by Autocratic
Autocratic management is the most controlling of the management styles. Variations of this style are authoritative, persuasive, and paternalistic. Autocratic managers make all of the decisions in the workplace. Communication with this type of management is one way, top-down to the employees. Employee ideas and contributions are not encouraged or considered necessary. Roles and tasks are clearly defined, and workers are expected to follow these directions without question while being consistently checked and supervised.
This type of style is particularly useful in organizations with hierarchical structures where management makes all of the decisions based on positioning in the hierarchy. Employees that benefit from this style of management include those who are new, unskilled, or unmotivated, as they need the supervision and clear direction. Managers can benefit greatly from using this style in times of crises or serious time constraints.
The advantages of the autocratic management style are little uncertainty, clearly defined roles and expectations for employees, and the speed of decision-making. All decisions are made by the manager and employees are expected to be compliant leaving little room for variation or confusion. Decision-making speed is ideal and is not slowed by conflicting thought or agendas.
Disadvantages include lack of staff input with ideas that are not encouraged or shared. This can lead to job dissatisfaction, absenteeism, and employee turnover. Because managers make all of the decisions, the employees are not inclined to act autonomously and may become too dependent on the manager. Not all employees want or need supervision, and as a result can become resentful and unhappy. Too many dissatisfied employees and the separation of power with an autocratic management style can lead to an ‘us vs them’ mentality.
Authoritative style
With this management style, there is little trust or confidence in employees. This manager dictates orders to employees and expects that they do exactly as required. These employees are unskilled. This requires constant teaching and coaching of the staff as well as consistent supervision.
Persuasive style
Using this management style, the manager still makes all decisions for employees but then convinces employees that these decisions were made in the best interest of the team. The only real difference here is that it can establish a higher level of trust between management and staff.
Paternalistic or Exploitative/Authoritative style
The manager still makes all of the decisions in this style of management and treats the employees in a condescending or paternalistic way. The decisions are made in the best interest of the employees and the manager explains these decisions and the importance of them to the employees. These employees may feel well taken care of and looked after by the paternalistic manager but may become resentful of not being taken seriously. This style breeds highly dependent employees.
- In paternalistic style of working, the leaders decide what is best for the employees as well as the organization.
- Policies are devised to benefit the employees and the organization.
- The suggestions and feedback of the subordinates are taken into consideration before deciding something.
- In such a style of working, employees feel attached and loyal towards their organization.
- Employees stay motivated and enjoy their work rather than treating it as a burden.
Democratic
The democratic management style involves managers reaching decisions with the input of the employees but being responsible for making the final decision. There are many variations of this style of management including consultative, participative, and collaborative styles. Employee ideas and contributions are encouraged, but not necessary. Communication is both top-down and bottom-up and makes for a cohesive team.
This type of style is versatile with the advantages of having more diverse perspectives involved in decision making. As employees are being taken into account before the manager makes decisions, the employees feel valued which increases motivation and productivity.
Disadvantages of the democratic management style are the time it takes to make a decision due to the gathering of ideas and opinions. There is also the potential conflict of different viewpoints playing a role in the decision making and as a result, employees can feel less valued if their input is not taken, leading to decreased morale and productivity.
Consultative style
With this management style, trust and confidence is placed in the employees and management actively seeks out their opinions.
Participative style
Similar to consultative, management trusts the employees, but trusts them completely and not only seeks out their opinions and ideas, but they act on them. They work together to make decisions as a group and the staff is highly involved. As a result, employees feel valued and show increased motivation and productivity. However, a drawback to this style is that some employees do not want to be involved in decision making and can come to resent a manager with this style.
Collaborative style
Managers with the collaborative style communicated extensively with employees and make decisions by the majority. The manager believes that involving everyone and making the team take ownership will result in the best decisions made. The main disadvantage of this style is that it is time-consuming, and sometimes the majority decision is not the best decision for the business entity, in which case, the manager should take control of the final choice.
Laissez-faire
The laissez-faire management style involves little or no interference from management. The staff do not need supervision and are highly skilled which allows management to take the hand’s off approach and leave the problem solving, and decision making to the staff. Variations of this style include the delegative style and what is referred to as bossless environments or self-managed teams.
This type of style works best in organizations with flatter decentralized management. Typically, the staff is highly skilled, more so than the management, and is trusted with setting the bar for innovation and setting the objectives.
The advantages of the Laissez faire are increased innovation and creativity through the autonomy of expert staff. Some examples of this type of employee are teachers, creatives, and designers.
Disadvantages include the risk of low productivity by unsupervised staff, loss of direction due to the hands-off style of management.
- In such a style of working, managers are employed just for the sake of it and do not contribute much to the organization.
- The employees take decisions and manage work on their own.
- Individuals who have the dream of making it big in the organization and desire to do something innovative every time outshine others who attend office for fun.
- Employees are not dependent on the managers and know what is right or wrong for them.
Delegative Style
A delegative management style allows employees to take full responsibility of their work areas. The manager assigns tasks with little or no direction and expects the staff to achieve results of their own accord. The manager retains responsibility for meeting objectives. The major drawbacks of this style are lack of uniformity among team members and uncoordinated efforts toward productivity. Also, because little direction and guidance is given the team can lack direction and focus.
