Leaders who adopt an autocratic style favor making decisions on their own and telling other people what to do. In leadership training, the autocratic style of leadership is often criticized because it negates developing relationships between members of the organization that allow decisions to be made by leaders and followers. However, autocratic-style leadership can have positive effects on increasing production results and dealing effectively with crisis situations.
High Stress
Because the autocratic style of leadership relies on issuing directives, members of the organization often feel stressed as they try to evaluate their performance against the expectations of the leader. Often, because the leader takes responsibility for motivating the workers, he also feels obligated to push workers to produce using negative reinforcement and punishment tactics. Members of the organization become stressed due to the high expectations and a low feeling of worth because they can't make decisions and aren't allowed to be directly responsible for their work.
Lessened Commitment
Many times workers will lose their commitment to the organization because the autocratic style of leadership strips them of their responsibility for the organization's success. Because members of the organization are marginalized in favor of a leader who makes all of the decisions and takes the credit for success, there are usually higher levels of absenteeism and quitting. Without a sense of ownership in the organization, workers don't feel as committed.
Effective Results in Urgent Situations
Some situations call for the autocratic style of leadership, particularly those that are urgent or dangerous. For example, a leader might choose to delegate specific tasks to her followers if the organization needs to meet an urgent deadline where something important is at stake, such as the organization's image. A leader who has more knowledge about react to the crisis situation will be able to effectively delegate tasks to workers to ensure that the organization and its members make it through the crisis.
Helps New Members
New members of an organization often want to fit in and look to leaders for guidance on what they should do to feel they are part of the team. Autocratic leadership helps new members by teaching them exactly perform a task so the new member has a set of clear expectations. Also, new members might be reluctant to try new things or take ownership because they are afraid of stepping on other members' toes. Autocratic leadership allows knowledgeable members to direct new members in terms of appropriate behavior until the new members are capable of making decisions on their own.
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