When working with a team of employees towards a common goal, it is important to understand the leadership values that you can bring to the table. About eight years ago, I started in a leadership role while advancing my career. Our profession is generally task driven, greens need to be mowed daily, bunkers raked, drinking water replenished and a lot more. The style approach reflects the most in my career where I believe you need to be able to cross the task behavior and relationship behaviors in order to have a successful team. Northouse states that the style approach or behavioral approach describes how someone accomplishes goals and how they respond to people (Northouse 2016). Under this approach there are two fundamental behaviors that should take place for a team to be successful. The leader should have their authority compliance hat on so tasks can be completed yet understand that people are not tools but human beings. Tasks completion is important in the golf industry because tasks that are not completed on a daily basis will be noticeable to the golfing cliental. As one task is completed we move on to the next task as soon as possible. You can imagine running a 188 acre property with just 27 people can be time consuming and we need to be able to be as efficient as possible. This is a day to day regimen because the course needs to be prepared and look its best for the golfers. Now on the other hand, the leader should exhibit the behavior of Team Work. The leader acknowledges that both the task and the people on the staff are important and in a constant state of communication (Northouse 2016). The staff should be looked out for and treated with the highest regard as well as the task that needs to be completed on time and as efficient as possible.
Both of these behaviors are essential requiring a heavy emphasis on completing the tasks and heavy influence in leading the staff. You are probably thinking by now that what I have described is the Team Work behavior. Your right I have, and the style approach at times is extremely important for the overall goal of the greens department. People are just as important as the tasks and how we articulate our goals using the style approach will enhance the efficiency by forging good relationships.
Northouse, P. G. Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. 2016
I really enjoyed your post in that you have examined one of my favorite concepts of leadership: behavioral. According to Northouse , the behavioral approach focuses entirely on what leaders do and how they act (2016), which in other words means to lead by example. Most would agree that they want a boss who both has relationships with their followers, but also does not let personal feelings overly effect their leadership decisions. It is harder said than done to carry this delicate balance between task and relationship behaviors in order for a leader to be most effective. It is hard to be able to distinguish between what is most important, the relationship you carry with your follower, or the task at hand. This is a delicate balance that requires a high level of mastery in order to become effective and respected at the same time. I give you much credit in your endeavors to be able to conquer both aspects, and I trust that between the information you’re aware of, and the situations you’ve described, you have the tools to be a most excellent leader.
Blog Comment:
Enjoyed reading your blog post. I too am in the turfgrass industry and having the experience of working for several different managers in the past. Looking back it was easy for me to see which styles work the best in the past. I agree with your statement that there needs to be a balance between task and relationship behaviors for a leader to bet effective. If a managers leans to far in one direction, they with either have an unhappy staff or not able to accomplish their goals on time. It is important to find a happy median, where a manager can effectively accomplish company goals while maintaining and retaining a happy staff.
Looking specifically at the Blake and Mouton Leadership Grid (Northouse, 2016, Page 75), which management styles would you suggest to be the best fit for you situation? Thinking back at previous work situations I believe that both Team Management and Middle of the Road Management would fit the best in a golf course management scenario. Lets face it, todays world is result driven. There are high expectations associated with most industries and managers are expected to produce. This would put todays leaders in a very task driven mindset, however in order to keep a effective staff on your side, employees relationships need to be built for staff retention. This is why I agree with your point of a balance in style leadership. An effective leader needs to keep both task and relationship behaviors in mind all the time. Team management is a style in which “ a strong emphasis on placed on both tasks and interpersonal relationships” (Northouse, 2016, Page 76). In my mind this is the best approach because it holds both factors in such a high regard. Middle of the Road Management is a style that “ describes leaders who are compromisers, who have an intermediate concern for the task and people who do the task” (Northouse, 2016, Page 76). I believe that middle of the road management would be the second best option, as it still creates a balance between task and relationship behaviors. There is no right answer when considering the style approach, it depends on the situation and the type of leadership needed to accomplish the overall goals.
References:
Northouse, Peter G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and Practice, 7th Edition. Chapter 4.
Pennsylvania State University (2016) Psych 485: Leadership in work settings. Lesson 5 Part 1.
I believe the behavioral approach for your leadership position is one that would work great. According to Northouse (2016), the “behavioral approach focuses exclusively on what leaders do and how they act (p. 71). To me, this sounds like leading by example. I am going to make the assumption that you are head groundskeeper (or greens keeper), and that is a job where leading by example would be paramount. I grew up on a golf course and spent many hours helping around the course to try and earn some money when I was younger. To this day, I remember being naturally drawn to the people who were always out doing the work themselves rather than dictating to others exactly what needs to be done. As you mentioned, greens and fairways need to be mowed, bunkers, raked, and water replenished. If you, as a leader, are the first one out and are technically competent, your employees (followers) will be inclined to follow you.
From what I can understand about your profession, I would say that a leader in your position needs to be a “9, 7” on Blake and Mouton’s Managerial (Leadership) Grid (Northouse, 2016, p. 76). This style of leadership requires high concern for results and a moderate-to-high concern for people. First and foremost, the results must take precedence as your club will suffer badly, and possibly even fail, if results are neglected. Second, you must still have a fairly high concern for your employees as they are the ones who make the whole golf course function. Without them, the golf course would also fail as it is impossible to maintain 188 acres with 27 people, let alone just yourself if they all quit. For this reason, I would say that you are very close to needing to follow the team management style which “places a strong emphasis on both tasks and interpersonal relationships” (Northouse, 2016, p. 77). You need participation and teamwork from all members of your team if it is to function at the highest possible level. Anything less and the course will suffer, revenue will drop, and management will look for the reason why.
Reference:
Northouse, Peter G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th Ed.). SAGE Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA. Print.