Advantages are:

*quick decision making

*maintains discipline
*clarity
disadvantages are:
*employees are not trusted
*relies on threats
*employees have no input

Democratic

Image courtesy of Frames-of-Mind

The democratic leader makes decisions by consulting a team, whilst still maintaining control of
the group. The democratic leader allows the team to decide how the task will be tackled and who
will perform which task. A good democratic leader encourages participation but never loses sight
of the fact that they bear the responsibility of leadership. The democratic leader values group
discussion and input from the team. The democratic leader motivates the team by empowering
them to direct themselves. The leader and group jointly analyse the problem, and decide together
on a course of action. The leader does some things, but not everything, helps the group get its
way, pulls with the group and respects others.

Disadvantages

 Slower decision making

  Less initial production
 Leader can be unsure and makes everything a matter for group discussion.

Advantages

 More individual responsibility

 More friendliness
 Better implementation
 More personal growth
 More motivation
 Greater ultimate production

Autocratic

Image courtesy of pressesc

The autocratic leader dominates team members and makes decisions on their own without
seeking or allowing input from group members. Autocrats set timelines, tasks and then asks for
suggestions / objections. They are quick to both praise and punish. This results in passive
resistance from team members and requires continual pressure in order to get things done. Some
instances call for urgent action and the autocratic style may be best. Most people are familiar
with autocratic leadership and accept it.

Disadvantages

 More group hostility

 More dependence on leader
  More apathy in group
 Slower execution of decisions

Advantages

 More group productivity while leader watches

 Group makes quicker decisions
 Often does the task themselves as it is quicker
 Pushes the group.

Disadvantage / Advantage

 Some people are happy to be told what to do – they might say they are patricians or ‘nuts
and bolts’ people, others like to own the task – visionaries.

Laissez-faire

Image courtesy of wonderferret

The Laissez Fare leader performs a minimum of leadership functions and lets the group sort out
their own roles and tackle their own work in their own way without his participation. The
Laissez-Fare technique is usually only appropriate when leading a team of highly motivated and
skilled people who have produced excellent work in the past. Once a leader has established that
his team is confident, capable and motivated it is often best to step back and let them get on with
the task since interfering can generate resentment and detract from their effectiveness.

Disadvantages

 Less group satisfaction

 Less group productivity
 Poorer quality of work
 Less personal growth
 Jobs fall back on someone else or are not completed
 Who takes credit or blame?

Advantages

 No work for the leader

 Frustration may force others into leadership roles
 Allows the visionary worker the opportunity to do what they want, free from interference
 Empowers the group

Charismatic

Clinton’s Advisors
Image courtesy of jurvetson

Charismatic leaders tend to be very good listeners and great information gatherers. They like to
expose themselves to a wide range of individuals in order to get new ideas. Charismatic leaders
create a sense of purpose for their organisation that is motivating and inspiring. Charismatic
leaders express things simply so that everyone gets it, they use positive language, often use
stories, symbols, metaphors to get their point across. They walk the talk, show empathy, remain
optimistic, make everyone feel important and build confidence. Charismatic leaders question the
status quo, take risks and thrive on innovation and change.

Disadvantages

 Can be spectacular failures

 Create a personality cult
 Can wear out the workers

Advantages

 Work usually done well

 Workers inspired to perform
 Workers valued.

Advantages of Bureaucracy
Precision.
Precision.
Speed.
Speed.
Clarity in communication.
Clarity in communication.
Reduction of friction.
Reduction of friction.
Reduction of personal costs

Disadvantages of Bureaucracy
Multiplication of administrative
functions
Vertical structure
Many levels of management
Much paperwork, routine and "red
tape"
tape"
Impersonal officials working to a
Fixed routine without necessarily
Exercising intelligent judgment.
advantage

One person is in control

Disadvantage

easy to make mistakes

Autocratic Leadership
What is Autocratic Leadership?

Autocratic leadership is a classical leadership style with the following characteristics:

1. Manager seeks to make as many decisions as possible

2. Manager seeks to have the most authority and control in decision making

3. Manager seeks to retain responsibility rather than utilise complete delegation

4. Consultation with other colleagues in minimal and decision making becomes a solitary
process

5. Managers are less concerned with investing their own leadership development, and prefer to
simply work on the task at hand.

The autocratic leadership style is seen as an old fashioned technique. It has existed as long as
managers have commanded subordinates, and is still employed by many leaders across the
globe. The reason autocratic leadership survives, even if it is outdated, is because it is intuitive,
carries instant benefits, and comes natural to many leaders. Many leaders who start pursuing
leadership development are often trying to improve upon their organisations autocratic
leadership style.
What Are The Benefits Of The Autocratic Leadership Style?

Despite having many critics, the autocratic leadership styles offer many advantages to
managers who use them. These include:

Reduced stress due to increased control. Where the manager ultimately has significant legal
and personal responsibility for a project, it will comfort them and reduce their stress levels to
know that they have control over their fate.

A more productive group ‘while the leader is watching’. The oversight that an autocratic
manager exerts over a team improves their working speed and makes them less likely to slack.
This is ideal for poorly motivated employees who have little concern or interest in the quality or
speed of work performed.
Improved logistics of operations. Having one leader with heavy involvement in many areas
makes it more likely that problems are spotted in advance and deadlines met. This makes
autocratic leadership ideal for one-off projects with tight deadlines, or complicated work
environments where efficient cooperation is key to success.

Faster decision making. When only one person makes decisions with minimal consultation,
decisions are made quicker, which will allow the management team to respond to changes in
the business environment more quickly.
What Are The Disadvantages Of The Autocratic Leadership Style?

Short-termistic approach to management. While leading autocratically will enable faster

decisions to be made in the short term, by robbing subordinates of the opportunity to gain
experience and start on their own leadership development, and learn from their mistakes, the
manager is actually de-skilling their workforce which will lead to poorer decisions and
productivity in the long run.

Manager perceived as having poor leadership skills. While the autocratic style has merits when
used in certain environments (as highlighted below), autocratic leadership style is easy yet
unpopular. Managers with poor leadership skills with often revert to this style by default.

Increased workload for the manager. By taking on as much responsibility and involvement as
possible, an autocratic leader naturally works at their full capacity, which can lead to long term
stress and health problems and could damage working relationships with colleagues. This
hyper-focus on work comes at the expense of good leadership development.

People dislike being ordered around. They also dislike being shown very little trust and faith. As
a result, the autocratic leadership style can result in a demotivated workforce. This results in
the paradox that autocratic leadership styles are a good solution for demotivated workers, but
in many cases, it is the leadership style alone that demotivates them in the first place.
Generation Y employees particularly dislike this style.

Teams become dependent upon their leader. After becoming conditioned to receive orders and
act upon them perfectly, workers lose initiative and the confidence to make decisions on their
own. This results in teams of workers who become useless at running operations if they loose
contact with their leader. This is the result of a lack of time dedicated to leadership
development on the employees part.
When is the Autocratic Leadership Style Effective?

Following on from the merits and drawbacks listed above, the autocratic leadership style is
useful in the following work situations:

1. Short term projects with a highly technical, complex or risky element.

2. Work environments where spans of control are wide and hence the manager has little time
to devote to each employee.

3. Industries where employees need to perform low-skilled, monotonous and repetitive tasks
and generally have low levels of motivation.

4. Projects where the work performed needs to be completed to exact specifications and/or
with a tight deadline.

5. Companies that suffer from a high employee turnover, i.e. where time and resources
devoted to leadership development would be largely wasted. Although one could argue that a
lack of leadership development in the first place caused the high turnover.
Democratic Leadership

What is Democratic Leadership?

Democratic Leadership is the leadership style that promotes the sharing of responsibility, the
exercise of delegation and continual consultation. The style has the following characteristics: 1.
Manager seeks consultation on all major issues and decisions. 2. Manager effectively delegate
tasks to subordinates and give them full control and responsibility for those tasks. 3. Manager
welcomes feedback on the results of intiatives and the work environment. 4. Manager
encourages others to become leaders and be involved in leadership development.
What Are The Benefits Of The Democratic Leadership Style?

Positive work environment. A culture where junior employees are given fair amount of
responsibility and are allowed to challenge themselves is one where employees are more
enthused to work and enjoy what they do. Successful initiatives. The process of consultation
and feedback naturally results in better decision making and more effective operations.
Companies run under democratic leadership tend to run into fewer grave mistake and
catastrophes. To put it simply – people tell a democratic leader when something is going badly
wrong, while employees are encouraged to simply hide it from an autocrat. Creative thinking.
The free flow of ideas and positive work environment is the perfect catalyst for creative
thinking. To further their leadership education, people often check the online MBA rankings to
see whether MBA online is a match for them. The benefits of this aren’t just relevant for
creative industries, because creative thinking is required to solve problems in every single
organisation, whatever it’s nature. Reduction of friction and office politics. By allowing
subordinates to use their ideas and even more importantly – gain credit for them, you are
neatly reducing the amount of tension employees generate with their manager. When
autocratic leaders refuse to listen to their workers, or blatantly ignore their ideas, they are
effectively asking for people to talk behind their back and attempt to undermine or supercede
them. Reduced employee turnover. When employees feel empowered through leadership
development, a company will experience lower rates of employee turnover which has
numerous benefits. A company that invests in leadership development for its employees, is
investing in their future, and this is appreciated by a large majority of the workforce.
What Are The Disadvantages Of The Democratic Leadership Style?

Lengthy and ‘boring’ decision making. Seeking consultation over every decision can lead to a
process so slow that it can cause opportunities to be missed, or hazards avoided too late.
Danger of pseudo participation. Many managers simply pretend to follow a democratic
leadership style simply to score a point in the eyes of their subordinates. Employees are quick
to realise when their ideas aren’t actually valued, and that the manager is merely following
procedure in asking for suggestions, but never actually implementing them. In other words,
they’re simply exerting autocratic leadership in disguise.
When Is The Democratic Leadership Style Effective?

Now you’ve heard about the benefits and drawbacks of this leadership style, let’s look at where
its actually implemented in the business world. 1. Democratic leadership is applied to an extent
in the manufacturing industry, to allow employees to give their ideas on how processes can
become leaner and more efficient. While ‘Fordism’ is still applied in some factories across the
country, truth is that production managers are now really starting to harness the motivational
bonuses associated with not treating employees like robots anymore. 2. Democratic leadershp
is effective in proffessional organisations where the emphasis is clearly on training, professional
& leadership development and quality of work performed. Democratic procedures are simply
just one cog in the effective leadership mechanisms firms like The Big Four have created over
the years. 3. Non profit organisations also tremendously benefit from drawing upon the
creative energies of all their staff to bring about cost cutting techniques or fund raising ideas. 4.
As previously mentioned, creative industries such as advertising and television enjoy alot of
benefits from the free flow of ideas that democratic leadership brings.

Bureaucratic Leadership
What Is Bureaucratic Leadership?

The bureaucratic leadership style is concerned with ensuring workers follow rules and
procedures accurately and consistently. Bureaucratic leadership normally has the following
characteristics: 1. Leaders expect a employees to display a formal, business-like attitude in the
workplace and between each other. 2. Managers gain instant authority with their position,
because rules demand that employees pay them certain priveledges, such as being able to sign
off on all major decisions. As a result, leaders suffer from ‘position power’. Leadership
development becomes pointless, because only titles and roles provide any real control or
power. 3. Employees are rewarded for their ability to adhere to the rules and follow procedure
perfectly. 4. Bureaucratic systems usually gradually develop over a long period of time, and
hence are more commonly found in large & old businesses.
What Are The Benefits Of The Bureaucratic Leadership Style?

Increased safety. In dangerous workplaces where procedures save lives, a bureaucratic

management style can help enforce health and safety rules. Quality work. Some tasks, such as
completing proffessional work or medical examinations, need to be done in a meticulous
fashion to be done correctly. Laziness can result in poor work, and hence one solution is to
enforce the rules via the bureacratic leadership style. Ultimate control. An environment
whereby employees are intrinsically motivated to follow rules in order to be promoted and
succeed results in the tightest control management can ever assume over a company. This
control can be used to cut costs or improve productivity.
What Are The Disadvantages Of The Bureaucratic Leadership Style?

Dehumanises the business. Bureacratic companies tend to remove as much potential for
‘human error’ out of the picture as possible. Unfortunately this also has the effect of removing
all the enjoyment and reward that comes from deciding how to do a task and accomplishing it.
Lack of self-fulfillment. The bureaucratic way of working hampers employees efforts to become
successful and independent, because the system becomes too contraining. Parkinson’s Law.
Cyril Northcote Parkinson made the scientific observation that the number of staff in
bureaucracies increased by an average of 5%-7% per year “irrespective of any variation in the
amount of work (if any) to be done.”". He explains this growth by two forces: (1) “An official
wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals” and (2) “Officials make work for each other.”
Parkinson’s findings suggest that bureaucratic leadership encourages inefficiency and waste of
internal resources in the long run. ‘Position power’ obessession. After working in an
environment that reinforces the idea that authority is created by rules which in turn support
senior positions. Employees become attached to the idea that simply being in a job position
creates authority. This can lead to intense office politics, arrogant leaders and little incentive to
perform well once an employee has landed a top job. Lack of creativity. It goes without saying
that a rule-based culture hinders creativity and encourages workers to simply perform puppet-
like work rather than think independently. This may result in a lack of growth in the business
due to employees simply not thinking out of the box or looking for new areas to develop. Poor
communication. A common feature of a bureaucratic system is a complicated network of
communication lines. Managers who don’t want to be ‘bothered’ by junior staff simply create
procedures that allow them to avoid communicating with those below them. ‘Go through the
formal process’, ‘Talk to my secretary’ and ‘My schedule is full’ are common rule-based excuses
for blocked contact. Barriers to communication can hinder the success of any company. For
example, the board may be charging ahead with a doomed product simply because their shop
floor workers cannot pass on the message that customers are giving very negative feedback.
When Is The Bureaucratic Leadership Style Effective?

Bureaucratic leadership is found in extremely large corporations such as General Electric,

Daimler and General Motors. However these cultures have evolved due to the age and size of
these companies, and are generally blamed for the slow growth and recent failures at these
companies. 1. Governmental bodies often have bureaucratic systems, and while these are often
despised by the public, they ensure accountability to the tax payer and fair treatment for all.
Excessive form-filling also serves the purpose of passing effort from the government authority
(with a tight budget) onto the individual, helping to save costs. 2. Dangerous workplaces such as
mines, oil rigs, construction sites and film sets all benefit from the tight control over health and
safety that rules offer.
Different Leadership Styles
What Different Leadership Types Are There?

These 3 key management leadership styles are by no means a comprehensive list. Different
leadership styles include laissez faire leadership, where the leader sets tasks and leaves workers
up to their own devices to complete it. To help you discover which leadership style you possess,
try our new Leadership Style Questionnaire.
Leadership Development

Leadership development is a complicated area, and thus countless styles have been theorised
and researched. Good leadership development often involves using resources such as
Leadership Expert to be ‘sift’ through these different leadership development tips and ideas.
Once you’ve been able to pull together a solid leadership development plan for yourself, you
can start to really engage your employees – and maybe even set them off on their own
leadership development quest!

Leadership Expert also has articles on another leadership style: charismatic leadership. You may
also want to read our articles on leadership theories and common leadership traits.