Leadership and Management free essay sample

Autocratic leadership, also known as authoritarian leadership is a leadership style characterized by individual control over all decisions and little input from group members. Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their own ideas and judgments and rarely accept advice from followers. Autocratic leadership involves absolute, authoritarian control over a group. It can also be derived as a dictator, domineering and aggressive behaviour. An autocratic leadership can be beneficial in some circumstances such as that decisions have to be made quickly without consulting anyone, also when projects sometimes require strong leadership so that things can get accomplished quickly and effectively. Some team members may actually prefer the autocratic style this can let the team focus on performing tasks without worrying about the decisions that have to be made, this style of management does have its problems managers / team leaders can learn to use the elements of this style wisely and correctly. We will write a custom essay sample on Leadership and Management or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page As an example autocratic management can be used effectively when the leader has the most knowledge and has access to information that can make the task more productive. This style of management is best used when the team are primarily unskilled workers, casual workers or new starters. Democratic Leader Democratic leadership, also known as participative leadership is a type of leadership style in which members of the group take a more participative role in the decision-making process. Group member are encouraged to share their thoughts democratic leadership can lead to better ideas and more creative solutions to problems. Group members also feel more involved and committed to projects, making them more likely to care about care about the end results. Democratic leadership leads to higher productivity and better morale. The democratic manager can entrust the workforce with responsibilities and the manger in the key link between departments and the workforce this can style can help departments share ideas and resolve problems that may occur which in turn could increase production and make everyone feel that they have contributed. Democratic management encourages people to share their own ideas which can make them feel that are involved with projects that may be on going and to make them care more about what they and management are trying to achieve, this style is best used when team members are skilled, eager to share their knowledge with others this could be preferred when the team are skilled, motivated, trustworthy and has the knowledge on the subject. AC 1. 2 Explain why these leadership styles or behaviours are likely to have a positive or negative effect on individual and group behaviour. Effects of Autocratic Leadership Under the autocratic style all decision-making powers are centralized in the leader. The leader is in complete control and no one is permitted to make any suggestions or offer any opinions no matter how it may benefit the group or team. The positive side to his style is that it permits quick decision-making as only one person decides for the whole group or team, it also means that they have absolute control on proceedings often lead to successful completion of projects and it also provides strong motivation to the manager. The negative side to this style is that this type of leadership style is often very stressful on fellow employees which leads to their low motivation levels also the communication style of an autocratic leader is usually described as one way because they tell what they want done and the feedback you would receive from this type of leader would be generally be unplanned. Effects of Democratic Leadership Under the democratic style of leadership the leader is generally well liked because they usually support the group of team which means he/she would gain there support which means that he/she team would be loyal and respect him/her as fair. A democratic leader generally accept any opinion and voices which means that the team would feel free to voice their opinions and ideas without them being dismissed straight away. The positive side to this style is that the team/workforce can be highly motivated, skilled and experienced members can be used in decision making which makes them feel more committed and could less resistant to managerial changes it also help with communication between the workforce and the managers. The negative side to this style is that individuals can dominate participation or make disruptive contributions it can also be very time consuming for the leader because of the two communication it can also result in actions that are the most effective and also people may view this style as incompetent to handle the job responsibilities. A. C 2. 1 â€Å"Assess own leadership behaviours and potential in the context of a particular leadership model and own organisation’s working practices and culture using feedback from others† My style of leadership is the role I would like to call facilitating (of the questionnaire my score was 62) which means I’m there to provide support to my team, to help with resources and also to give encouragement to my team. Having spoken to my team I have assessed my leadership style and had feedback which I can see there is room for improvement to help my team improve and help the organization be more productive. I myself am a working team leader on a machine and I’m there to help my section with any problems that may occur and slow down production. I also asked one of my work colleagues to fill in the same questionnaire as I did and the score came back at (55) which falls in the category of facilitating, interestingly though my colleagues second score of (54) which falls in the category of directing One of the questions on the assessment sheets that I handed out came back to show that â€Å"I need to be more involved with the regular meetings that are held†, I asked my colleagues what they meant by this and what it would mean to them for me to be more involved they told me that they think that there ideas and problem aren’t really heard or listened to properly and sometimes that can cause morale to drop on the shop floor they think that the management don’t listen to the work force and that the management don’t take on board what the work force say. I think that this is really important because if we haven’t got the work force behind us as managers this in-turn can cause to an unsettled environment to work in also mistakes can be made ie: quality can be affected and that the morale can drop which in turn can lead to absentees on the shop floor because no one would want to come to work and work in this kind of environment. This area of my role is where I need to improve to help the work force to be more behind the management instead of apposed to which in turn would boost productivity and boost morale and would make it a happier organization to work for. A. C 2. 2 â€Å"Describe appropriate actions to enhance own leadership behaviour in the context of the particular leadership model† I am a level one team leader in my organization and I feel I could enhance and improve my leadership role in the following areas. I plan to introduce a series of team briefs that would allow me to improve and enhance the communication with the team that I am working with. The benefits that I would like to see improve is to let the team know what is going on in the business any health and safety issues any quality problems that we may have had and any other issues that may be important to the team. I myself have meeting with senior management and the information that I get from these meetings should be passed on to the team so that they feel that they are part of the business and they know what is going on within the company. These meeting would be useful for me so that I can be more one to one with my team and to acquire feedback from them because at the moment I don’t have the means to this so I think this area would improve my leadership style. Also I intend to be more involved with the appraisals that my level three team leader gives so that I myself understand the procedure and structure of them so that if I myself have to do them I understand what is meant from me in the appraisals. I would like to give appraisals twice a year instead of once a year so that I could monitor my team behaviour and coach them if they needed and help and this would improve the communication with them because hopeful they would trust me to listen and understand the problems that they may have with their day to day running of their machine.