Top 2 Leadership Styles : Participative And Authoritarian Leadership

Authoritarian leadership style is where a leader has complete control and power over their team. They demonstrate their 'power' and 'control' by dictating policies and procedures, deciding what goals need to be achieved, and directs all activities to be done by the team. An authoritarian is usually most successful when things are going well or when in a crisis and decisions need to be made quickly.

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

Leadership styles have significant effects on organizations. For instance, it influences organizational culture and determines how leaders address conflict. Ultimately, it impacts organizational performance. Consequently, leaders must adapt their approach to achieve the desired outcome. Therefore, it is imperative leaders understand and can implement a variety of leadership styles. This essay will describe how an autocratic and participative leader’s style impacts organizational culture, summarize the strengths and weaknesses of each style, and explain how each leader would successfully resolve conflict.

Authoritarian leaders are the leaders who like to do all the group decisions on their own and tell other group members what to do and how to do it. This type of leadership is very beneficial when you are in need of a quick decision or faced with some type of crisis. This type of decision making can easily be abused and can often be viewed as being bossy and over controlling. Leaders who use this style may provoke dependence, criticism, dissatisfaction, and aggression from their group members (Forsyth, 1990). According to Gladding 2012, authoritarian leaders do not ask for consideration or suggestions from group members; instead, they structure and direct their groups according to their own wishes, purposes, and the information available to them. A task group could benefit more from an Authoritarian leader. Tasks groups focus on accomplishing specific goals. According to Gladding 1994, “with task groups, an

After completing the leadership quiz, my leadership style is Democratic, also know as a participative leader. About.com Psychology. (n.d.), defined Democratic leaders as a leadership style that is often the most effective because, this leader encourages input from team members during decision making , although the final decision is made by the leader. This is an accurate description of my leadership style. When there is a conflict, the writer often tried to collaborate with the team to find a solution. Although, the writer usually make the final decision, getting input from team members gives the situation a broader perspective. This style often found to be effective because, in order to have goals accomplished, everyone has to work as a team,

With that in mind, leadership theory has identified four management styles--authoritarian, democratic, participatory, and laissez-faire. There is inherently nothing wrong with any of them; all have their place at any given time. But it's the communication aspect that is important when implementing any given method of leadership that makes an organization rise or fall, and determines if respect is retained or lost within the group. Stated another way, the problem does not lie in the styles themselves, but rather in the presentation.

Often times an authoritarian leader has full control of those around them, and believes to have complete authority to treat them as they want. An authoritarian leader would provide instructions without looking for inputs and superintend his or her nurses in a close manner. However, problems may arise if a nurse must wait for the manager's decision or direction before taking action regarding a patient. Although the authoritarian leadership style can be viewed as undesirable, it has proved to be very efficient in emergent and stressful situations. One of the key benefits of authoritarian leadership is the fact that decision making becomes much more simple and fast, as the leader doesn't have to consult or convince anybody. Basically authoritarian leadership can work wonders for the organization when decision making has to be quick and during some crisis.

Authoritarian leaders give clear orders to what should be done and are straight to the point. They settle on choices with no contribution from others. An Authoritarian leader would be for example an Officer as a part of the armed force, they are for the most part bossy,comanding and intimidating to some they think they are constantly right and they're way is the most ideal way. This could be utilized as a part of a circumstance where a group needs to do things quick and successfully e.g in a drugs raid, if the unit is under attack the leader must yell orders and the group must react quick as their life is at stake. This style is like Task Orientated in the way that the leader is the main individual who puts input, this doesn't make a welcoming

Leadership has many definitions, is multifaceted, and involves numerous aspects, such as identifying goals, providing support, inspiring and motivating people to act, and promoting the values of a group or organization (Giltinane, 2013). Some of the characteristics an effective leader possesses are honesty, creativity, emotional stability, energy, flexibility, conceptual skills, perseverance, and knowledge (Huber, 2014). Based on the Leadership Style Survey, my leadership style is determined to be participative, also referred to as democratic. This approach places emphasis on people, relationships, and teamwork. The leader shares responsibility by involving workers in group discussions and decision making, is able to recognize strengths and encourage workers

An effective leader has many factors that enable them to be successful. Some of the key characteristics of an effective leader are passion, charisma, dependability, problem solver, communication skills, and multi-tasking abilities. Marquis and Huston (2015) describe four types of leadership styles; autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, and bureaucratic. The autocratic leadership style deals more with acquiring control and accomplishing tasks rather than relationships (Marquis & Huston, 2015). This type of leader generally makes independent decisions and uses force to implement power. Democratic leadership differs by having human relations and teamwork as the main focus (Marquis & Huston (2015). This leadership welcomes open and two-way communication. Laissez-faire leadership has minimal established policies abstains leading (Marquis & Huston, 2015). The bureaucratic style leans on established rules and policies and lacks security (Marquis & Huston, 2015). Most of the time, the rules are inflexible and the relationship with staff is impersonal. An effective leader can recognize the needs of the organization and foster that leadership style. W.C. recognizes fairness, consistent decisions, listening ability, and knowledge of the field as key qualities in a leader. She believes she has a combination of democratic and bureaucratic leadership styles. Her bureaucratic style promotes corporate policies and mandated regulatory compliance. Part of the qualities of a

Over the course of several decades, the depiction of leadership has changed. What was thought to be innovative and participative or transformational tactic to leadership has replaced the classical and autocratic or authoritarian approach. The step forward that not everything old is bad and not everything new is good was made somewhere along the way. It was determined that different leadership styles suited different situations, and it is the responsibility of each leader to figure out when to make use of an individual leadership approach or style. The two leaders selected for this assignment are Martha Stewart representing an authoritarian leadership style and William Shatner’s television character, James Tiberius Kirk from the starship Enterprise representing a transformational leadership style.

There are two definite strengths of authoritarian leadership: efficiency and productiveness. These both impact the team positively, as team members will feel satisfied - having completed a task/accomplished a goal successfully. Generally, the more efficient and productive a team, the more likely they are to be successful. Authoritarian leaders are proficient at motivating others. This leadership style allows for fast decisions which can be a lengthy process in other leadership styles such as bureaucratic. This essentially allows the team to begin a project and complete it promptly. An example of where this leadership is most effective is in the Armed forces. There is a clear defined structure of ranks and roles within the regiment. There is one leader in charge (the general) who instructs lower ranks and gives orders. The sergeant does this without any input from lower ranks. Northouse (2012) states some “would argue that authoritarian leadership is a much-needed form of leadership– it serves a positive purpose, particularly for people who seek security above responsibility.” This supports the strengths of the authoritarian leadership

In saying this, if I had to choose a leadership style that I believe I most closely align with and follow would be transformational leadership. Researcher Bernard M. Bass developed what is referred to as Bass’s Transformational Leadership Theory and stated “Transformational leadership can be defined based on the impact that it has on followers. Transformational leaders are those who stimulate and inspire followers to both achieve extraordinary outcomes and in the process, develop their own leadership capacity. Transformational leaders help followers grow and develop into leaders by responding to individual followers' needs by empowering them and by aligning the objectives and goals of the individual followers, the leader, the group, and the larger organization.” (Bass, Riggio, 2008)

In terms of leadership styles a wide variety exists for one to employ (Boykins, 2013). There isn’t firm consensus as to which styles prove to be the most effective. Different situations call for different approaches. In the article, Empirical Study of Leadership Styles, it discusses several leadership styles that I can relate to.

People have always asked if there is any style of leadership that is most effective. Nevertheless, numerous theories and models have been created to show that there is no style of leadership that is the best. Rather, styles of leadership need to adjust depending on the variables such as the leader, the situation, the subordinate, the task, the environment and other factors. Paul Hersey, Kenneth H. Blanchard, and Dewey E. Johnson noted that if the leader’s style of behavior is appropriate or matches the situation it is considered effective. If it is not appropriate to a given situation, it is deemed ineffective. The difference between the effective and ineffective styles is often not the actual behavior of the leader, but the appropriateness of that behavior to the environment in which it is used. In reality, the third dimension is the environment.