The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid: Five Leadership Styles

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Learn about the Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid, which includes five styles of leadership: impoverished, country club, produce or perish, middle-of-the-road and team leader. We'll also explore how leadership style is determined by a manager's degree of concern for people or concern for production.

The Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid

In this lesson, we will explore the Blake and Mouton Management Grid, an assessment tool used by managers to determine their predominant leadership style.

The Two Behavior Dimensions

The x/y axis on the grid consist of two behavior dimensions, concern for people and concern for production. Concern for people is the degree to which a leader considers the needs of employees when deciding how tasks or jobs should be done. This can be personal or professional development. This behavior dimension moves along the y-axis vertically from bottom to top of the grid.

This lesson will explore two behavior dimensions.

Concern for production is the degree to which a leader emphasizes objectives and productivity goals when deciding how tasks or jobs should be done. This can be rules, policies or performance standards. This behavior dimension moves horizontally along the x-axis from left to right.

Five Leadership Styles

The grid is divided into five possible leadership styles:

Country club leader
Impoverished leader
Middle-of-the-road leader
Team leader
Produce or perish leader

Let's look at the behaviors of several different managers to gain a better understanding of the managerial grid.

Country Club Leader

Dharma manages a few employees at Book Worms Bookstore. She is very concerned about how employees feel. Dharma often covers shifts to cover for late or absent employees. She doesn't want to overwork employees. This means that shelves are not always stacked with the newest novels. Her employees are very happy at work. In fact, her employees even gave her a mug with the words 'World's Best Boss' printed on it. Dharma is a country club leader.

Dharma, a country club leader, manages a few employees at Book Worms Bookstore.

The country club leader has the most concern for people. This leader assumes that if employees are happy, they will work hard. This leader's high interest in the needs and feelings of employees affects productivity. With much of the focus on employee comfort, this leader finds it difficult to punish an employee. As a result, the relationship between employee and leader is very casual, like that of friends.

The country club leadership style is plotted at the top-left corner of the grid and shows the most concern for people but the least concern for production.

Impoverished Leader

Melvin is the manager of night security at MayFlag Appliance Company. He manages a staff of three security guards. Melvin has no plan for security rounds. Security guards wander the warehouse without a clear plan. Melvin also has no plan for employee satisfaction. He does not give compliments or offer assistance to employees. As a result, Melvin's employees are confused about their job and find no joy in coming to work. Melvin is an impoverished leader.

The impoverished leader has the least concern for people and for production. This leader has no system of getting work done, nor is the work environment satisfying or motivating for employees. This leader's low interest in the work and the work environment results in disorganized work, dissatisfied employees and a lack of harmony.

The impoverished leader has the least concern for people and production.

The impoverished leadership style is plotted at the bottom-left corner of the grid and shows the least concern for production and for people.

Middle-of-the-Road Leader

Brandy is the bar manager at Chip's Cocktail Lounge. Brandy directs the bar staff to do their jobs and pays them weekly for their services. She does not push them to upsell drinks or to clean when they are not busy. She does not offer additional training or opportunities to attend bartending contests or events. Guests get their drinks on time alright, but no small talk is exchanged. As a result, her employees are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with their jobs, and their performance is average. Brandy is a middle-of-the-road leader.

The middle-of-the-road leader has a balanced concern for both production and people. This leader settles for average performance from employees. This leader's balanced interest results in mediocre production and employee satisfaction.

Brandy, a bar manager, is a middle-of-the-road leader at a cocktail lounge.

The middle-of-the-road leadership style is plotted in the center of the grid and shows balanced concern for production and people.

Team Leader

Trevor is the manager of On-Time Dry Cleaning. Trevor has a staff of five employees. Trevor requires employees to wash and iron hundreds of shirts a day. He sets high standards for his employees and rewards them with incentives for getting the work done on time. He makes sure each of his employees has cold water to drink while working. He even gives employees breaks throughout the day. But the wash must get done - and on-time. He accomplishes this by setting production goals and works with employees to be sure all of their needs are met. Trevor is a team leader.

The team leader stresses high production and employee satisfaction equally. This leader stresses high production by employees and believes employees who are satisfied will be committed to high production. High trust levels on the part of both the leader and the employee lead to high employee satisfaction and production.

Team leaders, like Trevor, stress high production and employee satisfaction equally.

The team leadership style is plotted at the top-right corner of the grid and stresses high production from employees.

Produce or Perish Leader

Rolf is the manager of Soopy's Soup Shop. He is a strict manager who directs every action his employees take. He watches over the employees all the time. He has been known to send employees who are not performing home for the day. He has even fired employees who over-salt the soup or pour a little too much into the cups. When an employee is not feeling well, he demands that they continue working. Rolf is a produce or perish leader.

Strict managers direct every action of their employees.

The produce or perish leader is authoritarian. This leader stresses production with little concern for people. This leader does not find the needs of employees important. Strict rules, policies and procedures are in place. Punishment is necessary to increase production.

The produce or perish leadership style is plotted at the bottom-right corner of the grid and stresses high production with little concern for employee satisfaction.

Lesson Summary

In summary, the Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid is an x/y-axis grid that represents the degree to which managers have a concern for production and for people. The degree to which a manager has concern for either or both determines the manager's leadership style.

There are five leadership styles represented on the grid.

The country club leadership style is plotted at the top-left corner of the grid and shows the most concern for people but the least concern for production. This leadership style assumes that if people are happy in their job, they will naturally work harder. This leadership style is not very effective for production.

The impoverished leadership style is plotted at the bottom-left corner of the grid and shows the least concern for production or for people. As a result, production is low and employees feel no satisfaction in their work.

The middle-of-the-road leadership style is plotted in the center of the grid and shows balanced concern for production and people. Employees are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with their jobs, and their performance is average.

The team leadership style is plotted at the top-right corner of the grid and stresses high production from employees, with an emphasis on employee satisfaction.

The produce or perish leadership style is plotted at the bottom-right corner of the grid and stresses high production with little concern for employee satisfaction. This leadership style is based on strict rules, policies and standards. Employee needs are not important. Production will occur when punishment is threatened.