What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of A Democratic Leadership Style

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.

It is characterized by the collective decision-making of its followers. Democratic leaders offer their followers choices and support. They hold no formal position of power and gain their authority through active participation and delegation of tasks and responsibilities. This style reflects democratic principles that include inclusiveness and equal participation. Democratic style of leadership works best in a public university, a democratic nation or a close-knit neighborhood. As discussed during the presentations, some of the past leaders known for their democratic style of leadership are George Washington or Tommy

An advantage of the democratic style involves a considerable job satisfaction of subordinates, through augmenting their responsibilities which results in more interesting and diverse work (Ribbins, 1997). Bush (2008) agrees; when responsibility is shared the self-confidence of group members is enhanced, as they have a key role in planning and decision-making. The democratic leadership style provides high quality expert knowledge and skills are identified and implemented towards achieving targets (Dimmock and Walker, 2005). Grace (1995) supports this, and claims that goals are more likely to be reached since; they have been established by group consensus.

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 Approach: Autocratic leadership gives a positive belief about the updates about any policies. However this kind of approach is not highly regarded by many of the working environments. This is due to the amendments being brought into use prematurely for the uses to access them. This approach of leadership and management may be viewed as being too authoritative.

Different situations call for different sorts of leadership styles. A democratic leadership is better where many people's lives are in balance. However, there are exceptions to the rules (Nursing Leadership: Management & Leadership Styles, 2014). Leadership styles like democracy have advantages and disadvantages.

The democratic style of the organization’s leadership mirrors my personal leadership style. I am a true believer of inclusion constantly seeking out input of others during the decision making process. At the end, the final decision rests on the shoulders of the leader. Utilizing all three styles of leadership is essential which is dependent

In a democratic leadership style, the decision making process and overall responsibility among team members is shared. Decisions are made by the leader consulting each member of the team; therefore the outcome becomes a group effort. In the democratic leadership style, tasks are delegated to employees effectively, where the implementation is mostly in their hands. As opposed to the authoritarian leadership style, the democratic leader welcomes feedback from every team member. Team members are also encouraged to function as a

Mr. Worthy led the division from an office at the top of the building far from the factory floor. He called up secretary two or three times a day to send memos and never went down and spoke to his employees himself. Mr. Worthy has an autocratic style of leadership where he made all the decisions from his office. He had only one-way communication.

A further aspect of leadership, which can also be believed to have a direct link with communication, is decision-making. Both leadership styles are similar in the way that ideas need to be stored before making a business decision. In an autocratic work place “decisions are made independently with little or no input from the rest of the group” (Riley, 2012 n.p.). However, in a democratic society “employees have greater involvement in decision making” (Riley, 2012 n.p.). Both these types of leadership have their benefits and disadvantages with respect to decision-making. In his research on different types of leadership, Joseph, (n.d.) stated that autocratic leadership style could be effective in a business environment as decisions can be made quickly without consulting with workers. According to Cherry, (n.d.) this type of leadership would be advantageous in situations such as the military where decisions need to be taken quickly. Though quick decision-making can be beneficial, it could be argued that it can lead to a demotivated workforce. Employees’ motivation decreases

Democratic style leadership brings out the commitment in people. From the bank’s perspective Heather Atwood displays the most appropriate leadership style. It may take longer to see results but I think that building a solid foundation and being positive will always yield good results.

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

Democratic leadership is a style of leadership that when the leader takes any decision, he would discuss with his employees and then cooperation to work together. Nestle focus on man power due to its corporation needs attract more labor to easily achieve a long term success. In Nestle, they emphasize on respect and faith. So, they adopt democratic leadership. When leader decide any decision, leader would listen the suggestion which provide by its employees. However, democratic leadership is a good leadership style but also is a significant issue in Nestlé’s management. Nestle adopt democratic leadership needs total trust between the employee and manager Most of the time, the employee think that this

On further analysis, I am going to apply Lewin’s behavioural theory of leadership to my experience of organisational change management. For example during an internship in UAB Transimeksa I worked in a transport department. Most of the work was done using computers. Whilst working there, the company had some major changes in their IT systems. Employees were warned about upcoming organisational changes still it was difficult to get used to new IT systems. Transport department was fully under the control of a general manager which I believe was more of a leader. Similarly, to Kotter’s (1990) thoughts on characteristics of a leader, our general manager was always seeking to align his subordinates to his vision. Furthermore, a general manager always tended to “involve individuals in decision-making and goal setting” (Lewin and Lippitt, 1938; Lewin et al. 1939) which made his style of leadership democratic. In the manner of researchers, democratic leadership is not only the most effective style but also “usually associated with greater levels of subordinate satisfaction” (Dawson and Andriopoulos, 2014). In contrast, I believe that democratic style of leadership in the