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The authoritarian leadership style or autocratic leader keeps strict, close control over followers by keeping close regulation of policies and procedures given to followers. To keep main emphasis on the distinction of the authoritarian leader and their followers, these types of leaders make sure to only create a distinct professional relationship. Direct supervision is what they believe to be key in maintaining a successful environment and follower ship. In fear of followers being unproductive, authoritarian leaders keep close supervision and feel this is necessary in order for anything to be done.
Examples of authoritarian communicative behavior: a police officer directing traffic, a teacher ordering a student to do his or her assignment, and a supervisor instructing a subordinate to clean a workstation. All of these positions require a distinct set of characteristics that give the leader the position to get things in order or get a point across. The traits Authoritarian Style of Leadership are that the goals are set individually, engage primarily in one-way and downward common action, controls discussion with followers, and donate interaction.
Examples: Doll Hitler was extremely authoritarian. He required the population of the Third Reich to accept everything that he said as absolute law, and was able to impose a death sentence on anyone who failed to do so. Hitler was obsessed with being in control, and with being the alpha male in a rigid male dominance hierarchy. Martha Stewart constructed her empire through her own special attention to every detail. She was meticulous, demanding thorough and scrupulous. She flourished in her ventures and in using her authoritarian leadership style 2.
Paternalistic Leadership: The way a Paternalistic leader works is by acting as a father figure by taking are of their subordinates as a parent would. In this style of leadership the leader supplies complete concern for his followers or workers. In return he receives the complete trust and loyalty of his people. Workers under this style of leader are expected to become totally committed to what the leader believes and will not strive off and work independently. The relationship between these co-workers and leader are extremely solid.
The workers are expected to stay with a company for a longer period of time because of the loyalty and trust. Not only do they treat each other like family inside the work Orca, but outside too. These workers are able to go to each other with any problems they have regarding something because they believe in what they say is going to truly help them. Having this style of leadership can also help implement a reward system. This system will allow their workers to work even better because there is something for them at the end of the tunnel.
While doing this they will also be able to accomplish more work in a set time frame One of the downsides to a paternalistic leader is that the leader could start to play favorites in decisions. This leader would include the workers more apt to allow and start to exclude the ones who were less loyal. This affects paternalistic leaders because the co-workers may not believe that their jobs are 100% ensured. When this happens, workers begin to look for bigger and better job opportunities instead of staying at one company for a longer period of time.
Because of this, the leader may be think that a worker could be leaving and not fully believe him when he tells them something about a job opportunity. This could put the workers and leader at risk for a bad situation. Example: Mayo – addressing employee needs akin to a parent/child relationship here the leader is seen as a “father-figure” 3. Democratic Leadership: The democratic leadership style consists of the leader sharing the decision- making abilities with group members by promoting the interests of the group members and by practicing social equality.
This style of leadership encompasses discussion, debate and sharing of ideas and encouragement of people to feel good about their involvement. The boundaries of democratic participation tend to be circumscribed by the organization or the group needs and the instrumental value of people’s attributes (skills, attitudes, etc. ). The democratic style encompasses the notion that everyone, by virtue of their human status, should play a part in the group’s decisions. However, the democratic style of leadership still requires guidance and control by a specific leader.
The democratic style demands the leader to make decisions on who should be called upon within the group and who is given the right to participate in, make and vote on decisions. Research has found that this leadership style is one of the most effective and creates higher productivity, better contributions from group members and increased group morale. Democratic leadership can lead to better ideas and more creative solutions to problems because group members are encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas. While democratic leadership is one of the most effective leadership styles, it does have some potential downsides.
In situations where roles are unclear or time is of the essence, democratic leadership can lead to communication failures and uncompleted projects. Democratic leadership works best in situations where group members are skilled and eager to share their knowledge. It is also important to have plenty of time to allow people to intricate, develop a plan and then vote on the best course of action. Example: Dwight D. Eisenhower – a military leader, faced with the difficult task of getting the Alliance forces to agree on a common strategy. Eisenhower labored hard to make sure everyone worked together to come to a common understanding.
It was here that the democratic leadership style, and collaborative efforts, of Eisenhower shone through. 4. Laissez-fairer Leadership: The laissez-fairer style is sometimes described as a “hands off” leadership style because the leader delegates the tasks to their followers while providing little or no direction to the followers. If the leader withdraws too much from their followers it can sometimes result in a lack of productivity, cohesiveness, and satisfaction. Laissez-fairer leaders allow followers to have complete freedom to make decisions concerning the completion of their work.
It allows followers a high degree of autonomy and self-rule, while at the same time offering guidance and support when requested. The laissez-fairer leader using guided freedom provides the followers with all materials necessary to accomplish their goals, but does not directly participate in decision making unless the followers request their assistance. This is an effective style to use when: Followers are highly skilled, experienced, and educated. Followers have pride in their work and the drive to do it successfully on their own. Outside experts, such as staff specialists or consultants are being used.
Followers are trustworthy and experienced. This style should NOT be used when: Followers feel insecure at the unavailability of a leader. The leader cannot or will not provide regular feedback to their followers. John Bright was a laissez- fairer capitalist that did not like the protection that was given to landholders by laws for the expense of manufacturing. His main goal was the parliamentary reform, which he focused on until the third Reform Bill. 5. Transactional Leadership: Transactional leaders focus their leadership on motivating followers through a system of rewards and punishments.
There are two factors which form the basis for this system, namely: i. Contingent Reward ii. Management-by-exception i. Contingent Reward: Provides rewards, materialistic or psychological, for effort and recognizes good performance. Ii. Management-by-Exception: Allows the leader to maintain the status quo. The leader intervenes when subordinates do not meet acceptable reference levels and initiates corrective action to improve performance. Management by exception helps reduce the workload of managers being that they are only called-in when workers deviate from course.
This type of leader identifies the needs Of their followers and gives rewards to satisfy those needs in exchange of certain level of performance. Transactional leaders focus on increasing the efficiency of established routines and procedures. They are more concerned with following existing rules than with making changes to the organization. A transactional leader establishes and standardizes practices that will help he organization reaches: Maturity Goal-setting Efficiency of operation increasing productivity Coaches of athletic teams motivate their followers by promoting the reward of winning the game.
They instill such a high level of commitment that their followers are willing to risk pain and injury to obtain the results that the leader is asking for. 6. Transformational Leadership: A transformational leader is a type of person in which the leader is not limited by his or her followers’ perception. The main objective is to work to change or transform his or her followers’ needs and redirect their thinking. Leaders that follow the transformation style of leading, challenge and inspire their followers with a sense of purpose and excitement.
They also create a vision of what they aspire to be, and communicate this idea to others (their followers). There are three identified characteristics of a Transformational Leader: i. Charismatic leadership has a broad knowledge of field, has a self-promoting personality, high/great energy level, and willing to take risk and use irregular strategies in order to stimulate their followers to think independently. Ii. Individualized consideration iii. Intellectual stimulation Examples: Winston Churchill was highly charismatic.