Leadership continuum

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The leadership continuum is a leadership model developed in 1958 by Robert Tannenbaum and Warren H. Schmidt . They created a seven-level typology of alternative leadership styles based on the criterion of participation in decision-making situations. The two authors regard the authoritarian and democratic leadership styles developed by Kurt Lewin as the two poles of a continuum and insert five levels between these extreme points.

Seven leadership styles

Decision-making latitude: superior versus employee

  • authoritarian : superior decides alone and orders
  • patriarchal : superior orders and justifies his decision
  • Consultative : The superior makes a preliminary decision, collects opinions and makes a final decision
  • advisory : superior suggests ideas and allows questions, superior decides
  • participative : the superior points out the problem, the group suggests solutions, the superior decides
  • delegative : the superior points out the problem and defines the scope for decision-making, the group decides
  • democratic : the group decides autonomously, the superior is the coordinator

target

This theory tries to explain which behavior of a manager leads to success in different situations (so-called situational behavior theory). In contrast to the so-called property theories, this is about concrete leadership behavior.

Situational influencing factors

Tannenbaum and Schmidt then work out the most important situational factors that are important when choosing the right leadership behavior:

Characteristics of the superior
  • his value system
  • his trust in the employees
  • his leadership skills
  • the degree of security he feels in the particular situation
Employee characteristics
  • Degree of experience in decision making
  • their professional competence
  • their commitment to the problem
  • their demands regarding professional and personal development
Characteristics of the situation
  • Type of organization
  • Properties of the group
  • Nature of the problem
  • time lag to the action

Depending on the given constellation of these individual characteristics, a different management style must be used.

A leader is successful when he succeeds in realistically assessing the various situational influencing factors and adjusts his leadership behavior accordingly.

rating

The authors show the different leadership styles and put them in a logical order. They are based on leadership behavior that can be observed in reality, so the theory corresponds closely to everyday understanding. The leadership continuum theory has become particularly important in American leadership literature.

criticism

Only one behavioral characteristic of leadership, participation, is taken into account (so-called one-dimensional approach).

literature

  • Staehle: Management . 7th edition. Vahlen, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-8006-1892-3
  • Manfred Schulte-Zurhausen : Organization . 4th edition. Vahlen, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-8006-3205-5 , p. 220
  • Samuel A. Culbert: "Biography of Robert Tannenbaum-In Memorial" , Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Dec 2003, 39, pg. 360

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Robert Tannenbaum and Warren H. Schmidt: How to Choose a Leadership Pattern. In: Harvard Business Review 36/1958. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 1973, pp. 95-102 , accessed December 1, 2018 .
  2. a b Johannes Steyrer: Theories of leadership . In: Kasper / Mayrhofer (ed.): Personnel management: leadership and organization . 2nd Edition. Ueberreuter, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-7064-0248-3 , p. 203-205 .