個案總覽

The contemporary emphasis on participative decision making creates a dilemma for modern managers. They may choose a pattern of leadership in relating to subordinates that ranges from making all the decisions themselves to allowing their subordinates to make decisions within prescribed limits. In deciding how to lead, managers must be aware of forces in themselves: their values, confidence in subordinates, leadership inclination, and tolerance for ambiguity. They must also consider whether their subordinates have the independence, maturity, interest, and knowledge to share in decision making.

Managers may most effectively approach the complex problems of individual differences by first assuming that the differences are neither good nor bad, and that no one right solution exists. Diagnostic questions the manager must ask concern: the nature of the difference; the underlying factors; and the stage to which the interpersonal difference has evolved. Available courses of action include: avoidance, repression, conflict, and problem solving. A systematic approach to the problem, which will result in a solution that will preserve corporate harmony and individual initiative, is the goal.