Can you be a sarcastic cynical git and also a great manager?

I was wondering this.

Do you need to be a genuinely nice, enthusiasic about everything kind of person to be great at managing people?

i feel like this question was designed for me - short answer is yes with delegation and communication (occasionally) - although i would never describe myself as great which was in question - certainly far from that so answer is probably no 

No I don't think you do.  I think you need to be consistent, respectful and fair, and yes I agree with James that communication is imoprtant - other than that I think all sorts of people can and do make great managers.

Minus the word 'git' and I think you probably can, as long as you are fair and listen as well as instruct, cynically or not.
If people can build up an understanding of the managers sense of humour and see you are passionate in your own way then it's fine.

Alternativily if said manager never listens to feedback, is cynical 100% even in the face of excellent results from the team then I think members will become disillusioned and result in dragging the business down to an extent.

As a manager - Treat everyone as you want them to treat you, but firmer.

Consistent!  No matter what style they have, as long as they are consistent not only with their actions but with the people around them, then you just have to learn how to manage your manager.

NO. Not all the time, and not if it's not who you are. Ingenuine is ingenuine, whether it's intended in a bad way or good.

I thought you did, and I've been trying it for months - and though I'm good at it, because apparently I'm a wonderful young man (cringe), I really didn't like it - it's not who I am. I was then invited to a training with one of the top guys in my business. He takes absolutely no prisoners!

Whilst this guy was speaking, mid-flow, he noticed a bloke sat on the front row without a notepad. He said "Have you not got a notepad fella? Are you a Utility Warehouse distributor, or are you just lost?"

The guy pointed, speechless, to his wife next to him, taking loads of notes.

The speaker immediately said "Ok, so what if she leaves you tomorrow, how are you going to recall any of this?" - deadly serious. Not even half-joking!

The guy is incredibly fair, but like I said he tells it like it is and takes no prisoners. He's one of the top four guys in our network, and has a team of more than 9000 people by being the way he is. I think that, to me, says you can get away with not having to be Mr. Nice Guy all the time.

I went up to him after the training and thanked him for showing me I don't have to be all "fluffy" to be successful.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the responses above, appreciate people's thoughts.  I'm still very much finding my way with management (going to give my first staff appraisal later this week), and worried I'm more like Alan Sugar than Richard Branson...I think only a limited number of people respond well to an Alan Sugar style approach.

The thing as others have said above is to be fair, communicate and to to give feedback. If someone does a good job then tell them (but not in a patronising manner), sometimes it's the little things that make a difference to people. Equally if there are problems then they need to be flagged up (documented by you) as and when they happen not stored up for the appraisal.

If actions have been raised during the year and not improved or been rectified then bring them up in the appraisal and then deal with them. I remember the first time I had to do appraisals and it's not fun if stuff needs to be sorted but if someone is not doing their best for whatever reason then they will probably think less of you if you say they're doing a great job which can often be the easy way out for many managers rather than dealing with any particular issues. 

And there I was thinking of passing your name onto someone ....  as a nice friendly accountant!

Read this book. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-To-Great-Companies-Leap/dp/0712676090/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337700948&sr=8-1

Really interesting insight in to how companies become great, that weren't already great.  Selfless leader. 

Do you have an appraisal process in place?  If so then it can help.

I can send you some stuff over on appraisals if you feel you may need it?  Give us a shout and I'll send it over.