Autocratic Leadership Democratic Leadership

2. Topics:
1. The Nature of Leadership
2. Types of Leadership in
Administration & Supervision
 Authoritarian / Task Centered
 Democratic / People Centered
Presented by
Hijab Zaidi
MA Education

3. Leadership Definition:
Educational and professional leadership enhances
learner’s outcomes through the creation of an
environment where learning permeates the
organizational culture.

4. Definition:
The educational leader is able to
promote a
Shared community vision
mobilize people
lead curriculum and pedagogical
practice
 administrate effectively
 reflect critically on all practice.

5. Leadership:
There is probably no topic more
important to success today than
leadership
leadership occurs among people
involves the use of influence
is used to attain goals

6. Cont….
The ability to influence people toward the
attainment of organizational goals.
 Leadership is dynamic and involves the use
of influence.
builds a sense of community
creates a sense of ownership
establishes shared vision and values
to provide insights, identify strengths and
areas for growth

7. The crowd will follow a leader who marches
twenty steps in advance; but if he is a thousand
steps in front of them, they do not see and do
not follow him.
~ George Brandes

8. Autocratic Leadership
Autocratic leadership refers to a style of leadership
where the leader has complete authority over decision
making and the employees obey the leader without
question.

9.  Manager retains power (classical approach)
 Manager is decision-making authority
 Manager does not consult employees for
input
 Subordinates expected to obey orders without
explanations
 Motivation provided through structured
rewards and punishments

10.  The employee has low motivatation or little desire
to achieve, often passing their work
responsibilities onto others.
 Group members are reluctant to take
responsibility
 Collective or participative decision making causes
delays and a project needs to be keep on schedule
 Group members are inexperienced or unfamiliar
with their role and trial and error needs to be avoided.
 Low skilled or unskilled workforce

11. Characteristics of Autocratic Leadership
Some of the primary
characteristics of autocratic
leadership include:
 Little or no input from
group members
Leaders make the
decisions
Group leaders dictate all
the work methods and
processes
Group members are rarely
trusted with decisions or
important tasks

12. Cont….
 The autocratic leader retains all power,
authority, and control, and reserves the right
to make all decisions.
 Autocratic leaders distrust their
subordinate’s ability, and closely supervise
and control people under them.
 Autocratic leaders involve themselves in
detailed day-to-day activities, and rarely
delegate or empower subordinates.

13. Cont….
The autocratic
leader adopts one-
way
communication.
They do not consult
with subordinates or
give them a chance
to provide their
opinions, no matter
the potential benefit
of such inputs

14. Advantages of Autocratic Leadership Style
 Getting things done
quickly
Improving
communication and
management.

15. Disadvantages of Autocratic Leadership
Autocratic leaders usually remain unpopular and
damage working relationships with colleagues.
 The one sided communication flow in an autocratic
leadership style restricts the creative and leadership
skills of the employees and prevents their development.
 The leader reserving the right to make all decisions
leads to subordinates becoming heavily dependent on
the leader. The team thereby becomes useless in running
operations if they lose contact with their leader, and
absence of the leader leads to total collapse and
shutdown of operations.

16. The heavily centralized command of autocratic leadership style ensures
that the system depends entirely on the leader. If the leader is strong,
capable, competent, and just, the organization functions smoothly, and if
the leader is weak, incompetent, or has low ethical and moral standards,
the entire organization suffers for the sake of a single leader.
 Lack of involvement from the employee in the decision making process
leads to employees not assuming ownership of their work, contributing to
low morale, lack of commitment, and manifesting in high turnover,
absenteeism, and work stoppage.

17. Democratic Style of Leadership
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.

18. Cont….
Involves a team guided by a leader where all
individuals are involved in the decision-making
process to determine what needs to be done and how
it should be done.

19.  Democratic:
 Encourages decision making
from different perspectives – leadership may
be emphasised throughout
the organisation
 Consultative: process of consultation before
decisions are taken
 Persuasive: Leader takes decision and seeks to
persuade others that the decision
is correct

20. Individuals are not simply
hired hands but bring along
with them their heads and
hearts.
Democratic Belief

21.  Democratic:
 May help motivation and
involvement
 Workers feel ownership of the firm
and its ideas
 Improves the sharing of ideas
and experiences within the
business

22. Characteristics:
 Delegation of tasks to other employees and
subordinates along with full responsibility makes
them accountable for their actions and tasks.
The manager or leader in-charge is always open
to feedback (initiatives and otherwise) and it
forms the basis of future assignments.
Encouragement by the leader to inspire the
employees to become leaders and develop in this
area. The manager seeks consultation on all issues
and decisions but remains the final authority on
which ones to be put into use.

23.  Office politics that can threaten the growth and development of a
working environment can be reduced with the help of a democratic
style of leadership. All the people involved use their skills together for
the completion of a certain task and hence, almost all ideas are taken
into consideration and carefully debated.
 Communication gap is reduced. Tension between the leader and
team members is decreased as a result of which fear of rejection and
denial also reduces – this makes all sorts of issues addressable.
 A positive work environment is created. This means that a culture of
junior workers getting a fair amount of responsibility and challenges is
encouraged. When there are the right vibes among employees, work
becomes more pleasurable.

24.  Some managers adopt democratic leadership to
please their subordinates but fail to follow the
technique in its entirety. They might simply take in
all the ideas and end up never implementing them.
 The decision making process might be a long
drawn one since every team member needs to
be consulted. No one has a scarcity of ideas but to
put them all in place requires a great deal of
patience and understanding. Missing
opportunities and being stuck in the middle of a
hazard can be some of the drawbacks of this
method.

25. Leadership Styles Autocratic Leadership Democratic Leadership
Other Terms Task Oriented
Directive Leadership
Relation Oriented
Participative Leadership
Michigan Studies Job – centered Employee - centered
Blake’s Leadership
Grid
Concern for production Concern for people
Burns (1978)
Bass (1999)
Transactional Leadership Transformational
Leadership