„‚ CONDITIONS THAT HINDER EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

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A PRIMER ON SOCIAL STYLES
Beverly Byrum
Most theories of leadership and management categorize “styles” or “types” of
behavioral and personality characteristics. Although only a first step in understanding
the complexities of human interaction, style differentiation at least provides a place to
begin.
Merrill and Reid’s (1981) social-style approach demonstrates that an enormous
amount of information can be perceived by watching and listening. Because the theory
allows the perceiver to understand people better and to determine how best to work with
them, this approach is useful for people at all levels in an organization.
Merrill and Reid suggest that the social-style approach differs from other
approaches in the following ways:
1. The focus is on current behavior rather than on past behavior.
2. The emphasis is on external, verifiable information rather than on internal,
subjective information.
3. The goal is to deal with a number of different situations rather than with a single
type of situation (for example, assertiveness or delegation).
Another major difference is the nonjudgmental aspect of the approach; acceptance
is a major theme. Styles are neither good nor bad, and no one style is preferable to
another.
SOCIAL-STYLE THEORY
Social style is defined as patterns of behavior that others can observe and report. Social
style originates in behavioral preferences, the manner of talking and acting with which
one has become comfortable and tends to like in oneself and to be attracted to in others.
Social style is a method of coping with others that is learned in childhood. This method
becomes habitual and often clouds our intentions. This is especially evident in stressful
situations.
Merrill and Reid began doing research in the 1960s, beginning with the previous
work done by Fred Fiedler and the U.S. Office of Naval Research (Fiedler, 1967). This
earlier research defined the behaviors of good leaders. Four categories of leadership
behavior (consideration, structure, production emphasis, and sensitivity) resulted from
having subjects check a list of descriptive behaviors to indicate those of good leaders,
Originally published in The 1986 Annual: Developing Human Resources by J. William Pfeiffer & Leonard D. Goodstein (Eds.), San
Diego, CA: Pfeiffer & Company.
The Pfeiffer Library Volume 6, 2nd Edition. Copyright ©1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer ❚❘ 105