help individuals achieve more than they believe they can. .
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Dammike Kobbekaduwe, Sri Lanka
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Preferred Style of Managing Professionals Professionals have a deeper knowledge in their domain of expertise. However, if they lack common touch or common sense, there could be instances of irrelevant applications.
Professionals cannot be ma...
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Graham
Teacher, Thailand
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The Role of Culture in Managing Professionals Culture plays an important part in all of this. As a foreigner working in Thailand, it is evident for all to see that the management pyramid that westerners are used to is much taller here. The values...
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Abdullah Sultan
HR Consultant, Saudi Arabia
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Required Management Skills Managing a team of professionals requires certain skills. Most important is the skill of identifying different personalities that exist among humans. Regardless of the position of the person, he / she...
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Finn
Qatar
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Managing Professionals from Multiple Cultures @Graham: indeed the culture of the organisation, and the environment (region, country) in which it is operates, has a huge impact on how one manages professionals. This is further complicated when one...
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Andrew Blaine
Business Consultant, South Africa
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More of the Same Surely the simple answer to the question "What is the preferred management style for handling a team of professionals? Should be "the same as any other grouping?"
If one has to adapt ones management ...
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Gandhi Heryanto
Management Consultant, Indonesia
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Managing Professional In the past in traditional management, workers did as they were told by their boss. This could not be applied for managing professionals, like accountants, managers, financial experts because they all...
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Seelig, Netherlands
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It Depends on Culture @Graham: I agree it depends on culture. In individual low hierarchical cultures like the Netherlands/Germany/Scandinavia the Semco style (Ricardo Semler) will fit. In a group oriented high hierarchica...
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Joseph L Mbolota
HR Consultant, Zambia
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Don't Ignore the Advice of Professionals One thing is certain, professionals once assigned a task love to be trusted and respected as such. It frustrates a professional when his/her advice is ignored....
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Willie Odemwingie, Nigeria
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Managing Professionals Requires Giving Freedom There is no fixed style and there should not be any style cast in stone for managing professionals. There are various categories of professionals which can be segmented by age, culture, profession, pr...
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jacinta wamwaki
Kenya
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Freedom to Professionals @Willie Odemwingie: I agree professionals are the gurus in their area of profession. They do not need to be managed and as long as they do their job in reference to the objectives of the organization ...
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s c narang
HR Consultant, India
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Management Style in an R&D Organization The management of an Research and Development organization calls for an Inspiring Leadership, a compelling vision, coordination between various specialized knowledge workers and a strong review mechan...
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Nzyoka
Student (University), Kenya
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Management of Professionals In as much as professionals are experts in their areas, we need consistency in the organization, we should balance between innovation and consistency, thinking out of the box and thinking within "pref...
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Wismayer, UK
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Preferred Management Style for Professionals: Management by Invitation Today there is really only 1 management style and that is management by invitation. Long gone are the days when dominant styles are acceptable - now your team needs to invite you to manage them and th...
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Pigeot, Germany
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Management of Professionals that are Low on Knowldege and Commitment, but they're not to Blame Of course age, culture and background are adding complexity to managing professionals.
Having a framework of thought, with clear and understandable definitions, might help. This to facilitate communi...
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Jose A. De las Rivas
Management Consultant, Spain
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5 Conditions for Successful Management of Professionals In my experience, there are five requirements that must be met by senior managers to always make their teams respond positively. Basically - and regardless of style - professionals require:
1. A clea...
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Goran Skoog, Sweden
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Visionary Management is Required 1. Create a shared vision for the team of professionals, which reflects the personal visions of the individuals.
2. Set challenging goals and make the team responsible for the achievements.
3. Rely ...
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ANTONIO BARRANCO RUIZ
Director, Spain
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What is the Preferred Management Style for Handling a Team of Professionals? Why? There is no ideal management style in general, because the most successful style is the one that covers the needs of the employee in the best way.
But in any case if we're talking strictly about prof...
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Tyrell Clifford, Sri Lanka
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The Style of Managers that Professionals Hate @Vongani Karel Nkombyane: I totally agree with you. Managers only with experience don't like to listen to others and use their authority to get work done. Professionals hate this......
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Andrew Blaine
Business Consultant, South Africa
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Management of Groups I find it of great interest that my initial response has been found unpopular. It does not change my viewpoint but I suggest that if all the various methods applied to professionals in this discussion...
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Seelig, Netherlands
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Vuxen Level @Goran Skoog: I understand that. That is typical Swedish. And in my humble opinion a very mature way of working. It shall not surprise you, but I like the Swedish way of living. Especially in the less...
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Goran Skoog, Sweden
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Swedish Management @Seelig: I guess you're right. Support of team building and teamwork is a hallmark of Swedish management. Strong teams of professionals, encouraged by a visionary management is one of the secrets behi...
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Qazi Ata
Consultant, Pakistan
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Required Leadership Style for Handling Professionals I have gone through all the available reactions. Every one has commented according to his own working environment therefore, mostly are preferring the situational leadership style.
I would like to ad...
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Tyrell Clifford, Sri Lanka
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Preferred Management Style for Professionals I agree with Qazi Ata, however a visionary leadership style is very important to inspire professionals and to get work done from them....
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Andrew Blaine
Business Consultant, South Africa
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Visionary Management @Goran Skoog: Why should these principles be reserved for professionals exclusively? Surely, with a motivated and trained workforce, they should apply across the whole force? Is that not what everybo...
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Seelig, Netherlands
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Jazz Style Management @Qazi Ata: That's exactly what Ricardo Semler (Semco) is doing. With one big difference. The workers on the floor are taking that responsibility.
Management in the traditional sense is the leader of ...
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Sibusiso Mngomezulu, South Africa
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Metaphor for Managing Professionals Imo, the best way to manage professionals is to get them to be specialist in looking for the ball as opposed to being asked to go and fetch the ball.
In so doing, you allow them to be innovative, hav...
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Goran Skoog, Sweden
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Visionary Management, Always @Andrew Blaine: Of course you are right. A management built on a shared vision is applicable everywhere. What I wanted to stress was that you often leave your specialists or experts on their own, with...
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Karel V , South Africa
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Managing the Human Resources The Human Resources are known as the most important resources in an organisation. Will the management be on the right track when managing its employees without complying with the relevant regulations?...
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Vijay Bhatia
Consultant, India
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Managing Professionals: Sharing the Vision I agree with Mr @Goran Skoog that the vision has to be shared. However, that is easier said than done. I would like to stress upon two prime components of sharing the vision that need to be addressed ...
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Randy StPierre
Student (University), United States
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Preferred Management Style @Briolett: Thank you for your insight on this subject, especially pointing out that not all people that are "well educated" are also intelligent. And everyone deserves respect regardless of position o...
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Maurice Grasso
Business Consultant, Australia
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Managing Professional Staff & Teams I agree with most of the comments. The right people in the right jobs know what needs to be done, so a DELEGATION model works best here.
That said, it is the project sponsor’s role to manage the proj...
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chaovalit
Director, Thailand
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How to Manage Professionals: Observe, Analyze and Learn Observe them, Analyze them, and Learn to understand them. Then you will know how to manage them well. There is no fixed rule. Many editors may think too much how to deal with those guys. If you think ...
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Phionah Atuhaire
Project Manager
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Managing Professionals: Give Freedom and Direction Interesting topic here. Thoughts above appreciated. In my opinion, there is no one management style you can apply when working with proffessionals. Many at times, they need the freedom to deliver on t...
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Vladimir Kuryakov
Consultant, United States
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Preferred Style for Managing Professionals Depends on the Task Different types of management are required for different tasks, for example:
A) HIGHLY DIVISIBLE AND HIGHLY REPETITIVE TASK (simple organizational configuration) requires leadership style that will h...
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jorge anibal hoyos hoyos
Manager, Colombia
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Analyze Professionals in their Inner-self Let me recall General Patton during the Normandia invasion. Nazis knew him as an always go-forward General but his mission was to betray them. I think it is necessary to tap into the people’s dormant ...
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Eyad
Manager, Jordan
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Professionals are Performing Easily but are Difficult to be Managed I see that managing professionals should be based on flexibility principles in most of the commercial functions. And managing should be done in a strategic intelligent sense in terms of motivation.
B...
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Gregory Johnson
Coach, United States
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Management Style for Managing Managers @Jaap de Jonge: This is a very delicate dance. The level of self-confidence among the reporting managers could be very high and ego-driven or very fragile being cautious more often than not.
You may ...
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Maurice Hogarth
Consultant, United Kingdom
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Who is the Professional? @Andrew Blaine: Andrew I agree.
I wasn't clear on your first posting but suspected, then your second posting and now this one seems to confirm and match with my own thinking.
The question is not "wh...
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Jaap de Jonge
Editor, Netherlands
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Meaning of Professionals in the Context of This Topic I suggest in this discussion, the meaning of "professionals" is: Persons who have the type of job that needs a high level of education and training. We might also call them: "knowledge workers"....
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PeterMaria van Herpen
Switzerland
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The 'workforce' Consists of Individuals So, as a manager you have the usually ungrateful task to give each the type and intensity of management they need whilst keeping a recognisable set of 'rules for all'. Difficult? Oh yes. But then, you...
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A McClintock
Lecturer, Australia
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Managing Professionals If people know how to do their jobs, leave them alone, they don't need someone trying to control them. If they don't know how to do their jobs, why did you hire them in the first place. If they need e...
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