Explain the styles of management, as propounded by Rensis Likert.

 Likert Management System:

The Likert’s Management System was developed by Rensis Likert in the 1960s. Rensis Likert with his associates observed the different patterns and styles of management in various fields.

He observed the styles for around three decades and came up with the Likert’s Management System.

After years of observation and research, he outlined four styles of management which described the relationships, involvement and roles of managers and subordinates in an industrial setting.

The observation of Likert was carried out at Michigan University, USA.

The Four styles that were given by Likert were called Likert’s Leadership Styles. Likert developed these leadership styles with thorough research of various organizations.

He also took the help of questionnaires which were distributed to managers from over 200 different types of organizations.

After the successful development of the four leadership styles, Likert tried to modify the styles to suit the educational institutions.

Likert’s Four Styles of Leadership:

The Likert’s Management system consisted of four styles and they are Exploitative Authoritative, Benevolent Authoritative, Consultative and Participative.

The four styles were developed with a lot of research and observation. These systems indicate the stages of evolution of patterns of management in different organizations.

The system consists of different variables such as motivation, Influence, Leadership, communication, Interaction and decision making. Here we will discuss in detail the Likert’s Leadership Styles.

1. Exploitative Authoritative System:

It is the first system in Likert’s Leadership Styles. Under this style Likert states that the ultimate power lies in the hands of the top subordinates.

The Top management makes the policies and rules and the employees in the lower level are bound to follow the instructions given to them by their superiors.

Here, it is observed that the workers at the lower level do not feel free to discuss their work with their superiors.The communication and teamwork in this system are very little.

2. Benevolent Authoritative System:

Under this system of Likert’s, it is observed that the authority lies in the hands of the managers and not in the hands of the lower-level workers.

The superiors have a small amount of confidence and trust in the employees. The superiors have less control over the employees.

They do not use methods of threats. However, the employees are rewarded and punished as per their performance in the organization.

3. Consultative System:

This is the third style of leadership given by Likert. In this system, Likert has stated that responsibility and authority are spread widely throughout the organization.

The subordinates in the different levels of the organizations are given different responsibilities. The employees and subordinates work as a team on certain decisions.

There is fair communication between the employees and the superiors. However, the power to form policies and rules lies in the hands of the top management.

4. Participative System:

This is the last style of leadership given by Likert. Under this style, Likert states that the power and responsibility to achieve the goals of the organization is distributed among all the employees and subordinates in the organization.

According to this system, each employee has a certain role to play in the success of the organization. The superiors have the utmost confidence and trust in their employees.

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