Managing With Style: A Qualitative Study On How Cognitive Styles Influence Managerial Behaviour

This paper aims to contribute to an enhanced understanding of how cognitive styles, being individual preferences for perceiving and processing information, influence managerial behaviour using a qualitative approach. Based on content analysis of written testimonies of 100 managers, the authors found interesting differences between managers with a knowing, planning, and creating style with regard to both task oriented behaviour (decision making) and people-oriented behaviour (conflict management, interpersonal relationships). Although the tasks of different managers are largely the same, this study demonstrates that not all managers execute their job in the same way.