Compare and Contrast Autocratic and Democratic Leadership Styles

As a company’s equipment reaches the end of its life cycle projects start to get organized to replace outdated equipment. As these projects are formed project managers are selected to manage all the complexities involved in replacing equipment. In some cases, managers or project managers are selected to manage turn around maintenance projects without taking into consideration any set of requirements (Obiajunwa, 2013). This means project managers may not have the right leadership style or set of skills to effectively manage and complete projects on time. Northhouse (2007) explained three leadership styles authoritarian, democratic and laissez-fair and their influences in his book Introduction to Leadership. Of those three I chose authoritarian and democratic for my research question. Is the authoritarian or democratic leadership style more effective for completing large-scale maintenance projects on time?

Autocratic, otherwise known as Authoritarian, leadership styles assume that employees are externally motivated and incapable of making external decisions. Therefore, orders are given out specifically with clear expectations and deadlines. In this leadership style the leader has the final say in the project (Finkleman, 2012). Democratic Leaders are less productive then authoritarian leaders; however, they tend to have the most quality. This is a result of the leaders giving guidance as well as participating in the project. Participants are encouraged to grow, be engaged, and tend to feel like valuable members of the team (Cherry, 2015). Laissez- faire leaders take very hands off approach to the project. Participants are less motivated and less productive then the previous two. The leader assumes that the participants are internally motivated by recognition, achievement, and increased responsibility. It is assumed that participants are self regulating and autonomous (Finklman, 2012). This leadership style is effective in environments where participants are highly skilled and specialized. Otherwise, the group lacks direction and tends to blame each other for mistakes; while refusing to take personal responsibility (Cherry, 2012). The results of my quiz indicated that I take a predominately Laissez- Faire approach to leadership is accurate. This lines up with my approach towards life; I tend

Leadership styles have significant effects on organizations. For instance, it influences organizational culture and determines how leaders address conflict. Ultimately, it impacts organizational performance. Consequently, leaders must adapt their approach to achieve the desired outcome. Therefore, it is imperative leaders understand and can implement a variety of leadership styles. This essay will describe how an autocratic and participative leader’s style impacts organizational culture, summarize the strengths and weaknesses of each style, and explain how each leader would successfully resolve conflict.

According to Robbins, Bergman, Stagg and Coulter (2012, p. 606) the General Manager, Edward of 6 Steps & Rising has adopted an autocratic leadership style. The University of Iowa Studies identifies an autocratic leader as a leader that centralises authority, controls work methods and processes, makes independent decisions and restricts participation or feedback from employees (Robbins et al., 2012). He practices autocratic leadership styles when he centralises authority by disallowing Albert to see the chief executive officer regarding his request to transfer to other offices, controls creative processes that Teresa has put forward, makes independent decisions by implementing restrictive rules to govern employees and ignoring feedback

may feel empowered to develop further in their roles. They may also feel more loyalty to the

Secondly, the democratic leadership style in my opinion is between authoritarian and laze fair. The group is directed by leader, but he/she allows members to speak freely and openly among another. Yet, there is some sort of structure. The advantage of this structure is the style allowing members to be encouraged to share their feeling and views. It is difficult for myself to find an advantage of the leadership style. Therefore, the one thing I believe could be a disadvantage would be an individual taking advantage of the limited freedom within the group.

Of the two, studies indicate that the autocratic style, whereby the leader determines all of the policies held, which techniques should be used to achieve goals, and how tasks should be distributed among the group, generally delivered the best performance, but also that it typically gave rise to feelings of hostility among subordinates (Lewin & Lippitt, 1938). This is precisely the situation that has arisen at DARE, where the CEO has delivered excellent results, however their lack of communication on why decisions were made and how they pertained to future goals has meant that management has become hostile.

An autocratic leader is someone that takes full responsibility for the whole team. They also have full control over decision making which means the team have to go along with the decisions that are made by the leader whether they agree with them or not. They are generally loud spoken, firm and direct in what they want done and when. This is because autocratic leadership is often used when an urgency of decision making is required. An example of when an autocratic leader is used in the public services is a paramedic as they would have to work quickly and efficiently in order to save people's lives.

The main difference between autocratic leadership is that employees are given a chance to voice their opinions as opposed to having one person making all the decisions. Many leaders prefer this style because it involves an active participation of every team members, which makes them to demonstrate their creativity and abilities within the organization. This makes a team to discover hidden assets that can eventually help the business grow, it also helps every member to have an opportunity for them to exercise their skills, so that they can also share their abilities in the team. Autocratic leadership that leaves the entire decision making to one person sometimes can be difficult for employees to see it from the leaders perspective. Particaptive leadership encourages other members to be involved in the process of decision making. It can also point out the strength and weaknesses to certain approach and can be resolved by the team working hand in hand to come out with the best decision for a certain company. (Leadership 2011) The downside of participated leadership is that its time consuming compared to autocratic, but usually the extra time required for this process is usually leads to a decision that eventually benefit every team member. This is ideally best means for your team or organization to be

It can be argued therefore that it assists leaders to manage the day by day routine tasks by increasing efficiency and proficiency. As organizational change is not sought, stability within an organization and existing cultural values are promoted.

Autocratic leaders are intolerant, manipulative and critical. Their followers tend to be more aggressive because these leaders more or less force individuals to invest in the group. Because there is always the risk that workers will leave, it is important that this type of leaders be able to resolve issues and keep from losing members. Another thing about these leaders is they will do whatever it takes to provide the common good when they make their decision, as well as they are noted to be more productive than other types of leaders (van Vugt, Jepson, De Cremer, 2004)

Although distinguished in the modes of processing, the autocratic and the democratic leadership styles should both be achievement-oriented. Two styles of leadership are supposed to serve the same objective, which is enabling companies to successfully accomplish the targets with a decent standard of performance.

Autocratic leadership describes the leadership style as the individual having absolute power within the group without input from other work colleagues (Craven 2014). This style of leadership, the autocratic leader makes the decisions and takes responsibility for the achievements of the organisation. Autocratic leaders decide which group members contribute and how much they contribute without consulting (Vugt, Jepson, Hart and Cremer 2004 (cited in Craven 2014). According to Northouse (cited in (Craven 2014) authoritarian leadership has negative outcomes as it fosters dependence, submissiveness and a loss of individuality (cited in Craven 2014). Followers who work under an authoritarian leader feel continually to be under pressure and are not able to take the initiative as the leader does not believe that they are capable of performing the duties required without being encouraged by the leader as they have no passion to work and are not capable of accomplishing tasks alone.

provides for quick decision making but is generally not successful in gaining employee engagement or

The autocratic style of management is very one sided. In autocratic management the manager makes all the decisions that he sees fit. This can lead to the workforce 's ideas and wants being undermined due to the fact that the manager does not need to take these factors into account. This style of management is not normally used on a regular basis and is more suited to moments of panic and crisis, since the managers need to make decisions to fix the situation as fast as possible.