Autocratic Leadership Assignment Help

What is Autocratic Leadership?

Autocratic leadership is a style of management where a person controls every decision as takes very less inputs from the other member of the group. The autocratic leaders make choices or decisions on the basis of their own beliefs and they do not include others for their advice or suggestions. It is a form of management style in which a particular leader or any member of the organization takes decision on behalf of the company. This form of leadership is seen maximum in businesses which are relatively small with a few employees.

Autocratic type of leadership is only efficient in the firms where the nature of works need quick decision making. The main responsibility of the decision as well as the outcome is with the leader. It is considered to be a flexible style of leadership but few people agree that this type of leadership is a little outdated now.  But there are few characteristics of autocratic leadership like no inputs from the members of the group are taken, all the task is dictated by the leaders of the group or the responsibilities is distributed among other employees.

Following are some of the pros and cons of the autocratic leadership style:

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PROS

• Where there is a need of making quick urgent decisions. With the responsibility falling on the top person in charge, there is no need of getting an input from the members of the team. The autocratic style of leadership helps in making the proverbial execution decision and the process moves forwards
• When there is a need to closely monitor the performance of work. Keeping a close eye on the employees ensures work is performed efficiently as well as effectively.

CONS

• High turnover. Not giving the employees a voice in the organisation matter results in the morale getting dampened, decreases productivity and send them in search of new opportunities. 
• Resistant to change. There is a need of an efficient leader to be flexible as well as adaptable to change. Autocratic leaders may be resistant to it as they are used to doing things one way which is their way.

Autocratic Leadership Style

Autocratic leadership style in most simple words can be explained as a structure in which there is a clearly defined boss at the top and he or she holds most if not all of the control over the distribution of responsibility as well as workload. This type of leader does not take any input from the other members of the team when they make decisions. Methods, delegation, process as well as operations everything is decided by the autocratic leader only.

In an organisation where autocratic leadership style is practices, the members of the group are rarely trusted with decisions or important work which can a factor of demonization for many people. When a person develops an organisation in the model of an autocracy, the responsibility is stripped way of the individual members that gives then every reason to feel demoralised with their responsibilities and roles.

The workloads tend to be regimented as well as meticulously ordered. Due to such traits like innovation as well as creativity are discouraged in the place of work and the employees are asked to perform their roles as it is outlined. This leaves no room for them to contribute their ideas to the business. As a result, the employees do not perform well when they feel that they are not being trusted in their roles. Adoption of an autocratic style of leadership tells the employees that they cannot be trusted enough that they can be allowed to give some input to the organization.

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Autocratic Leadership Examples

The one thing that Adolf Hitler, Napoleon Bonaparte, Queen Elizabeth I as well as Vladimir Putin have in common is that they are all an example of autocratic style of leadership. They used to exercise complete authorization and control over a group. They were the famous autocrats, vast empires. Following are some other good examples of autocratic leadership:

Bill Gates- The driving force behind Microsoft has a style of leadership which is a mix of participative as well as authoritarian. He is a master delegator of work but at the same time, he has a great knowledge of the value of harnessing the skills of his members of team to the most. This style combination results in immense success of the organization.

Abraham Lincoln- He rarely used to give orders in battlefields but made huge autonomous decisions during the civil war. Lincoln would apply his large quotient of common sense to slice through the obfuscations as well as excuses of the military subordinates. The result of President Lincoln’ autocratic style of leadership had a profound, everlasting effect on America which is the abolishment of slavery.

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Autocratic Leadership Tends to be The Best Option When :

Strong centralized control can help an organization in meeting the objectives. This can prove very effective in environments of work where there is very little margin of error like emergency room of the hospital. Let us say than an amputation is needed for avoiding the spread of infection to the rest of the body of the patients. Only the ER physicians could make that call. The role of a nursing leadership would also warrant autocratic decision making. For example, a team of nurses that is managed depends on you in making a critical decision in the way of administrating care to a patient. A scenario which is not appropriate for the autocratic style of leadership would be an advertising agency pitching television commercial ideas to a client. The final say maybe of the creative director on what has to be presented to the client but it depends heavily on the knowledge as well as the unique set of skills of a creative team for the execution of work. Since the profession of advertising calls for more of a participative style of management, autocratic leadership, in this case, just wouldn’t work.