Leadership Skills and Motivation
Definition of Leadership
- Ability to influence people.
- Getting people to follow a particular path.
Leadership Styles
1. Autocratic Leadership
- Characteristics:
- Likes to be in control.
- No consultation with employees.
- Does not trust employees.
- Delegates very little.
- Uses fear to motivate staff.
- Advantages:
- Disadvantages:
- Can demotivate staff and lower morale due to lack of consultation.
2. Democratic Leadership
- Characteristics:
- Shares control with employees.
- Delegates work.
- Asks for opinions and ideas from staff.
- Trusts employees to do the job correctly.
- Persuasive in approach rather than using orders.
- Advantages:
- Better decisions through collective input.
- Disadvantages:
- Time-consuming decision-making process.
3. Laissez-faire Leadership
- Characteristics:
- Delegates almost all work to employees.
- Interferes very little.
- High trust in employees.
- Allows staff to set their own objectives.
- Advantages:
- Managers are free to focus on other tasks, improving productivity.
- Disadvantages:
- Can lead to lack of direction and confusion among staff.
Delegation
- Definition: Manager gives responsibility to a subordinate to carry out a task. Ultimate responsibility remains with the manager.
- Advantages:
- Increases efficiency and frees up manager’s time.
- Provides experience and training for subordinates.
- Boosts employee motivation by assigning managerial tasks.
- Allows managers to assess subordinates’ capability with responsibility.
- Problems with Lack of Delegation:
- Managers may take on too much work, leading to stress and incomplete tasks.
- Employees may feel unvalued, leading to demotivation.
- Lack of experience for staff when promoted.
Conclusion
- Reviewed leadership skills with a focus on autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire styles.
- Discussed the importance and benefits of delegation.
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