Before we start, let us distinguish between the role of Leadership and Management first, Leadership’s main function is to produce movement and adaptive change through processes, such as establishing direction through visioning, aligning people, motivating, and inspiring whilst Management's main function is to give commands and consistency through processes, such as planning, budgeting, organizing, staffing, and problem solving (Kotter, 1990).
In a dynamic setting several leadership styles will be very necessary and the ability to adapt is key. There's a lot to learn from each leadership style and when to use it. Here’s the three basic leadership styles:
• Directive: Frequently described as autocratic. Someone adapting this style always tells people what they need to do, what’s expected of them and expects them to accomplish it without anyone’s suggestion or idea.
• Participative: It also often known as democratic. This style seeks input from others and participates with those they are leading in the decision making process.
• Laissez-faire: This style of leadership is also known as delegate, it is a hands-off approach allowing for both initiative and the latitude to determine process to affect the outcome.
Participative or democratic style of leader is the most recommended and effective style of leadership. After taking the DISC personality assessment, I came out as a democratic leader of which I strongly agreed because I personally believe that the most effective leader is
I found a web page that contained a questionnaire with an evaluation of the answers that determine my style of leadership (Management Training and Leadership Training, 2017). When I tool this test, my score indicated that I am an Autocratic leader who leans toward a Democratic leader. To my surprise, I was very satisfied with the analysis of my score as it sounded very true or close to my personality and leadership style.
The results of my Leadership Style Assessment was a Participatory Leader. I believe that the results were accurate. I try to listen and understand to everyone’s point of view before making a decision regarding others at work. “Participative leadership also known as Democratic Leadership Style is a method of leadership that involves all team members in terms of identifying important goals as well as developing strategies and procedures to achieve the goals. From this point of view, participative style of leadership can be perceived as a leadership style that relies primarily on functioning as a facilitator that the one who simply issues commands or orders or making assignment for each member of the team.” ("Participative Leadership," p. 1-2) The definition of Participative Leader to me means a Leader that listens and considers every point of view before making a final decision.
An authoritative leader addresses the end but generally gives workers freedom to innovate, experiment and take risks. The authoritative style works best for organizations that are off track, it helps in creating a new course and fresh long-term vision. The affiliative style strives to keep employees happy to create harmony among. The style has a positive effect on communication. People who like one another a lot talk lot. They share ideas, inspirations leading to flexibility, innovation and risk taking. This style should only be employed when trying to build team harmony. The democratic style allows leaders to build consensus through participation. By spending time getting people’s ideas, a leader is able to build trust, respect and commitment. This style works best when a leader is uncertain about best direction however, it does not make sense if employees are not competent. Pacesetting is a leadership style that expects excellence and self-direction. The leader is obsessive about doing things better and faster, and expects the same of everyone around
Autocratic- In this management style, the manager becomes the sole decision maker. The manager does not care about the other staff and their involvement in decision making. Therefore, the decisions reflect the personality and the opinion of the manager. The decision does not reflect the team 's collective opinion.
Upon completion of my leadership self-assessment. It was determined by a strong indicator of 40 points, that I am a Participative Style leader. My second place scoring of 31 was in the Delagative, (laissez-fair) style of leadership. Coming in last was the authoritarian leader. The type of leadership style that I exhibit is also known as a democratic leader. A democratic leader is known for being very people oriented. The democratic leader encourages input from their peers, and does so with an open-mind. Often decisions under this leadership seem to occur at a much slower pace, (due to taking the time to listen to
The Participative Leadership style is quite similar to the interactive leadership style discussed earlier in this paper. The Participative Leadership style seeks the diversity in others idea to create the a multilevel perspective dynamic community amongst the team. As a leaders I drive for the unity and boundless efforts of communication, interpretations and goal setting among my team members. A transparent leadership style, such as Participative Leadership promotes an unwavering organizational culture.
Autocratic leadership is a classical leadership style with the following characteristics: manager seeks to make as many decisions as possible, manager seeks to have the most authority and control in decision making, manager seeks to retain responsibility rather than utilise complete delegation , consultation with other colleagues in minimal and decision making becomes a solitary process managers are less concerned with investing their own leadership development, and prefer to simply work on the task at hand. Whereas Democratic Leadership is the leadership style that promotes the sharing of responsibility, the exercise of delegation and continual consultation. The style has the following characteristics: manager seeks consultation on all
The roles of both managers and leaders are vital for an organization. The unique processes and qualities of a leader set him or her apart from being just a manager. A manager works with the structure, organization,
Democratic Leadership- People who follow this style, normally value the opinions and suggestions of their co-workers. They take everyone 's position on the issue into account, and make decisions or policy based on the good of the group. This seems to be the most effective approach, in which the employees feel content because their opinion was respected and because of such, perform their duties much more efficiently.
My leadership style is Participative (Democratic) as -If you are the leader of an organization or company, you probably have a dominant leadership style. Participative leadership also known as Democratic Leadership Style is a method of leadership that involves all team members in terms of identifying important goals as well as developing strategies and procedures to achieve the goals. For example If I work in a group to do a particular task and I will be the leader of that group then in order to evaluate the result I should have to involve the others group member suggestions and ideas. I work in Carl’s jr. as a shift leader and whenever I required suggestions I involve my crew to help me out in order to solve the task.
Unlike autocratic leaders who are the sole decision makers, in democratic style of leadership, the leader involves the entire team in sharing responsibilities and in the decision-making process. Leaders assign responsibilities and give full control to the team to complete the task, while being there for assistance if needed. Leader encourages feedback from his team and motivates them to share their ideas. This makes the democratic leadership style a popular one, as it is appreciated by the group members whose inputs are considered valuable.
Participative leadership is similar to Democratic Leadership Style, large involvements of the leader are highly required for this style. Important goals can be easily developed and produces by using this method. Many leaders prefer this style because it involves an active participation of every team members, which makes them demonstrate their creativity, abilities, and talents.
Autocratic – The leader makes the decisions and there is no consultation from the subordinates
This style of leadership is concerned with the equivalency in the whole team. A participatory leader treats all the team members as equally responsible for successful execution of a task. The leader divides the tasks among the team members and take the lead role having more responsibility, management, execution, and monitoring and performance evaluation (Braun,
Democratic style is a platform to create a team to participate in the decision-making process. When an enterprise is making decision, they usually use democratic style in many parts of the business. Therefore, everyone has the opportunity to dedicate ideas to the decision. There are two types of democratic decision-making: