ilm level 3 Essay

Authoritarian, or Autocratic, leaderships revolve around a single leader, and those close to them, whose word is law and power absolute. Authoritarian leaders are confident in their ability to lead and to take charge. This means that they should be taken seriously at all times; if a subordinate does not take them serious they may lash out, threaten or simply punish the individual or the entire group to get their point across. They also prioritise the task over the individual and the group

Democratic leadership style allows leaders and workers to work together efficiently in a group. It encourages good communication and promotes autonomy. When adequately utilized the democratic leadership style could be very people oriented, creates an excellent functional relationship between the leader and the staff, and allows a safe work climate (Merrill, 2015).

Autocratic leadership, is a style which is characterized by the individual control over all the decisions and little input from group members. These type of leaders rarely accept advice from followers. These type of leaders tend to be bossy and controlling. Failing to consult with other team members in such situations hurts the overall success of the group.

AC 1.1 -Describe the factors that will influence the choice of leadership styles or behaviours in workplace situations. ( 24 Marks)

An autocratic leadership involves a leader who holds complete authority. That means that he/she makes the decisions. So the followers have no input or influence whatsoever. For instance, countries such as Cuba and North Korea operate under the autocratic leadership style.

Autocratic leadership is also known as authoritarian leadership. It is a leadership style characterized by individual control. Leaders make decisions independently with little or no input from the rest of the team. Autocratic leaders typically make their decisions based on their own ideas and judgments’ and rarely accept advice from followers. Leaders provide clear expectations for what needs to be done, when it should be done, and how it should be done. There is also a clear division between the leader and the followers.

There has been debate over what constitutes a leader so there is no wonder that the styles of leaders vary. Leaders must be able to motivate, mentor, coach and inspire others to reach organizational goals. Leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people (Medina, 2011). All leaders of effective groups have four characteristics in common. First, they provide direction and meaning to the people they are leading and are responsible for keeping team members aware of important stated goals and objectives (Howard, 2005). Second, they generate trust by acting in an honest manner that creates an environment of trust (Howard, 2005). Third, they prefer action and risk taking and are

Democratic and Autocratic Leadership. Democratic and autocratic leadership exist on opposite ends of a spectrum. Democratic leaders “seek advice and input from their followers” and “motivate their followers by engaging their followers, listening to their ideas and treating both the individual and their ideas as equals” (Vann, Coleman & Simpson, 2014, p. 31). By contrast, autocratic leaders “concentrate all decision-making with themselves” (Vann et al., 2014, p. 31). Under democratic leadership, organizational hierarchy is irrelevant, whereas autocratic leaders promote a strong sense of hierarchy. And while autocratic leadership embraces a more Machiavellian-style of leadership, democratic leadership blurs, if not

Authoritarian Leadership (also known as autocratic) has a high level of control. It empowers people to follow the directions given. It is frequently considered a classic leadership style and is used when the leader wants to take as much control as possible. It is mainly used to high demand jobs where life or death situations occur eg. Army. The followers of the leader will do whatever is told to them because they are lower in authority and are inspired by the leader.

Democratic Leaders: The Democratic Leadership Style gives members of the work group a vote or a say in nearly every decision the team makes. When used effectively, the democratic leader builds flexibility and responsibility and can help identify new ways to do things with fresh ideas. Care should be taken due to the level of personal involvement required by this style and the decision making process itself can be very time consuming.

A major issue with Democratic leadership style is through the decision making process, which may prove to be a lengthy procedure since every team member needs to be consulted. No one has a scarcity of ideas and to put them together requires a great deal of patience and understanding. Most employees invest their time and opinions on a particular issue, without the thought that not all ideas will be attainable. They may get upset that their opinions aren’t being implemented, so it will be upon the manager to apologize and empathize with them when this occurs. It takes a long time to implement changes, it fails to satisfy the needs of all members of society and it often involves a large commitment of time and money.

The autocratic management style is also known as “authoritarian, boss-centered, or dictatorial leadership” (Liebler & McConnell, 2012, pg. 411). A manager that utilizes this style of management makes all decisions without employee input. Employees are given clear and concise instructions and are expected to follow directions to the letter. This style is very authoritative and is needed for employees or situations that require close supervision. Employees are not allowed to use initiative or creativity when it comes to completing assigned tasks and they generally do not challenge this

Leadership, in short, is an art. One needs to be highly skillful and crafty in their leadership styles in effectively influencing and steering a group of individuals towards a common set of goals. This is to suggest that 1) the type of leader, which also refers to the leader’s ‘personality’, characterized by traits and personal qualities, utilized to earn the trust of the people and lead them to undertake the major tasks, and 2) his style of leadership, which describes the competencies and skills that the leader ‘applies’ to guide, facilitate and support the people of the organization in their efforts to accomplish the task, are the determinant factors of an effective leader.

There are some situations that demand the authoritarian style of leadership. When there are a lot of group members and the leader has to take a stand to make the decision in a sure and consistent manner. Some decisions need to be quick and free from chaos which prevails if the leader doesn’t dominate the group members. Another

Autocratic/ authoritarian leaders lead with a firm hand. There is zero involvement of other employees and display less creativity. May shows results of a short period but overtime employees feel dissatisfied and may begin to leave their organizations as they begin to feel inferior. Iqbal, N., Anwar, S., & Haider,N. (2015) Effect of Leadership Style on Employee Performance. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review 5: 146.