The Leadership Experience - Term Paper Example

Marc Ballon’s articles focusing on the Leadership Experience Introduction A management style refers to leadership method that a manager uses in ensuring that organizational activities are carried out effectively. Basically, styles of management are strategies used by managers to make decisions and relates to subordinates positively. Organizational managers are charged with many roles and responsibilities in an organization and the manner in which they tackle such tasks entirely rely on their management style. Autocratic or authoritarian and democratic leadership styles are the most common ones used in many organizations. In autocratic leadership, managers are known for making decisions on their own without involving or consulting their subordinates. A directive autocratic style is where managers make decisions unilaterally and closely monitors subordinates whereas a permissive autocratic is where managers make decision unilaterally but allows subordinates to have autonomy in performing their duties. Therefore, in this management style, all decisions made reflect the perceptions and personality of the manager. It is a directive leadership which alienates subordinates from participating in the decision making process. On the contrary, democratic style is where the manager engages subordinates and encourages them to participate in the decision making process. A democrat shares responsibility of making decisions with employees and this motivates them and makes them feel that their opinions are valued. This paper discusses and compares two management styles based on Michael Hopkins and Marc Ballon’s articles focusing on the form of leadership of Bloomberg and Jack Hartnett respectively. The Summary of the Style of the Two Managers in the Cases Michael Bloomberg is the manager and founder of the News Service Bloomberg Inc, a company that casts global news and information. His major concern is company loyalty and so he does not freely or easily relate with those who quits the company. He definitely does not get disturbed if an employee approaches him and informs him about his resignation. However, Bloomberg will not even shake his workers’ hand if they quit and will never consider re-hiring a person after they quit. He does not rehire individuals after they quit because in always inform employees that the company provides opportunity but cannot satisfy the needs of every person and so he encourages them to be patient. According to Bloomberg, adhering to company loyalty entails providing necessary services to the employees and responding to their needs provided these employees are profitable. He posits that loyalty demonstrated by the company to employees will motivate them to be more flexible and work hard as they will take the company’s name as their own. Bloomberg believes that valuing company loyalty is more likely to establish a culture that in the end will significantly benefit the company (Hopkins). Jack Hartnett is the leader of 54 Sonic restaurants and according to him, subordinates have to follow his orders unquestionably. Hartnett directs employees on what they are expected to do and expects them to obey his orders. Notably, he uses autocratic style of management in his leadership. He believes in motivating the employees by providing them with much money. His company is money oriented or motivated and so employees need to be given enough money to motivate them to work hard. More so, he likes making decision and rules without engaging the employees but this does not prevent him from caring about the personal lives of his employees. Hartnett discourages employees from keeping secrets because he believes that when he is well informed about the employees, he can easily intervene and assist them to effectively balance work and personal duties at home. This way he tries to attend to the needs of employees and build a positive relationship with them. In addition, Hartnett occasionally screams at his subordinates since he believe that being nice and getting upset once in a while is the best way to capture their attention (Ballon). Therefore, his management style takes the form of autocratic or authoritarian leadership which involves making independent decisions and instructing employees to do exactly what they have ordered without questioning their authority. The Two Management Styles in the Two Articles In Ballon’s article, Jack Hartnett displays an autocratic form of leadership. An autocratic style is where gives employees clear direction on what to do. Basically, an autocratic leader demand employees to do what they expect them to do unquestionably. This is clearly expressed by Hartnett in the way he leads individuals as he believes that employees need to do only what he instructs them to do. More so, he ensures that employees’ needs are met and expectations satisfied as a way of motivating them to work hard. On the other hand, Bloomberg’s company depicts democratic style of management. Arguably, Bloomberg displays a democratic management style because this form of leadership has been associated with reduced turnover and absenteeism and this is the case in Bloomberg’s company. This company has about four thousand employees who work together to effectively provide global news and business information. In democratic management style, leaders focus on creating commitment among workers. Bloomberg believes that loyalty in the company is everything and that there is no additional room for any person who has quit the work. More so, Bloomberg believes that motivating employees by rewarding them and providing them with certain services is very important as this allows employees to be more flexible and work extra hard which will in turn benefit the company. Further, Bloomberg claims that if the company remains loyal to its employees, the employees will consider the company’s name as their own and this will even motivate them to extremely work hard towards the achievement of the company’s objectives and uphold the company’s name. A Comparison of the Two Styles The two management styles, autocratic and democratic, differ greatly and their impacts in an organization are not also the same. Many scholars have referred to an autocratic leader as a person who centralizes authority and controls rewards. In autocratic leadership style, the power and decision making authority belong to the leader and subordinates are neither consulted or given chance to share their views (Daft and Patricia 44). Again, employees are expected to follow or comply with instructions without any explanations. in most cases, autocratic leaders provides a clear separation between the one making decisions and giving orders and the one expected to follow these orders. Ideally, autocratic leaders make independent decisions which in most cases lead to abuse of power and make employees feel left out (Select Knowledge 66). On the contrary, in democratic leadership, the managers delegate authority to others and advice employees to participate in decision making process. Democratic leaders rely on the employees to effectively complete their duties. More so, they guide their subordinates and seek their opinion while making decisions (Daft and Patricia 44). Autocratic management style is a classical style where the manager seeks to acquire enough control in decision making, retain responsibility, and less concerned with the development of their own leadership. In contrast, democratic leadership enhances everyone in the organization to share responsibility, exercise delegation and consult others when necessary. In democratic management, responsibility for making decisions is shared among individuals including the manager and the employees (Select Knowledge 66). Unlike an autocratic leader, democratic leaders consult employees especially on major issues and decisions, assign duties to subordinates in a more effective manner, and also encourage subordinates to be involved in leadership development. In addition, Autocratic management occurs when the manager makes all decisions alone, define themselves in all activities of employees and abandon employees’ involvement. On the other hand, democratic leadership happens when the manager engages employees in the decision making process. Moreover, autocratic leadership is more aggressive as opposed to democratic management style in that, autocratic leaders creates rules and makes decisions and direct subordinates to follow these rules unquestionably but this is not the case in democratic leadership. The More Effective Management Style Based on various researches, democratic management style has been found to be more effective and appropriate as compared to autocratic leadership style. Democratic style creates balance and assist employees to feel valued as their opinions are needed during the decision making process. On the contrary, autocratic management style excludes subordinates and in most cases, this form of leadership is used in situations where tasks are simple and also where there is need for quick decision making. Autocratic management style is not more effective since it leads to reduced staff morale because being left out in decision making process and following orders makes them feel valueless. This form of leadership may be ineffective especially in cases where the employees are underdeveloped as they will to able to follow given orders appropriately. More so, autocratic leadership leads to higher turnover and absenteeism in an organization and this interferes with the productivity and effectiveness of the organization. However, this form of leadership is best applied to situations where there is no or minimal time for group decision making or no time to consult others. It can also be applicable where the manager is the most knowledgeable person in the group. Therefore, democratic leadership is the most effective as it enables managers to gain more commitment and motivation from their subordinates by encouraging or allowing them to participate in the decision making process. Conclusion Management styles are very important in determining the productivity in an organization and this entirely depends on the manager. In most cases, managers have a lot of tasks to perform and the way they handle these tasks depends on their leadership style. The most common management styles are autocratic and democratic but democratic leadership is preferred and used in many organizations. Based on the articles, Michael Bloomberg is that type of leader who stresses more on company loyalty and does not tolerate or rehire employees who quit because to him, loyalty is everything in an organization. On the other hand, Jack Hartnett is a perfect example of an autocratic leader as he believes that employees should do exactly what he expects them to do. These two management styles greatly differ, for instance, autocratic leadership does not allow subordinates’ involvement in the decision making process. It a form of directive leadership where managers make orders and all decisions without consulting employees and then directs employees to follow and obey these orders without any explanation. On the contrary, democratic leadership is where managers seeks the opinion of their subordinates to complete certain tasks and encourage employees to participate in the decision making process. Democratic management system is more effective than autocratic leadership since it enables employees to feel valued and this way, managers are able to gain more commitment from their subordinates. However, autocratic leadership is not recommended and is not preferred in many organizations because employees feel left out and this increases the rate of employees’ turnover and absenteeism. It is applicable in cases where there is no or little time to make decision or consult other people. Works Cited Ballon, Marc. Extreme Managing. 1998. Web. 18 Feb 2013 Daft, Richard L, and Patricia G. Lane. The Leadership Experience. Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Western, 2008. Print. Hopkins, Michael. What Should You Say When an Employee Quits? Inc. 1998. Web. 18 Feb 2013 Select Knowledge. Managing Teams. 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