The Correct Leadership Approach
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Many times people go to work and feel like they do not belong there. No compassion and no empowerment do not motivate employees. People should not feel worthless; they should feel more appreciated. Furthermore, the workplace has different types of leaders and within them the democratic and the autocratic. Some characteristic of an autocratic leader includes arrogance, bossiness, controlling, and selfishness. In contrast, a democratic leader brings groups together, brings empowerment, and brings creativity. Because of these ideal characteristics, businesses can be successful with the use of democratic leadership. Nevertheless, according to Richard Daft an autocratic leadership style would be appropriate in the fast-food restaurant business. The reason why he implies such of thing relies on the young and unskilled employees of this field. Even though, autocratic leaders are needed when subordinates have little or no knowledge, companies should encourage democratic leadership because autocratic leadership causes so much stress and is one of the causes of conflict behavior in the workplace.
Autocratic leaders cause too much stress in the workplace. In a study conducted by Kurt Lewin, this type of leadership cause group members to feel displease, and they awaken feelings of hostility (Daft). Autocratic leaders often bring situations of anger, antagonism, and aggression, and such stressful situations convey destruction to an organization; thus, sales, productivity, ethics and morals decrease. Nevertheless, performance stood high in this study; however, the employee did not sustain such high standards with the leaders absence (Daft). More importantly, respect has to be earned and with a boss centered, arrogant, and dominate behavior respect will decline. The only behavior close to this situation is fear (fear to lose the job). Virtues like respect and encouragement bring a feeling of comfort, and an autocratic leadership style lack of these virtues. In addition, when people feel in the “comfort zone”, they tend to bring more interaction and ideas. Such things are dynamics that bring organizations to success.
In contrast, democratic leaders create new ideas and bring cheerfulness to the workplace. On the same study conducted by Kurt Lewin, this leadership style showed that groups stayed with a positive attitude and performance remained as high as the other group (Daft). In contrast to the autocratic leadership, this group maintained high standards of performance even with the absence of the leader. Indeed, this type of leadership relies on respect; therefore, the trustfulness of the employees to the leaders turns out strictly high. “Research has found that they key to successful use of formal authority is to be knowledgeable, credible and trustworthy” (Daft 381-382). Moreover, democratic leaders participate and ask questions; they empower by giving responsibility to subordinates. “Knowledge workers want to be valued for their mind and ability to contribute to plans and projects rather than be treated as a technical person who can only follow orders.” (Kerfoot 178-188). When employees bond as part of an organization, they increase performance and interaction. People treated with disrespect have to raise their voices and say they are part of the organization even if they have no knowledge, because “Well-intentioned leaders often overlook the very simple truth of learning to help people move forward in their work and to treat people as decent human beings.” (Kerfoot 178-188).
Even though, managers should focus on leadership that adapt to a situation, democratic leadership should surpass an autocratic leadership because too much power will cause resistance. For example, when a boss just hurry their personnel to finish a task by yelling, screaming, or any other negative approach instead of inspiring, motivating, and encouraging. Moreover, because not everybody behaves the same way, the need for a type of multi-leadership skill turns into an urgent need. A leader must have the capacity to adapt to any situation and become a relationship oriented or a detail oriented person when needed. For instance, leaders can use democratic leadership when employees need to develop decision-making skills and use autocratic