Democratic leaders take an active role in the decision-making process but they involve others. They carry the responsibility for seeing that the decisions made achieve the desired outcomes. Laissez-faire leaders have very little involvement in decision-making, mostly leaving everything up to their team. As long as the team members are capable and motivated this can work, but can create problems if not.
Overly autocratic styles led to revolution, whilst under a laissez-faire approach, people did not work together and did not work as hard as they did when being actively led.
The concept of transformational leadership was introduced by James V. Downton who coined the term in , the concept was further developed by leadership expert James M. Transformational leaders inspire people because they expect the best from them, they communicate a shared vision, they are self aware and highly empathetic, and understand how to get the best from all members of their team.
Under autocratic leadership, centralization of power exists, that lies in the hands of the leader, and so there is marginal input from the group members.
The autocratic leader dominates the entire group of subordinates, through coercion and command. The subordinates are supposed to follow the orders given by the leader unquestioningly. It best suits the organisations where quick decision making is required. Further, when the subordinates are not much educated and experienced, autocratic leadership is appropriate. The suggestions and opinions of the subordinates are given importance. Indeed they are frequently consulted, on different matters.
Here, the leaders consider the opinion of the group and work accordingly. Moreover, the employees are informed about every matter which affects them. In Lewin's study, the children in the democratic group had less output than the authoritarian group but their work was of higher quality.
Daft and Pirola-Merlo's work furthers this insight, noting that democratic leaders encourage group members to participate but retain final say-so over important matters. This style creates balance, helps team members feel valued and aligns more with Western democratic governments. The final form of leadership identified by Lewin and his team is called "delegative leadership.
In Lewin's study, the children in the delegative group were the least productive. They had no direction and therefore no real output. However, Daft and Pirola-Merlo note that delegative leadership can be effective if group members are qualified in their field. Similarly, laissez-faire policies are often advocated in economics on grounds that free trade functions best with minimal government interference. Jeremy Bradley works in the fields of educational consultancy and business administration.
They usually instill fear and control to gain power over people. Workers were sometimes forced to report every activity by a given time, thus resulting in productivity to decrease. It does not give credit nor has a sense of ownership — Leaders are in charge of making decisions, which means that even if the idea came from the subordinate or a group, the leader will either take the credit or the fall for the decision.
Lack of trust — Contrary to the norm where a successful working relationship is built with confidence, autocratic leadership, is founded with mistrust. It makes sense since leaders must assume that their subordinates are not performing well, which requires direct supervision to ensure the results. It hinders creativity, cooperation, and, most of all, initiative.
Democratic leadership, also known as participative leadership, is an act of allowing everyone to participate in decision making.
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