Leadership Styles: Dictatorial, Authoritative, Consultative, Participative
By E. Brown
One of the first leadership books a friend recommended I read was by Myron Rush. He was kind enough to let me read his copy. After I returned the book I searched for a personal copy. I finally found a used one on an obscure Web site that an acquaintance directed me to.
While thumbing through it the other day I was reminded of differing approaches to management. Here is an excerpt and list that I am sure you can relate to.
Leadership Styles
Definitions and descriptions of leaderships styles range from the very simple to the very complex. Leadership styles can be identified by how authority is used, how a leader relates to others, employees minds and muscles are used, and how a leader communicates.
Dictatorial Style
The leader or manager using this style operates like a dictator. He or she makes all the decisions about what, where, when, why, how things are done, and who will do them. Employees failing to following directions are usually severly disciplined or given cause for “early retirement” (as recently happened to a friend of mine).
The dictatorial leader traits are: all decision-making power is theirs, unrealistic in demands, uses excessive discipline and punishment, does not allow others to question decisions or authority
A more passive style of this is: all decision-making power is theirs, unrealistic demands clouded in humor, subtle forms of discipline and punishment, allows questions about decisions (on the surface) but ignores them, pretends to be your friend only to get their way
Authoritative Style
Because of the volatile nature of the dictatorial style, more leaders and managers opt for the authoritative style.
The authoritative leader traits are: seldom lets others make decisions, feels he/she is the most qualified and experienced, considers his/her views to be most valid, lacks confidence in others abilities, critical of differing opinions, rarely gives recognition, is easily offended, uses others for his/her benefit, action oriented, highly comtetitive
The biggest weakness of this style is the failure to recognize the skills and abilities within other people. They are often denied opportunities to use or exhibit their skills in decision-making venues.
Yet, the greatest strength of this style is to produce action when it is needed.
Consultative Style
This style focuses on using the skills, experiences, and ideas of others. However, the leader or manager using this style still retains the final decision-making power. To his or her credit, they will not make major decisions without first getting the input from those that will be affected.
The consultative leader traits are: often involve others in problem solving, team building, retains right for final decisions, focuses his/her time on more important activities, provides proper recognition, delegates but keeps “veto power”, weighs all alternatives before final decision is made
Participative Style
A unique managerial style that many feel uncomfortable with is the participative style. Most of the authority, not all, is given to the team. The manager remains the team leader.
The participative leader traits are: team member ideas or equal with the leader, everyone’s input is considered, leader is team facilitator, leader is coach/player, frequently accepts teams ideas over own, focus is on stimulating creativity, creates culture of innovation
Is there a “right” leadership style? Most manager tend to promote one over another. The fact is there is no “One style”, that one silver bullet. A good leader learns to recognize when and how to use any or all of the above the styles. We will discuss when to use each of the different styles in a following article. Until then, let me know your thoughts.
Related Links
- Leadership Styles: When To Use Them
- How Leadership Styles Affect Productivity
- Personality Types: Lion, Otter, Golden Retriever, and Beaver
- You Might Be A Micromanager If…
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September 4, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Hey, I am also interested in management.
How do you know what type of Leadership a manager should use in this or that situation?
September 4, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Roman, good question. I’ll be posting the answer to that tomorrow. Keep reading and thank you for your comments. -eb
September 5, 2007 at 11:06 am
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September 5, 2007 at 3:48 pm
[...] Links - Leadership Styles: Dictatorial, Authoritative, Consultative, Participative - Leadership Styles: When To Use Them - Personality Types: Lion, Otter, Golden Retriever, and [...]
September 5, 2007 at 3:52 pm
[...] Links - Leadership Styles: Dictatorial, Authoritative, Consultative, Participative - Leadership Styles: When To Use Them - Personality Types: Lion, Otter, Golden Retriever, and [...]
September 6, 2007 at 8:34 pm
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September 27, 2007 at 12:52 pm
I find myself agreeing with your statement that a good - I’ll take that as consistently effective - leader is one that:
- Can use any of the styles of leadership with at least competence
- Knows when to use each style
September 27, 2007 at 1:47 pm
jonolan,
As always, good comment. It is easy to gravitate toward one or two styles (in line with one’s personality) and forget to have a balanced approach. It is hard work and often, bosses do not want to do the hard work. They feel they already have and that they earned the right to be jerks or apathetic paper-pushers. No one ever said being a boss/manager was easy.
-eb
September 27, 2007 at 1:49 pm
jonolan,
As always, good comment. It is easy to gravitate toward one or two styles (in line with one’s personality) and forget to have a balanced approach. It is hard work and often, bosses do not want to do the hard work. They feel they already have and that they earned the right to be jerks or apathetic paper-pushers. No one ever said being a boss/manager was easy.
-eb
September 27, 2007 at 1:53 pm
eb,
I think many “bosses” never actually learned how to lead. They never had the opportunity or never chose to study the various philosophies involved in leading people. LOL! It’s bloody hard work all right.
-jonolan
September 27, 2007 at 2:31 pm
jonolan,
Well said. I know of many occasions when a person has been promoted into management because they were good workers. They were never assessed for leadership skills. The promotee never thought about it either — they were glad to get the added salary. Yet, after time the truth came out.
I know of one rare occasion, when a new manager asked to be demoted because he realized he was in over his head. Kudos to him for recognizing he was working outside of his skill set. Not many like that around.
-eb
October 18, 2007 at 10:29 am
[...] I believe to be a much better approach is covered in my series of articles on Leadership Styles. The Authoritative style needs to be stressed in this instance. I agree that there are times when a [...]
December 18, 2007 at 9:30 am
Leadership Styles
A Leadership Style is defined by how decisions are made. Dictator: Power-Mad Boss makes all decisions. If she is a true tyrant, she often makes unrealistic demands, takes no feedback and disciplines those who do not follow orders severely. The Benevole…
June 3, 2008 at 2:00 am
While leadership is often thought of a vague subject, it’s really a lifelong journey of self-improvement in the area of leading teams to achieving your goals. we can all improve our leadership through the study of the principles and some self-awareness and the willingness to apply these ideas in our teams.
June 4, 2008 at 12:49 pm
@Chris - Well said. It is a journey and you hit on one of the more profound truths in good leaders, they are self-aware. To many leaders run about “doing things” without being very effective. That is why I am a big advocate of accountability. We always do better when someone we trust is watching. They are looking out for our best interests and not trying to play “one ups-manship.”
Thanks for the comment! -eb