Leadership (07) Flashcards
(25 cards)
SUMMARY
In summary, the following are covered in this topic:
1. Leadership plays an important part in ensuring the success of an organisation.
2. A manager needs to adopt effective leadership style so as to manage workers
well and inspire them to achieve business goals.
3. The types of leadership styles include autocratic; democratic; paternalistic;
laissez-faire and situational.
4. Factors affecting leadership style include nature of task; company culture; type
of labour force; size of team; personality of leader; personality of team and situation.
What are the different leadership styles?
1) autocratic
2) democratic
3) paternalistic
4) laissez-faire
5) situational
What is Autocratic leadership?
Autocratic leadership is a style of leadership that keeps all decision-making at the centre of the organisation.
What are the cons of autocratic leadership?
Autocratic leadership may lead to workers’ dependency on leaders for guidance and thus not showing any initiative.
It also tends to demotivate those workers who are keen to contribute ideas and take responsibility.
Thus, the decision made would
not benefit from workers’ feedback.
When is it most appropriate to use Autocratic leadership?
In business context, autocratic leadership is used during times of crisis when immediate action is required to minimise any damage caused to business, and it
may be inappropriate to hold discussion with workers.
What is Democratic leadership?
Democratic leadership is a leadership style that promotes the active participation of workers in decision-making.
What are the benefits of Democratic leadership?
Democratic leadership will most likely improve motivation among workers because they feel involved as they are given some responsibility for the objectives and strategy of the business.
They are more committed to ensure that decisions that they have influenced are put into effect successfully.
What are the cons of Democratic leadership?
Democratic leadership can lead to slow decision-making, as consultation
with workers can be time-consuming.
An example is when prompt decision is required to counteract competitor’s promotional strategy to avoid loss of business opportunities.
Also, the democratic leadership style may not be appropriate in certain situations, such as when issues such as retrenchment exercises might be too sensitive, or when the business is launching a new product which could be secret in nature.
When is the appropriate time to use Democratic leadership?
Democratic leadership is appropriate in businesses where workers are motivated and expected to contribute to the decision-making process.
Workers who are experienced and flexible would better appreciate the democratic leadership style.
Inputs from workers are important in situations which require innovative solutions.
What is Paternalistic leadership?
Paternalistic leadership is a leadership style based on the approach that the manager is in a better position than the workers to know what is best for the business.
What are the cons of Paternalistic leadership?
The drawback of a paternalistic leadership style is that more experienced workers who prefer to be given decision-making authority and opportunities for participation might be demotivated and disappointed with a paternalistic leadership style.
When is the most appropriate to use Paternalistic leadership?
Paternalistic leadership is appropriate if workers are newly appointed, unskilled, inexperienced or untrained.
It is also generally used by managers who are generally concerned with the interests of workers, but are unwilling to let go of decision- making powers.
What is Laissez-faire leadership?
Laissez-faire leadership is a leadership style that leaves much of the business decision-making to the workforce - a ‘hands-off’ approach and the opposite of the autocratic style.
What are the cons of Laissez-faire leadership?
A laissez-faire leadership style would not work for workers who prefer proper structure and direction in their work, and this could lead to a sense of loss of job security .
As laissez-faire leaders would not monitor workers closely nor provide
feedback frequently, this may lead to a lack of confidence, poor decisions and low motivation level among workers due to uncertainty of
whether they are doing their work the right way.
When should Laissez-faire leadership be used?
Laissez-faire leadership works best in fields that require the use of creativity, design and innovations.
Workers in such fields are typically experts who need the freedom
to work on original projects and thus should not be closely supervised.
For example,
researchers must not be restricted in carrying out experiments for possible
scientific discoveries. At times, managers may become laissez-faire leaders when they are too lazy or busy to control workers.
What is Situational Leadership?
Situational leadership is a leadership style that is not based on any single approach, because businesses and employees vary in many different ways.
For example,
autocratic leadership style would be used during a crisis, while laissez-faire approach could be used when
managers become more experienced or highly-skilled.
What are the factors that affect leadership styles?
1) Nature of task
2) Company culture
3) Type of labour force
4) Size of team
5) Personality of leader
6) Personality of team
7) Situation
Nature of task
If the task is routine or monotonous, for example, in the production of a
standardised product, then the leader can adopt an autocratic style to monitor the workers’ work to ensure output level is met within pre-determined time.
However, if the task requires a degree of creativity and flexibility, for example, in designing a marketing strategy, then a democratic leadership style will be more appropriate to encourage staff participation.
Company culture
If there is a strong culture of motivated and well-trained workers, the leader might then adopt a democratic style or laissez faire style (for firms that require lots of creativity from workers) as he trusts his workers to be able to handle
work with minimal or no guidance.
In this case, the leader plays an inspirational role instead of closely monitoring the work of the employees.
Type of labour force
Unskilled or inexperienced labour will require an autocratic or paternalistic
leader who will issue specific instructions and make decisions to ensure workers perform as needed.
On the other hand, if workers are well-educated and have received the necessary training, then the leader can adopt a democratic style to
encourage staff involvement and contribution to improve the business.
If employees are designers or scientists, they should be empowered to work within very broad work limits so that they can research, explore, create freely for desired work outcomes. Thus, a laissez-faire style will be appropriate.
Size of team
A leader who wishes to be more participative and conducts discussions will need to pay more attention to team members and consult them before making decisions.
This will be very difficult and time consuming if the group size is very
big.
Thus leaders with large team and wide span of control might adopt
autocratic style, in order to manage such a large group effectively.
Personality of leader
Personality is influenced by factors such as upbringing, gender, education, self-worth and life circumstances.
A leader who has been brought up in an environment that encourages sharing, fairness and empowerment is likely to adopt a democratic style in managing his workers.
Personality of team
The personality of the members of the team that a leader works with will affect the leadership style to adopt.
For example, if the members are lazy and lack the zeal to want to contribute ideas to improve their work, then the leader will have
to issue specific work instructions, exercise tight supervision and even make decisions without consulting the members.
A team with motivated members
who take the initiative and are willing to contribute ideas calls for a more
democratic leader.
Situation
Very often, the situation at hand will determine the leadership style to adopt.
For example, if the business is facing a financial crisis, this will call for an
autocratic leadership style where the leader has to be decisive and determine the immediate action to be taken to avoid a situation of bankruptcy.
On the other hand, if the situation requires discussion and sharing of ideas and perspectives such as a new product development, then a democratic style that encourages staff participation and involvement will be more appropriate.
