Corporate life is full of management styles: leadership, authoritative, micro-
management….I’m able to differentiate other type which I call “defensiveship”. I do not know if this concept exist or if it has other name (probably “defensive behavior” is more correct), anyway!
Defensiveship can appear by different reasons: in organizations where middle layers of management are more and more put into a straitjacket; organizations which require more hierarchical behavior…
It’s not easy to have a continuous defensive behavior and not been impacted negatively by it. The key element is that they are in a matrix organization with crossed responsibilities, and they are able to hide themselves into the specific assignments and tasks.
| Leadership | Defensiveship |
| Have a vision, believe in it and promote it | Inherit visions from different stakeholders |
| Accept conflict and manage it | Reject, avoid Conflict |
| Make decisions | Look for decisions on the relevant stakeholders |
| Feel accountable | Do not feel accountable |
| Look for active positions | Look for passive positions |
| Team is the first thing for him/her | S/he is the first thing |
| Clear understanding of the priorities | Continuous assessing of the priorities due to the need to balance opinions |
| Understand politics and use it to pursue the goals | Understand politics and use it as excuse |
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