Behaviour of Democratic Leaders in organisation - Research Paper Example

Organizational behavior addresses the study of how individuals, rather than organizations, behave within the organizational situation. The field of study devotes itself to understand, explain and consequently improve the behaviors and attitudes of people and groups within organizations. A leader who is democratic shares the vision and decision-making processes with others in an organization and promotes higher morale. Studies have shown that democratic leadership has the potential to lead to higher levels of commitment, involvement, satisfaction and productivity among followers (Lee & Rosenbloom 69).

This project will research the democratic aspect of organizational behavior of leaders, using a company case study to put more emphasis on the findings. It will further address the problems and challenges facing democratic leaders and propose solutions. A democratic leader is the force behind the motivation and success of an organization. Underlying their behavior is a strong trait of self-efficacy, which is also referred to as the social cognitive theory. The democratic leaders apply these concepts to define different areas within the organizational framework.

The single aspect that sets leaders with democratic behavior apart from other leaders is the sharing of the processing of making decisions (Choi 249). Democratic leaders focus on arriving at decisions through winning consensus. This is because whenever there is consensus, there is always a greater commitment to tactics, strategies and targets because trust is a key feature of this style of leadership, which correlates well with the conduciveness of the working climate. Even for leaders who are open enough to admit that they are not sure about what needs to be done, a pool of talented employees can contribute excellent input that will move the organization towards it goals (Montana & Bruce 149).

The democratic leader understands that employees who have been supported and given time to grow in their careers can make efficient team members that understand the organizational culture. On the other hand, being autocratic only suppresses their potential, hindering their growth which is detrimental to themselves, the leader and the organization (Montana & Bruce 112). In the decision-making role of leaders, the democratic ones will acknowledge that as a process, perception is a concept all employees pass through in their everyday activities, in or out of the work setting.

They recognize that when employees meet colleagues and other leaders and evaluate performances, pass judgments and ultimately make business decisions, it is their perception of those events that will inform the next action they take. Therefore, whether flawed or accurate, their perception is their reality. The distorting or causal factors to employees’ perception considerably affect the impact of organizational behavior and productivity. Unlike the autocratic or coercive leaders, a democratic leadership will influence its followers to shift from tendencies of developing perceptive shortcuts capable of inflecting both negative and positive effects in their making of judgments (George & Jones 31).

Therefore, they model and integrate guidelines that direct team members in their processes of making decisions. Such models have an emphasis on shaping corporate perceptions. For instance, although not to mean that they lack authority, a democratic leader does not impose directives on followers. Rather, this style of lea