Autocratic leadership or authoritarian leadership is a style of leadership in which one individual is in charge of all processes, is the fundamental and sole decision maker, and gains no consent of the group members while taking the decision. Autocratic leaders fundamentally rely upon their individualistic judgments and perceptions and are least likely to consult others for advice. This provides the autocratic leader with an absolute and authoritarian control over the entire group (leadershiptheories.org, 2012).
Autocratic leadership is generally suitable for large organizations with too large workforce. In such large organizations, communication flow is relatively difficult, and decision making is passive since there are too many managers operating at different levels. In such organizations, an autocratic leader is able to take independent decisions and enforce them for all to comply with. Gaining the consent of all concerned individuals not only delays the decision making but also makes the process of change management very complicated.
One of the demerits of the autocratic style of leadership is that it does not facilitate the development of trusting relationships. The autocratic leader has full hold over all of the subordinates. The organizational personnel cannot offer their personal opinions or suggestions to the leader irrespective of the usefulness of the advice. This creates a negative energy between the autocratic leader and the subordinates and may serve as a demotivating factor for the subordinates.
The autocratic style of leadership is particularly unsuitable for group projects, in which trust and communication play a pivotal role in the achievement of success. According to Kets de Vries, the autocratic style of leadership is not very useful for a knowledge society (knowledge.insead.edu, n.d.). This is one factor that makes the autocratic style of leadership unsuitable for adoption in the contemporary dynamic and multicultural workplace where teamwork is deemed very important for the attainment of organizational objectives. However, occasionally autocratic leadership becomes the solution of problems experienced by a group. This happens when the group members lose track and get into dysfunctional conflicts. In such cases, the autocratic leader gives the group a direction, so that they continue proceeding towards their goal despite their mutual differences, though in a vast majority of cases, autocratic leadership has adverse effects on the psychology of teamwork.
Challenges faced by managers and business entrepreneurs in the 21st century’s workplace include dealing with the issues of culturally diverse workforce, education and training of the workforce in the workplace, gaining competitive advantage over other competitors in the market by introducing creative and innovative solutions to the traditional problems, and expanding the business to other regions and maintaining conformity in all branches in terms of operation and functionality. In order to achieve all these objectives, it is imperative that the workplace be constantly evaluated for the obstacles, and change be introduced and managed to change things for the better. Traditionally, introduction of change becomes difficult in workplaces where the decision making power is shared with others. An autocratic leader is better able to find solutions to the problems of the contemporary workplace, though the success entirely depends upon the individualistic skills, talents, competencies, and capabilities of the autocratic leader.
http://knowledge.insead.edu/Leaderoncouch.cfm?vid=12.
leadershiptheories.org. (2012). Leadership Theories: Autocratic, Democratic and Laissez Faire.
Retrieved from http://leadershiptheories.org/leadership-theories-autocratic-democratic-and-laissez-faire.
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