Understand Leadership Styles Essay

Autocratic leadership, also known as authoritarian leadership is a leadership style characterized by individual control over all decisions and little input from group members. Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their own ideas and judgments and rarely accept advice from followers. Autocratic leadership involves absolute, authoritarian control over a group. It can also be derived

* A correct and appropriate description is given of two or more issue that will influence the choice of leadership styles or behaviours in workplace situations although the description may be limited and the links to workplace situations may be more understood than clear (criteria for a pass on this question)

There are four main leadership styles, the first being Autocratic style which the manager retains as much control and decision making authority as possible, the manager does not give employees any input or consultation. The next is Bureaucratic which is where the manager manages ‘by the book’ which is where everything must be completed according to procedure and protocol. Mangers using this style will only consult with those above them in the chain of command. They simple enforce the rules of the workplace. The next style of leadership is Laissez-Faire which is also known as the ‘hands off’ approach to management. The manager usually provides little or no direction and give employees as much freedom as possible. All power is given to employees and they are to dictate their own work ethics. The last leadership style is the Democratic style which is also known as the participative style and this is where employees are encouraged to be a part of the decision making process. The democratic manager keeps their employees informed about everything that affects

Another factor that has to be considered when choosing a leadership style is that the leadership style at the beginning should

The decision making process is emotional, and there is a lot of inconsistency with decisions. The decision maker is the chief of staff, and he has to ok everything before it is done. But there is no black of white answers, and he gives different answers arbitrarily. Our office is structured a bit differently and there is a partial wall that separates us from the chief of staff, so he can hear us and we can hear him. This means that he gives instruction throughout the day over the

In Chapter 4, Blake and Mouton explain several different leadership styles such as: Impoverished Management, Middle-of-the-Road Management, Authority-Compliance, Country Club Management, Team Management, Paternalism/Maternalism and Opportunism. After a while of reflection, I eventually come to the notion that my primary leadership style is the Paternalism/Maternalism, or in my case Maternalism.

In workplace condition, there are numerous dynamics which may affects a manager’s leadership style. The most significant features which will affect the choice of leadership styles or leadership behavior in a workplace condition need to identify.

This style of management focuses on using the majority of the time working with and through people. The working individual now has to become a skillful psychologist, since most of what people do on a daily basis, is shaping the behavior of others. Whether you are a manger or subordinate, you are only successful as a group effort if each individual has skills at motivation, interpersonal influence, working together with peers, good communication with individuals and superiors. Managers are reflections on each working individual and their style of leadership will determine the quality of groups they orchestrate to build organizational power, growth and success. New management styles tend to base their success on feedback from individuals bottom line performance. Management believes that everyone’s performance is important and should be aligned with the organization’s values, vision, and strategic priorities.

However, people can hardly change and do not like to change themselves. Changing leadership styles is difficult to attain because the company hardly has the resources to send them to leadership seminars, and it takes a lot of time to mold someone's style. Conger studies have shown that people are well learned in one leadership style and will revert to it when under pressure. After all the training, the individual may not implement the leadership knowledge due to this or other external factors. If we decided to hire mangers with traits that fit the situation, a problem might arise if the situation changes. Another problem might be the complications with finding people with the exact leadership traits that we need.

In the bi-monthly Advisory board meetings, representatives take suggestions or issues presented by employees to the Chairman and President. The employee representatives do not have direct input as to whether these ideas will be instituted, rather an authoritarian management system takes these ideas under advisement and decides whether or not instituting or ending them would be of benefit to the workforce and company as a whole.

In terms of examples from the real world, the directing autocratic leadership is evident in environments such as the military. These situations require a relatively rigid leadership style in which the subordinates are monitored to ensure no mistakes are made at any point of completing the tasks.

The autocratic style is based on retaining authority and information and focuses on efficiency of operations with a command-and-control fashion. A leader with a laissez-fairre style,also known as ‘’hands-off’’ style, shows little interest for tasks, gives more authority to the staff and provides little or no direction leaving the decisions to the group. The democratic style, pays attention to both task and people, encouraging and allowing the staff to promote and participate in decision making (Schermerhorn J. 2015) (Appendix

The Autocratic Management style is not hard to distinguish in the workplace. Opinions are kept to themselves concerning the firm’s approach to cases, and all employees know what they are expected to do and not do. In this management style only one attorney is in charge and he or she resolves all issues. This type of management style can be thought of as more of a dictatorship. They can be found in small-scale offices and there is only one attorney proprietor. The staff is never in doubt about their position in the firm. It is always understood what your duties are for the day and no unprofessionalism will be tolerated. Sometimes the messenger can suffer for being the bearer of bad news. This style is obviously a more popular with managers. Their thought process is, that this style is necessary in order to have complete control of the practice in order to keep the work production flowing.

With the aforementioned characteristics in mind, the theories and styles of management and leadership are an art to get employees to work together and perform the organizations goals. Leadership plays an important role to make the subordinates work as a single unit. The five major types of management styles are autocratic, paternalistic, democratic, laissez-faire, and management by walking around (MSG, 2015). Autocratic style is not taking into consideration the ideas of others. The subordinates do not have a say in what they do and rely on their bosses to make decisions and tell them what to do. The bosses create policies based on their decisions without regard to the subordinate’s suggestions. Typically in an autocratic style, the employees lack motivation. Paternalistic style differs from autocratic in that the leaders place more consideration on the wellbeing of the people, not just the organization.

As defined above, the purpose of management is to direct resources toward a goal. In autocratic management, the manager sets all goals with specific deadlines to track progress. The autocratic manager is the principal of the decision making process. When a problem arise the resources report to the manager and the manager evaluates the options and makes the decision as to the direction and action that should be taken (Coye & Belohlav, 1995). In terms of management feedback, the autocratic style of management calls for detailed instructions of changes that need to be made to the final product. Any rewards and recognition bestowed by autocratic managers are dictated by how well people follow directions.