Leadership & Motivation

Management Style
Discussions of which management style if the most effective date at least from Confucius who in 500BC attempted to persuade the feudal kingdoms of ancient China that the effective leader should be humane, benevolent and just. The first Emperor of China, Ch'in Shih Huang Ti, 200 years later expressed his disagreement with the idea by having 460 Confucian monks beheaded.
For many years, the search was made for the ideal traits of a leader. The Great Man approach involved studying leaders of proven excellence and attempting to identify what they had in common. However, in the 1940's, after an extensive review of more than 100 trait studies, Stogill concluded that
"the qualities, characteristics and skills required in a leader are determined ... by the demands of the situation ..."
The work of Rensis Likert, in the Michigan Studies, was directed at ascertaining what conditions would bring about the greatest productivity ...