How to Choose a Leadership Pattern

pressure of time—This is perhaps the most clearly felt pressure on managers (in spite of the fact that it may sometimes be imagined). The more that they feel the need for an immediate decision, the more difficult it is to involve other people. In organizations which are in a constant state of “crisis” and “crash programming” one is likely to find managers personally using a high degree of authority with relatively little delegation to subordinates.

Some managers have a greater need than others for predictability and stability in their environment. This “tolerance for ambiguity” is being viewed increasingly by psychologists as a key variable in a person’s manner of dealing with problems.

In addition, each subordinate has a set of expectations about how the boss should act in relation to him or her (the phrase “expected behavior” is one we hear more and more often these days at discussions of leadership and teaching).

with individual workers’ expressions of resistance. Today, we would recognize much more clearly the power available to all parties and the factors that underlie the interrelated decisions on whether to use it.
In the original article, we used the terms “manager” and “subordinate.” We are now uncomfortable with “subordinate” because of its demeaning, dependency-laden connotations and prefer “nonmanager.” The titles “manager” and “nonmanager” make the terminological difference functional rather than hierarchical.