Ch6 Skills 1: Leading Flashcards
DEFINE leading
A management skill that encourages people to work towards a specific goal. Leaders must be able to communicate effectively, motivate people, and delegate tasks.
What is autocratic leadership?
A style where managers make all decisions, do not trust employees and use threats of punishment as motivation.
Authority: Manager has complete power and control. They give orders and expect them to be carried out without question.
Decisions: Made with no input from employees, manager believes they have the skills and experience to make decisions themselves.
Trust: They do not trust employees and may think they’re lazy and will try to avoid work. They supervise employees closely.
Motivation: Use threats and punishment to motivate employees, leading to high staff turnover and low morale.
Give advantages of autocratic leadership.
•Quick decision making.
•Improved productivity.
•Quicker task completion.
Give disadvantages of autocratic leadership.
•Management stress
•Low morale
•Industrial action (due to strained relationship between staff and management)
What is democratic leadership?
Encourages employees to participate in decision making. Manager has ultimate authority but values input of staff.
Authority: They delegate tasks to employees as they trust they have the skills to complete tasks correctly. Ultimate authority and responsibility lies with management.
Decisions: They include employees in decision making, allowing them to use their range of skills and experience.
Trust: High levels of trust and employees are empowered to make decisions.
Motivation: High motivation as employees feel valued as they are delegated tasks and empowered to make decisions.
Give advantages of democratic leadership.
•Increased intrapreneurship
•Future promotion (employees can develop skills needed to apply for higher up roles)
•Employee motivation
Give disadvantages of democratic leadership.
•Slow decision-making (miss out on market opportunities)
•Frustrated employees (if their ideas aren’t used)
•Management resentment (reduced control in business)
What is laissez-faire management?
Management outline business goals and trusts employees to decide on the best way to achieve these goals. Employees work independently from management.
Authority: While power is given to Employees, ultimate responsibility lies with manager.
Decisions: Employees are empowered to make decisions, with management only getting involved in important big decisions.
Trust: Very high levels of trust, management trusts employees to work without supervision.
Motivation: Employees are highly motivated as they feel empowered to achieve the firm’s goals. They work hard for the benefit of the business.
Give advantages of laissez-faire leadership.
•Employee motivation
•Intrapreneurship
•Improved skills and knowledge (prepares for promotion)
Give disadvantages of laissez-faire leadership.
•Reduced productivity (no pressure from supervision)
•Poor decisions
•Poor Industrial relations (management may blame employees for targets not being met)
DEFINE delegation.
Assigning tasks to another person, eg management delegating work to subordinates. Its important that the task is clearly communicated to prevent confusion.
