Understanding and Changing Your Management Style (Jossey-Bass Business/Management Series) [Hardcover]

Robert C. Benfari (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0787908584 | ISBN-13: 978-0787908584 | Edition: 1

Are the best managers born that way, while the rest of us must struggle with the role and its responsibilities? According to Robert Benfari, our ability to manage effectively is based on a mix of characteristics that can be analyzed, understood and, most importantly, changed. In this book, he identifies six ingredients of successful management and uses the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to show readers how they can devise personality-specific strategies for improving their ability to resolve conflict, solve problems, manage stress, positively influence others, and handle difficult situations at work.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Understanding and Changing Your Management Style, by psychologist and business consultant Robert Benfari, is a hands-on guidebook for determining the type of leader you are--and becoming the kind you want to be. It includes methods that you can use to influence others, problem-solving techniques, and exercises that reveal your psychological nature according to the widely used Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Using the resultant patterns, the book suggests practical ways to maximize your strengths, overcome weaknesses, and deal with difficult employees, such as hostile-aggressive Sherman Tanks ("Give them time to run down") and supremely confident Bulldozers ("Do some serious research so that you are on top of the problem"). "Good management is not in-born in some, nor is so-called bad management a fixed state for others," Benfari writes. "Changing your management style is possible once you understand what can be changed (and what cannot) and are willing to do the work to shift your assumptions, perceptions, and behavior." --Howard Rothman

From Booklist

What does it mean to be a "good" manager? Benfari, an academic, psychologist, and business consultant, offers a process for determining types of managers and for accentuating positive managerial traits and overcoming the weak ones. He uses the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to find one's psychological type, and he also considers one's individual needs, power orientation, approach to conflict resolution and problem solving, values, and reactions to stresses in the environment and in handling difficult people. Also emphasized is practical intelligence, or "street smarts," which aids in dealing with personal relationships and knowing how to approach work. This is an interesting presentation, but because of the complexity of the material, many readers may find the book lending itself better to a workshop situation or group activity in which there is leader direction and assistance. Since the author conducts workshops, this book may be used as a workbook for his programs or a reference book for his consulting activities. Mary Whaley

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (September 24, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787908584
• ISBN-13: 978-0787908584
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #224,474 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book but don't go out of your way to get it, September 5, 2001

By 

Marc "Fundraisingcoach.com" (Waterville, ME, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Understanding and Changing Your Management Style (Jossey-Bass Business/Management Series) (Hardcover)

I began "Understanding and Changing Your Management Style" expecting just another book on management theory. While Benfari definitely is well versed in management theory, he's packed this book full of dozens of practical tools, advice, and descriptive case "studies."

After reading "Understanding and Changing Your Management Style," I've come to see that books on management are often like the three blind men trying to describe the elephant-they each describe focus on one aspect of the whole. Benfari attempts to take in the whole picture and help the reader understand all the aspects of managing. Quite a daunting task!

In the introduction, Benfari says, "The most fruitful way of working through the book is to take the assessment in the appendixes before you start your journey" (p. xii). I was already familiar with the Myers-Briggs profile but much less familiar with the influence inventory, and the assessments of needs, conflict resolution style, problem solving style, values, and stress. I spent so much time assessing; I almost gave up on the book without even reading the first chapter!

I'm glad I gave the book a chance. This book is Benfari's explanation of his "integrated management style." In his words, "Changing your management style is possible once you understand what can be changed (and what cannot) and are willing to do the work to shift your assumptions, perceptions, and behavior" (p. xi). We can't change our basic wiring-personality-but we can change most everything else. Benfari even offers techniques on influencing and temporarily flexing our personality tendencies.

At times, I found "Understanding and Changing Your Management Style" to be somewhat redundant. I think this stems from trying to describe the elephant from eight different angles. No matter how many ways you look at it, the elephant is still an elephant. Much of what Benfari writes about already appears in many management theory and pop psychology books. The value of this book is precisely in the "multiple views" packaging Benfari gives the material.

"Understanding and Changing Your Management Style" is more of a workbook than a textbook. Don't just read this book. Have a pen handy and be ready to flip back-and-forth between the section you're reading and the appendices in the back. The last chapter was a bit of a let down for me. Rather than "developing an action plan," it amounted to little more than re-recording the results of the assessments.

Nevertheless, if you're interested in developing yourself and your management skills, "Understanding and Changing Your Management Style" may be a useful book to have in your library.

The table of contents for this book is:

Introduction: What Makes a Good Manager?

Part One: A Model for Change
1 The Dynamics of Management Styles: What Can Be Changed?
2 Personality and Psychology: What's Your Type?
3 Practical Intelligence: How Do We Make It Work?
4 Mental Models: How Do We Make the Shift?

Part Two: The Elements of Management Style
5 Needs: The Drive Towards Competence
6 Power Bases: Influence, Authority, and Expertise
7 Problem Solving and Conflict Management: Catalysts for Change
8 Values: Clarifying What You Stand For
9 Stress: Managing Work and Difficult People
10 Putting It All Together: Developing an Action Plan for Your Management Style

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Become a Better Manager, April 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Understanding and Changing Your Management Style (Jossey-Bass Business/Management Series) (Hardcover)

A practical guide to using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator geared toward helping the manager understand and change her own management style. I liked this book and heartily recommend it to anyone who would become a better manager or leader. Several tests are included to aid in understanding one's own values, problem solving preferences, and "practical IQ," as well as how one deals with conflicts and "problem personalities." This book allows an opportunity for managers to alter their behavior for the better. Good managers are made, not born, and Benfari offers good lessons for making them.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this book will change you!, October 27, 2004

By 

profali "profali" (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding and Changing Your Management Style (Jossey-Bass Business/Management Series) (Hardcover)

I am one of those lucky people that had him as an instructor at Harvard years ago. He is one of only three instructors that I admire and recommend to my friends.

We used this book's pre-published version as a textbook in a graduate-level course. You will find certain tasks that he asks you to do very time consuming, boring, ordinary. That's what happened in his first 3 classes. He made us to use our previous management experience and knowledge first few classes. Nothing was new and we followed what we were doing for years. That is exactly what he wanted us to do. He made us to make a mistake, -big wrong managerial decision- just as we would do in real life. Every student out of more than 70 made a mistake. All of us had different ideas, unique approaches, different backgrounds, different education, but we all fell on his trap. After our case -managerial decision- he explained our management style, and what would go wrong. He successfully pointed out our personality, type of management style, and our weaknesses. In that one class, I really understood what I studied in undergraduate business that I did not understand in 4 years.

Follow the instruction of the book, take your time to fill-out those tests in appendix. Do not quit when you get bored. If your life, the work you do is boring then it is how you should feel when reading first few chapters. Remember that you make your business decisions under same circumstances. That is the way to reach your true personality, and management style, not the one that your subconscious created.

After reading his book, you will see that you will look people, and problems differently.