What is conservative management style?

Answer 1

The term conservative is borrowed from a sociological paradigm that describes how values or efforts cause change within the group. Conservative, liberal and radical are three terms that relate to the status quo, i.e. the way it is. A conservative action seeks to preserve the current state, in comparison to a liberal action which seeks moderate change using acceptable means, or a radical action which seeks extreme change that can cause harm to the existing power structure within the group.

Since conservative efforts seek to preserve the status quo rather than achieve change, a conservative management style will go with the flow; keep it the way it is in the interests of the owners or those with power. Management efforts that work to adapt to the existing structure will be viewed as more conservative when compared with those that that will react to the structure and initiate change. Conservative action is welcomed within the larger groups, like corporations, because the larger structures already have an established means of policy. Changing a policy or practice in a larger structure will often create more need that might add to costs, or make other challenges, because the change can cause a chain of events. Higher management structure is also more likely to be conservative because they can see how a specific action will affect other departments. The higher one is within the structure, the more likely their interests will reflect existing methods, policies, and structure to resolve events rather than deliver change for a specific interest.

In comparison, reaction with a more liberal management style will be seen as seeking action that achieves moderate change that reflect interests outside of the status quo. Liberal action seeks change, more likely reflecting the interests of common employees, but still uses the existing practices and policy the company allows to achieve change. A more liberal management style will react to the group's need to change and seek ways to petition that change using existing structure rather than expect employees to adapt to the existing state.

The words liberal and radical in this paradigm don't always compare to the concept of management style just because management structure is not always proactively or aggressively seeking change. A manager using a liberal means to petition the power structure is most likely faced with obstacles that expect the status quo and a limited ability to achieve change. A conservative management style represents behavior that seeks to add to the interests of the group, rather than change the existing structure.