MANAGEMENT STYLES, SOCIAL CLIMATE AND ETHICAL CLIMATE: A CONTEXTUAL APPROACH

Abstract

Subject to stronger economic demands, managers
may reflect on the choice of management style
– coercive, pacesetting, affiliative, democratic,
coaching, authoritative – and its potential impact
on social and ethical climates. Based on a study
of a semi-public organization with 598 employees
resulting in a questionnaire (322 returns), followed
by a qualitative investigation (88 middle managers),
this study tested the links between management
styles and social climate and also the links between
management styles and ethical climate. It shows
that an affiliative style can have the highest impact
on a benevolent ethical climate and that in a context
marked by a lack of guidance, all management styles,
including coercive and pacesetting styles, can have
a positive impact on climates.