How to change a leadership pattern.

Many factors influence leadership, and no one leadership style fits all situations. To gain insights into one's leadership behavior and to develop the skills to change one's style, management researchers suggest application of transactional analysis. HEINZ WEIHRICH Heinz Weihrich, associate professor of management and organizational behavior at Arizona State University, writes frequently on management and behaviorial topics for business and management journals in the United States and Europe. Dr. Weihrich also is the author and coauthor of several books, including the recently published Management: An MBO Approach (with Jack Mendleson), Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. FEW TOPICS have received as much attention as leadership. Although managers perform various roles, perhaps none is as important as the role of organizational leader. It is generally recognized that in the study of leadership several sets of factors are important, such as forces in the manager, forces in the subordinates, and forces in the situation. There is no doubt that the leader's behavior and his use of authority in directing employees are critical in determining the effectiveness of the leadership pattern. Robert Tannenbaum and Warren Schmidt, in their classic article, "How to Choose a Leadership Pattern," (Harvard Business Review, May—June 1973) present a variety of possible behaviors ranging from maximum use of authority with low degree of freedom for subordinates to minimum use of authority with high degree of freedom for subordinates. The different styles of managerial behaviors are charted in Figure 1. Although the model clearly shows that leadership behavior should be viewed on a continuum with different degrees of authority, it does not suggest how to change a leadership pattern. Fortunately, we have a tool that can assist a manager to alter behavior. By applying transactional analysis (TA), the manager can gain insights into his own behavior and that of subordinates, an advantage that may be the first step in changing behavior from an ineffective mode to one that fits the personality of the leader, the subordinates, and the situation. The purpose of this article is to provide the missing link between TA and leadership by (1) explaining some basic TA concepts, (2) discussing the leadership patterns that may originate in one of the three ego states (the Parent, the Adult, or the Child), and (3) recommending ways to use TA for changing the leadership pattern.