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
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.
The theory of leaders can be autocratic, a person who doesn’t consider the person undertaking the task only getting the results. A democratic leader takes opinions of the staff and understands how they believe the best results can be achieved, whereas Laissez-faire style leaves the experienced staff to implement the work processes.
A democratic leader generally accept any opinion and voices which means that the team would feel free to voice their opinions and ideas without them being dismissed straight away. The positive side to this style is that the team/workforce can be highly motivated, skilled and experienced members can be used in decision making which makes them feel more committed and could less resistant to managerial changes it also help with communication between the workforce and the managers. The negative side to this style is that individuals can dominate participation or make disruptive contributions it can also be very time consuming for the leader because of the two communication it can also result in actions that are the most effective and also people may view this style as incompetent to handle the job responsibilities.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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 – The leader makes the decisions and there is no consultation from the subordinates
Management and Leadership are two different skill sets and positions, however, it is believed by some organizations that they go hand in hand. I believe that management is a learned concept that is taught in schools. Universities and colleges offer degrees in Management and/or Leadership. Authentic leadership is not actually taught but can be learned as a practical skill through being coached and mentored by a true effective leader. Leadership skills are gained by completing research, gaining ideas to inspire and help others achieve new skills to move into a better position or advanced career. Achieving new leadership skills is always a work in progress. In my IMG 233 class I learned that Management is the formal influence of the organization. Managers develop strategic goals, establish performance control mechanisms, and communicate instructions and information to ensure probability and production to meet the overall demands. Leaders are the heart of the organization and their role is to informally influence and inspire employees while creating visions and direction and at the same time building strong team relationships. An effective and dynamic leader empowers their team with the knowledge to be innovative and generate new ideas to increase productivity and performance.
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.
Each of these leadership styles has its own benefits (advantages) & disadvantages and they are as follows:
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: