Organizational Behavior: Motivational Theories

Classical organization theory evolved during the first half of this century. It represents the merger of scientific management, bureaucratic theory, and administrative theory.

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

Grojean, Resick & Diskson (2004) suggest that leaders are responsible for facilitating their follower’s to become capable and guide them to improving their capabilities and strengths. Differentiating between different leadership styles can be done in a number of ways. It was determined that the traditional styles of leaders include authoritian (autocratic), democratic, permissive (laissez-faire) and bureaucratic (Viinamäki, 2009).

The leader who can expect to make all the right decisions and makes all the decisions for a group with little or no input from others. This is the best style for a situation that needs quick and effective decision when you under pressure. Margaret Thatcher is an Autocratic Leader because she can dominate in nature of authority and power and she makes decision with little or no input from others.

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.

Autocratic leadership is a leadership style characterized by individual control over all decisions and little input from group members. Autocratic leaders typically make choices and rarely accept advice from followers. Autocratic leadership involves absolute control over a group.

Leadership is defined in many different ways. Most definitions include having “power, influence, followership, dynamic personality, charisma, goals, autocratic behavior, innovation, cleverness, warmth and kindness” (Curtis, de Vries, & Sheerin, 2011, p.1). People with different personalities often have different leadership styles. These styles include servant, transformational, and autocratic.

The dictionary defines autocratic as, “pertaining to or of the nature of autocracy or of an autocrat; absolute.” Absolute being the keyword, meaning that the leader’s words are absolute for every follower regardless of personal opinion. This is the style typically used in the military and it follows a leadership pattern where there is a chain of command and a top down structure for which information is processed and passed. Originally developed in 1939, a group of researchers led by Kurt Lewin analyzed how groups are formed and their leaders. The researchers broke schoolchildren up into three groups to complete a craft project lead by a leader from each of the three different leadership styles. They found that autocratic leaders tended to make decisions independently of other children. Additionally they found that, “Autocratic leaders [tended to] make decisions themselves. They do not consult their followers, or involve them in the decision-making process. Having made a decision they impose it and expect obedience” (272). Therefore, this can been seen often in police administration where the chief makes the decisions and his subordinates follow them. A perfect example of an autocratic leader and the dangers that are associated with that would be WW2 German leader Adolf

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.

Organizations with a bureaucratic culture type use an internal strategic focus and do best in a stable environment (Daft, 2016, p. 395). Bureaucratic organizations have a centralized hierarchal structure that is reluctant to change or adapt. These organizations have multiple levels of leadership, well defined position with clearly defined duties. Policies and structure are used to achieve goals rather than individual decisions. Organizational charts identify who is in charge and has power. Employees are valued for the tasks they perform rather than their individual creativity. Decisions-making is slow in a bureaucratic culture as most decisions are directed up the chain of command. Employees rely on their supervisors

•Bureaucracy is a term that immediately raises visions of massive federal and state government agencies.

Authoritarian or autocratic leaders provide clear expectations for what needs to be done, when it should be done, and how it should be done. This style of leadership strongly focuses on both command by the leader and control of the followers. Authoritarian leadership is best applied in situations where the leader is the most knowledgeable person in the group. You may also see this occur when there is no time for group decision making and rapid decisions are needed. However, this can sometimes be controversial due to members of the group not feeling like their voice is heard. This type of leader may sit at

Two leadership styles on the opposite ends of the spectrum from one another are autocratic and participative. Both can be useful depending on the setting and what is required. Autocratic leaders make decisions without using team members, even if it would be useful (mindtools.com, n.d.). When a decision needs to be made very quickly, when there is not a need for additional input, or when a team agreement is not needed, this type of leadership can work (mindtools.com, n.d.). However, autocratic leadership can be demoralizing in the workplace and can lead to a high turnover rate as well as abseentism (mindtools.com, n.d.). An example of an autocratic leader/organization would be Martha Stewart and her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

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.

Human Resources is dependent on the success, happiness, and contentment of employees that keep the business on course. Motivation is one of the best ways to push employees forward while making sure everyone is in a comfortable position in their job. Motivational theories just attempt to explain what motivates or makes people act the way that they do. The goal of understanding these theories and their outcomes is to ensure a better performance from each employee, and to give each of those employees the best situation they can have in the workplace. Visionaries such as Abraham Maslow, Frederick Herzberg, and Henry A. Landsberger also brought forward new ways of management and ways to handle internal situations that changed the landscape of human resources as a whole. Motivational theories instituted in the workplace have a commonly positive effect on both employees and management, showing that it is important to strive for proven motivational practices.