While Brent's views may be warped from a business perspective, he thinks his heart's in the right place when it comes to employees: "It's the team that matters. Where would The Beatles be without Ringo? If John got Yoko to play drums, the history of music would be completely different."

He has a point. But his paternalistic management style is clearly flawed - it's a step on from the purely dictatorial style of an autocrat, but still quite some way off democracy. Management styles are constantly evolving and many businesses invest a lot of time and money in providing training and back-up for their leaders.

But what are the preferred methods in the multiple retail sector? The general consensus is an "inclusive" approach that tends towards consultation rather than directives.

Neil Ovenden, branch manager at Waitrose's Bloomsbury store, explains: "I'm a bit of a chameleon as a manager. I'm not very directive unless needs be - I'm consultative. We work with common goals and objectives, getting people to develop their skills and achieve those goals along the way."

Ovenden has a management team of 21 with whom he agrees objectives for the year. "We make a framework and it's up to them to fill it in. I learn by it as well. People deal with things in different ways - they can use their imagination. They interpret it and come up with things I would not have thought of. And I have to ask: what are you trying to achieve? What's the rationale?"

Paul Gravelle, who runs Budgens in Sawbridgeworth with wife Michelle, has a similar approach but different terminology. "Empowerment would be a word we would use," he says. Gravelle has a manager at each of his two stores, three assistant managers and a recruitment and HR manager.

"We give them training to do the job and then get them to do the job. They still have to be accountable. I am investing £35,000-£40,000 each a year in two managers. They have to have the room to manage. We have trained people to do the things we want and then stepped back and moved on to other things - ranging, cost savings and so on."

Gravelle says he is trying to teach his managers "about profitability and the impact of cash flow". He continues: "For example, if you spend £10,000 on stock in a corporate environment such as Tesco, you don't see the impact. But I have to pay for that in a few weeks' time."

Over at Asda, there is a culture of celebrating success, says Dave Paris, GSM at Romford. Recently, during Diwali, he got four of his Indian colleagues to cook curries for the monthly staff "celebration lunch" to help everyone understand more about the annual festival. "Here at Asda one of our sayings is we want our colleagues to do their jobs willingly and well," he says.

He cites a recent conference at which ex-managers from Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco were marked in a comparison of management styles with Asda. Paris, previously with Somerfield, said: "Morrisons got 8 out of 10 for 'well' but 2 out of 10 for 'willingly', because it was a 'tell and do' style. You don't question it. Moving to Asda, the difference is immense. My job is very much about encouraging personality and celebrating success."

John Volney, at Morrisons in Weymouth, rebuts Paris's report of his employer's management style: "I have been with Morrisons since the conversion and I have learned they are simple operators but very effective. They have a really good ability to pitch at levels everyone understands."

He explains that strict procedures govern the day-to-day running of each department. "If you work in the café in-store there are set procedures on how it gets set up in the morning. Every member of staff works to a timetable for when a specific task is completed. It's routine and some might say a bit mundane. But at the lower levels people need structure in their lives and, by giving it to them, we find people deliver better results more consistently."

Of course, when people aren't delivering results, managers have to deal with that too. Paris is insistent that 'bad news' gets delivered behind closed doors. "I don't want other people seeing it or worrying about it. I want it dealt with. I try to keep the negatives out of the way and positives to the fore."

He adds: "In most cases we have to believe that our colleagues want to do a great job. It should be for the individual and their managers to deal with. The error of their ways is pointed out and it never happens again. I don't want it seen as punishment, but a way to change behaviour."

Volney's view is that problem scenarios are often quite complex - someone could be underperforming because they have had a personal setback or are dealing with financial difficulties. "We try hard at the induction to ensure everybody gets a foundation from the company, but you expect that mistakes are going to be made and as long as they are learnt from, that's OK."

Indeed, a growing part of the manager's role is as 'therapist'. Says Ovenden: "About 80% of my job is counselling. The staff here are 16 to 65 years old. There are a lot of domestic issues." He points out that, while there are specialist channels, people like to deal with someone they know. "Just talking to them over a cup of coffee can help."

So David Brent does get it right sometimes: "A philosopher once wrote you need three things to have a good life. One, a meaningful relationship, two, a decent job of work, and three, to make a difference... And every day, we all do this last one. It's how we interact with our fellow man."n

Case Study

We had a manager who decided that things were getting too much and I sat her down and tried to offer some reassurance. I pointed out that there was a lot of positive stuff coming out of what she was doing. I told her to look at the results for the department, the visits she got from top directors, customers' reactions. I said: "You are working for a top 100 public company and you are responsible for millions of pounds of trade. That must count for something." That person jumped up and said to me: "I've never thought about it like that at all." She had a confidence issue - some people just need a bit of nurturing. I discuss performance with the team, and I will take any suggestions. We also have a quarterly forum with no hierarchy.

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