Blog 10 - How Autocratic leadership can be used to manage people in an organization.

 

How Autocratic leadership can be used to manage people in an organization.

According to Hughes (2012), authoritarian leadership comprises a single individual making all strategic choices for subordinates. Although it has gone out of favor in recent decades, authoritarian leadership remains common. In many workplaces, autocratic leadership is essential. This personality type is required in organizations and businesses that require error-free results. While authoritarian leadership is one of the least popular, it is also one of the most prevalent.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Autocratic leadership

Advantages and disadvantages of Autocratic leadership (Hughes, 2018)

According to Rosing et al. (2022), if activities must be accomplished with significant urgency and are time crucial, providing explicit tasks and expectations when making decisions appears to be a natural move, as there is frequently little time for discussion. Structure, discipline, and getting the work done are required under such circumstances. As in the situational Leadership model, adopting a more autocratic approach is appropriate not just for tasks that must be accomplished quickly, but also when a team member's expertise for the task is extremely low or inexperienced. In that instance, providing clear direction and making sound judgments frees up the individual to concentrate on learning or using their talents.

 

However it is clear that there is a negative side for the Autocratic leadership as well.

 

According to Rosing et al. (2022), the Autocratic leadership style can leave members feeling as if they have no voice or say in how things are done, which can be especially troublesome when competent and capable individuals of a team feel as if their expertise and contributions are being undermined. This approach discourages group participation. Because autocratic leaders make choices without discussing the group, members may be dissatisfied with their inability to provide suggestions. Researchers have also discovered that authoritarian leadership frequently results in a lack of innovative problem-solving ideas, which can eventually harm the group's performance. Autocratic leaders are prone to dismissing the information and skills that group members may bring to the table. Failure to consult with other team members in such instances jeopardizes the group's overall performance. In rare circumstances, autocratic leadership can also harm group morale. People are happier and perform better when they believe they are contributing to the group's future. Because authoritarian leaders often do not enable team members to contribute, followers become unsatisfied and restricted.

Conclusion 

It finds that autocratic leadership is excellent for organizations such as airlines and the military, where the margin of error is little or nil. To thrive as an autocratic leader, the leader must establish clear rules that the followers are fully aware of and can follow without issue, and if the leader is willing to listen to the followers and recognize them, be reliable even though the leader makes all decisions, and provide support to the followers, the issue of demotivation can be overcome.

Reference

Hughes, O. (2018) Managing people and leadership DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-56010-0_11

Hughes, O.E. (2012) Leadership and Managing people DOI: 10.1007/978-1-137-00305-8_11

Rosing, F., Boer, D., Buengeler, C. (2022) when timing is key: How autocratic and democratic leadership relate to follower trust in emergency contexts. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.904605