Theories in Action – GRID Theory

Throughout my internship this summer, I found that it was difficult to balance task and relationship-oriented tasks, especially when we were simultaneously dealing with the vision of the clients. Because of this, I found myself referencing Blake and Mouton’s GRID Theory. The GRID theory assesses a supervisor or organization’s ability to balance concern for people with concern for production. It is used to evaluate the amount of task and relationship-oriented behaviors, and how that subsequently impacts followers. There are four separate categories in this grid – 1,1 (impoverished management), 1,9 (produce-or-perish management), 1,9 (country club management), and 9,9 (team management). Based on my experiences at Forward Artist Management, the organization tends to switch a lot internally versus externally between styles based on client interactions. However, overall, I think that the organization falls somewhere between the middle of the road and 9,9 categories.

One thing that I thought was really interesting about FAM’s external leadership style was that there were numerous instances where the clients had very specific visions, and it was hard (borderline impossible) to compromise on those ideas. They also had very tight deadlines and we had limited time to finish the project (for example, one client wanted to release their own tomato sauce to promote their upcoming album – normally it takes 9-10 months to manufacture but we had to do it in a month and a half). In that sense, the organization internally shifted to a 9,1 style of management in an effort to meet those deadlines.

In terms of leadership styles within the organization and between employees, my supervisor, Cameron, makes a conscious effort to take the time and make each employee feel supported. He also excels in being able to delegate tasks in an efficient way. I think that comparatively speaking, my job was more task-focused. Because I was remote, I wasn’t interacting with the clients in person like my co-workers were. While it was sad that I didn’t have the same level of client interactions, Cameron always tried to make sure I was in the loop on client meetings, upcoming projects, etc.

When evaluating my site, I think that the GRID was a really effective way to think about it. Because of the nature of the organization, there was a lot of flipping between task and relationship emphasis based on the situation.