Management high performance - Essay Example

Management High Performance Management High Performance Various management styles are available for organizations’ leaders to choosethe most suitable. Such include Laissez faire, bureaucratic, autocratic and democratic/participative leadership styles. Choice of a certain leadership style is critical for the ultimate success of an organization. Besides choice of an unsuitable leadership style inclines the management challenges that include employee dissatisfaction and reduced competitiveness of the organization.

This document compares autocratic and democratic leadership styles, while considering the impacts of formal versus informal leadership modes. In autocratic leadership, the leaders possess total authority over their team (Rao, 2010). Other members of the team are incapacitated to air their views, even when such opinions may benefit the organizations. Most employees discredit this leadership form. As such, it leads to low work force turnover. However, it may be suitable in situations requiring quick decision-making processes.

Autocratic leaders tend to be more formal than informal and more centralized. Democratic/participative leadership model incorporates other team members in their decision-making process; thought the final decision-making process is mandated to the leader (Rao, 2010). This capacitates the employees to make time-to-time suggestions to their leaders for various improvements. Such leaders tend to be more informal than formal and more decentralized. In the article, ‘Is Autocratic Leadership Relevant today?

’ Rao critically examines Autocratic leadership over other leadership forms and its suitability in today’s environment (Rao, 2010). Rao argues that though this form of leadership is practical in fields such as the military, it may be impractical to incorporate it in today’s business environment, where employees call for incorporation in various decision-making processes and act as core partners, since they play a key role in the goal achievement of an organization. Additionally, Rao argues that in case a firm experiences challenges, the leader takes the sole responsibility.

Rao also perceives Autocratic leadership to be marred with dissatisfied customers, and the recurrence of absenteeism within an organization (Walker, 2011). Autocratic leadership also creates a weak workforce, owing to the continued fear of the leader’s directives. Wrong decisions may lead to unprecedented losses, since employees only follow such directives without questioning (Daft, 2014). Choi’s article attempts to put forward the key differences of autocratic and democratic leadership styles (Choi, 2007).

The article emphasizes democratic leadership characteristics to be employee oriented, where employees put forward their views and passes policies with the support of their leader. Choi explains that the autocratic leader resolves on organizational policies, techniques of performing a task and dictates the various tasks to be performed within an organization (Daft, 2014). The autocratic leadership style is characteristic directive issuance, while the democratic leadership features entail giving information to employees and aiding them making decisions in which they are responsible for.

Democratic leadership proves to be more acceptable than its autocratic counterpart, since it promotes employees’ improved performance, as the employees feel responsible for their actions (Choi, 2007). Active involvement of employees makes them feel as leaders in their duties, and hence boosts their productivity. Democratic leadership also promotes a strong and effective workforce, since it reduces absenteeism, which is common in autocratic leadership. Democratic leadership also boosts learning within an organization, since it capacitates employees to attempt new modes of performing tasks, with the help of their leaders.

ReferencesChoi, S. (2007). Democratic Leadership: The Lessons of Exemplary Models for Democratic Governance. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 2 (3), 243-262. Daft, R. (2014). Leadership experience. S.l.: Cengage Learning.Rao, M. (2010). Is Autocratic Leadership Relevant Today? Chief Learning Officer.web: http://clomedia.com/articles/view/is_autocratic_leadership_relevant_today/3 Walker, A. (2011). Organizational behaviour in construction. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.