Leadership Styles

INTRODUCTION TO
LEADERSHIP STYLES
It must be noticed that different leadership styles exist. In this section, we will learn more
about the styles and supplement with traits.
AUTOCRATIC LEADERSHIP STYLE

In an autocratic or authoritarian leadership, the leader exercises much control and makes
almost all decisions alone. This leadership style can be mostly found in armed forces,
emergency services, construction and manufacturing where decisions come from top-down,
time is crucial, end results are important, and tasks are clearly defined.
Traits
Autocratic leaders have expertise. They have a high knowledge about the organization and
the tasks which are fulfilled by the followers.
They are assertive. There is a clear split between the leader and followers, where the leader
rarely asks opinion of the subordinates when taking a decision.
Autocratic leaders pursue strongly their objectives and task completion is a key motivator.
So, they divert efforts and resources as required to be successful.
They are also clear communicators as they have a preference for task orientation. Those
leaders suppose that efficiency and clear instructions, guidelines and expectations are linked.
They let clearly know their expectations of followers and establish the positive and negative
outcomes of what will happen if their expectations are not satisfied.
Furthermore, leaders have a big influence on people. In the case of autocratic leadership style,
the principal draw is the capacity to directly impact others by establishing structure, defining
expectations, and having authority to reward or punish the subordinates depending on the
results.
This group of leaders is highly independent in thoughts and actions. They suppose they are
the suitable ones to make decisions. As said, decision is made without input and guidance
from others. Usually, when some input is needed, a request for factual information, such as
statistics, and not opinions is done. The choice for independent decision making is appropriate
for situations where time is a critical element or where there is no necessity for creativity.
Autocratic leaders have great organizational skills. As they know the tasks and schedule of
everyone, they have got a large control and a better influence on any activity. To dictate and
monitor the work of subordinates, schedules, meetings and project tracking are set up. They
may also cooperate with the followers to establish new policy, to verify the progress or
correct insufficiency. Thanks to their organizational skills, rules are followed and decisions
are implemented.
Finally, they are self-confident in their abilities. Some could consider that this approach is
arrogant, while autocratic leaders would formulate their approach is best due to their
productivity and track records.
PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP STYLE

In a participative leadership, the leader involves people who are following him in the
decisions. Even being responsible for deciding, the leader will inform followers about
possible decisions and ask for feedback and suggestions. It is clearly a democratic approach.
In many cases, the willingness of the group is followed and any action is established until it
has the most votes. Participative leaders are aware that they don’t know everything and
therefore support followers to discuss, give critical assessment and propose creative solutions
to problems that occur. Simply, they seek for different point of views and ideas.
Followers are trusted by the leader because of their capacities, but also they are considered
equal. Consequently, it has a positive impact on morale. One can find this leadership in
organizations leaning on creativity, for instances, design enterprises, marketing, etc.; or in
academia where a high number of educated people work. It is not an appropriate style to
employ where time is a crucial factor nor the followers haven’t the required knowledge.
Traits
In a participative leadership style, there is a good relationship between the leader and the
followers. This style expects that the ideas and suggestions of the group of followers are
implemented and not simply welcomed. For that reason trust should be created, everyone
should be respected and there should be cooperation with the followers. A human-orientation
approach is exercised in this participative style.
Concerning the leader, he must be diplomatic and tactful because, for instance, in situations
where ideas are discussed, he needs to keep the process moving in spite of variety of opinions
which may lead to impasses. So, he has to discard some opinions that are worse or
inappropriate without causing any damage to the relationships. But also he has to be
diplomatic when uniting a mix of followers with different views, capacities or priorities.
Additionally, the leader has to correct insufficient performance of his followers keeping, at
the same time, good working relationships
Participative leaders have the capacity to cooperate and persuade. As for cooperation, the
leader is considered not only being problem solver but someone who value the gains that are
realized when mixing the different points of view. Regarding persuasiveness, they are
endowed to guide the group to a decision while giving praises for each follower’s input.

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INTRODUCTION TO

AUTOCRATIC LEADERSHIP STYLE

PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP STYLE

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