Which leadership style encourages group participation in all decision
The democratic/participative leadership style places significant responsibility on leaders and their staff. This is true for all organizations — from private enterprises and government agencies to educational institutions and nonprofit entities. Show
Read on to discover more about democratic/participative leadership:
Democratic/participative leadership definitionIt’s difficult to imagine democratic leaders accomplishing their goals without direct participation from others. Participation is key to all successful democratic enterprises. This includes:
What is the definition of democratic/participative leadership?One of the clearest definitions of democratic leadership comes from John Gastil. His 1994 article, “A Definition and Illustration of Democratic Leadership” for the Human Relations journal remains relevant to private industry and the free market. Gastil, a professor at Penn State University, has written extensively about jury selection and democratic participation in the deliberations process. His succinct definition of democratic leadership explains that it is conceptually distinct from positions of authority. Gastil’s definition of democratic leadership: “Distributing responsibility among the membership, empowering group members, and aiding the group’s decision-making process.” What is participative leadership?Edwin A. Locke, a professor emeritus of leadership and motivation at the University of Maryland, offers an expanded definition of democratic leadership by adding participative to the equation. Participative leadership is “any power-sharing arrangement in which workplace influence is shared among individuals who are otherwise hierarchical unequals” Locke and his colleague David Schweiger explain in “Participation in Decision-Making: One More Look.” The authors warn that leaders should be careful when using the participatory style because it can backfire. If people feel their input is being ignored, the democratic/participative style “can actually lead to lower employee satisfaction and productivity,” Locke and his colleague wrote in 1979. The key to letting subordinates take part in decision-making is to build mature teams with experienced and cooperative people. Democratic/participative teams are not only capable of making good decisions but they also support their group’s goals — even when their own suggestions aren’t adopted. History of democratic/participative leadershipThe democratic leadership style always involves participative decision-making. It empowers employees to have a strong hand in managing organizations. Democratic/participative leadership — or the “style with two names” — has become popular in recent decades. It dates to the 1930s and ’40s. That’s when noted behavioral researcher Kurt Lewin led studies that helped identify the value of the democratic/participative leadership style in organizations. In “Leadership and Group Life,” Lewin and his colleagues Ronald Lippitt and Ralph K. White cite democratic, laissez-faire and autocratic as the three primary leadership styles. Based on interviews with business leaders and employees, Lewin, Lippitt and White concluded that the democratic leadership style was the most popular among subordinates. Successful democratic leaders differ from autocratic and laissez-faire leaders in two important ways.
Democratic/participative leaders have enormous responsibilities. Organizations that incorporate the democratic style still need strong leaders who know how to avoid the pitfalls that can trip up collaborative teams when they lose their compass. Case in point: AppleApple was a successful company from 1976 to 1985, before it almost failed in the mid-1990s. Then it became enormously successful again — precisely because it faltered. In other words, Apple had a vision. Apple lost its vision. Apple regained its vision. That’s rare. In the mid-1990s Gateway, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and other companies reportedly zeroed in on Apple as an acquisition target. Years later, many of those brands disappeared. Yet Apple survived. Apple survived because Steve Jobs learned how to adapt. He became a democratic/participative leader. Jobs started out as a charismatic/laissez-faire leader, and Apple soared. Then he became an autocratic leader, and Apple’s board of directors requested his resignation. When he returned to Apple more than 10 years later, Jobs combined several leadership styles and added democratic/participative to his repertoire. He hired other experienced leaders and entrusted them to excel. Jobs encouraged his lead designer Jonathon Ive, and he mentored manufacturing expert Tim Cook, now CEO. He let them make key decisions. That’s why Apple survived. Examples of democratic/participative leadershipAll successful leaders are self-actualizing people with loads of self-confidence. They take responsibility for their actions, they support their teams, and they don’t make excuses for failures. Among U.S. presidents, there are many examples of men who brought the democratic/participative leadership style to the Oval Office. Most of these presidents exhibited traits that reflected a variety of leadership styles. U.S. presidents with democratic leadership traits:
If there is a lesson to learn from these presidents it’s that the best leaders find the right style to suit the needs of a nation or organization, crisis or paradigm shift. Democratic leadership in businessBusiness enterprises and other organizations comprise numerous experts, so they are well-suited to the democratic/participative leadership process. Whether it’s a CEO or a project manager, democratic leaders can be effective in business if they surround themselves with experienced players. The participatory style works best with experts who know their jobs and carry out their responsibilities under minimal supervision. This is true for:
Yet in private businesses and government agencies with strict procedures or a high turnover of employees, the autocratic leadership style is often more appropriate. Even within these environments, though, divisions exist that function best under a democratic/participative leadership style. Examples:
Companies that reflect democratic leadership principlesMost successful companies evolve, and their leaders display a mix of leadership styles. They have autocratic leaders who run manufacturing, quality control and distribution divisions along with R&D teams spearheaded by democratic/participative leaders. Examples of companies where democratic/participative leadership works:
Famous democratic/participative leadersThe democratic/participative leadership style works best in creative businesses, design firms and corporations driven by research and development. The participatory leadership style is also well-suited for educational institutions with collaborative environments. Examples of leaders who exhibit democratic/participative leadership style:
A major characteristic among democratic/participative leaders is inclusiveness. Democratic leaders seek participation from a wide range of people, including women. Democratic/participatory leadership quotesThese leaders are known as big innovators and strong collaborators. Many of them blended different leadership styles or evolved to adopt the characteristics of democratic leaders. Here are some quotations that reveal their devotion to democratic and participatory leadership: Thomas Aquinas: “If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.” Jeff Bezos: “I strongly believe that missionaries make better products. They care more. For a missionary, it’s not just about the business. There has to be a business, and the business has to make sense. But that’s not why you do it. You do it because you have something meaningful that motivates you.” Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” David Packard: “Take risks. Ask big questions. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not reaching far enough.” Steve Jobs: “One of the keys to Apple is Apple’s an incredibly collaborative company.” Ginny Rometty: “I ask everyone’s opinion when they don’t speak up. And then, when they have an opinion, I’ll ask others to talk about it.” Mahatma Gandhi: “Honest disagreement is a good sign of progress.” Tommy Lasorda: “I believe managing is like holding a dove in your hand. Squeeze too hard and you kill it, not hard enough and it flies away.” William J. Mayo: “Lord, deliver me from the man who never makes a mistake. And also from the man who makes the same mistake twice.” Bill George: “You’d sit in a business meeting and say, ‘Is this product good enough to go to patients — so 100 percent of all patients who get it are going to have their lives improved? If it’s not, we’re going to have to go back to the drawing board.'” Thomas Jefferson: “Delay is preferable to error.” Jerry Yang: “Certainly Yahoo wouldn’t exist without the sort of environment that Stanford gave us to create it.” Sergey Brin: “Solving big problems is easier than solving little problems.” Tip O’Neill: “It’s easier to run for office than to run the office.” Jimmy Carter: “The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself — always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity.” Democratic leadership case study: TwitterIt should come as no surprise that a company devoted to instantaneously spreading the word about anything and everything in 140 characters or less has a reputation for being collaborative. Twitter, which has seen fits and starts since its founding nearly a decade ago, has a shared leadership style that starts at the top. Founded by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass, Twitter began life in 2006 as a democratic/participative enterprise. It remains so today. Each of Twitter’s co-founders had a different vision of what the company should become. That vision ranged from a rebellious underground domain to a kind of brand central station where any company or individual could spread the word about their products and aspirations to thousands of followers. Dorsey, who has been called “the real core co-founder,” never wavered from his vision of Twitter as a text-messaging service that would change the world as we know it — or as the young Dorsey knew it when he started coding Twitter two decades ago. Dorsey is both a democratic and a laissez-faire leader. A consummate multitasker, his family and peers know him as a utilitarian hipster with fashion sense. He dislikes all waste and cherishes his haircuts. He grew up listening to C-band radio dispatches of emergency personnel responding to crimes and fires, false alarms and deadly events. Although Dorsey has returned in the role of executive chairman, Twitter remains minimalist and collaborative. Both Dorsey and Twitter represent the new wave of democratic/participative leadership in business. Like Dorsey, Twitter has taken several years to find its compass. Twitter’s strength? Brevity is imperative in the new world of social media. Democratic/participative leadership style requirementsDemocratic leadership has many names. They include:
The democratic/participative leadership style has some similarities to laissez-faire leadership, but there are also significant differences. Laissez-faire leaders allow subordinates to decide how to complete their tasks and projects, but not to make organization-wide decisions. Participative leadership not only accepts subordinates’ comments, ideas and suggestions, it also encourages their input on decisions and strategies. Both of these styles depend on the leader having skilled, educated and experienced employees. Using the democratic leadership style with inexperienced personnel is asking for trouble unless the workers have an extraordinary intuition for what needs to be done. Still, most of the noted democratic/participative leaders throughout history have succeeded because they encouraged their staff to get involved in the discussions about major and minor decisions. Democratic leaders are highly rationalNoted organizational psychologist Bernard M. Bass studied Lewin’s big three leadership styles: laissez-faire, autocratic and democratic. In “The Bass Handbook of Leadership,” he pointed out successful leaders typically exhibit many traits from different leadership styles. Bass, a professor emeritus at Binghamton University and founding director of the Center for Leadership Studies who died in 2007, observed that democratic leaders are factual and rational in their approach to problem-solving and evaluating staff performance. He also observed that democratic leaders “de-emphasized social distance,” while autocratic leaders exhibited their higher social stature among subordinates. Social standing is one of several key distinctions between autocratic and democratic leaders. Although both styles can be effective, autocratic leaders are authoritarian because they often supervise inexperienced subordinates, or they’re charged with training experienced people to perform new tasks quickly — such as learning an innovative software program or adopting an updated quality-control process. By comparison, democratic/participative leaders are:
Peter Drucker on leadership qualitiesPeter Drucker, renowned management consultant and best-selling author, wasn’t big on labels. But he understood the distinctions among different types of leaders. In one of his last interviews, Drucker discussed business ethics with Forbes magazine. Drucker’s advice for executives, particularly democratic/participative leaders, still rings true. Democratic leaders are superb multitaskers. As Drucker points out, productive leaders are extraordinarily accomplished because they rely on experts to make suggestions without relinquishing control of the decision-making process. In 2004, Drucker said: “Don’t take on things you don’t believe in and that you yourself are not good at. Learn to say no. Effective leaders match the objective needs of their company with the subjective competencies. As a result, they get an enormous amount of things done fast.” What are the characteristics of democratic leaders?Democratic/participative leaders share common traits with laissez-faire leaders, such as delegating. The key distinction is their involvement in the decision-making process. Democratic leaders don’t simply hire experts to run divisions or projects and then wait for the results. They insert themselves in the process and stay informed. They often rely heavily on data, but they are not slaves to metrics. They balance the instincts of experienced team leaders with the realities of the marketplace. They are problem solvers. If there is no demand for a great idea, democratic leaders will often pass on it. They take risks, but they know when to cut their losses. Democratic/participative leaders are:
One of the key selling points about democratic leadership compared to other styles is that it works well throughout an organization. The autocratic leadership style, by comparison, works within certain departments but not necessarily from the top down. Authoritarian leadership can be stifling and demoralizing if it exists throughout an entire organization. The democratic/participative style can exist at every level in some companies. This style can work well in an organization that is focused on growth, research and talent acquisition. Private companies, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations in expansion mode are well-suited for the democratic/participative leadership style because it encourages collaboration. Participatory leadership rewards success and fosters a collegial environment. Smart, talented people love collegial environments. It’s up to democratic/participative leaders to recruit them, encourage them and monitor their progress just enough to ensure productivity. If there is one caveat to the participatory leadership style it is this: Too much consensus building can lead to stagnation. At the end of the day, someone has to take responsibility for the decisions. Successful democratic/participative leaders step up to the plate. They make the final decisions. The best ones are prepared. They know when they’re going to hit one out of the ballpark. They not only trust their teams, but they stay informed about workflow progress on a regular basis. Advantages and disadvantages of democratic/participative leadershipIn theory, the advantages of democratic leadership are obvious to subordinates. Most people prefer to work within a leadership structure that encourages thoughtful discussion and rewards collaborative processes. In reality, not all organizations lend themselves to the democratic leadership style. Executives, board members, trustees and investors have expectations centered on productivity. For them, the participative leadership style may seem inappropriate. In some companies and organizations, where internal processes are highly focused, strictly controlled and often perfected, other leadership styles, like autocratic, are a better fit. It’s up to leaders to determine the best style for working groups within their companies and institutions. Here are some considerations: Democratic leadership pros
Democratic leadership cons
Benefits of democratic/participative leadershipThe democratic style requires a special type of leader, but it also requires a special group of participants. Everyone has to be on board with the participatory process. This requires an extremely intuitive and observant leader who acts decisively when conflicts arise among team members. Participatory leadership traitsAlthough some democratic leaders are charismatic, many are not. Because they tend to be highly rational, democratic leaders are often even-keeled. They are not prone to sweeping inspirational speeches or motivating staff with a gung-ho style aimed at attaining short-term goals. Democratic/participative leaders are self-confident, but they’re also pragmatic. They surround themselves with like-minded people who set realistic goals and achieve them. The axiom “train your replacement” may apply best to the democratic leadership style. Effective democratic leaders are so adept that their staff appears to function well without them. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that participatory leaders are easily replaced. The best democratic/participative leaders are great multitaskers. They are able to handle the challenge of working with experienced people on collaborative teams without losing sight of objectives or deadlines. Democratic/participative leaders are focused on accomplishing goals. Productivity is the key to adopting this leadership style. To be successful, democratic leaders must have productive teams that meet expectations. Sources: “Kurt Lewin: groups, experiential learning and action research” John Gastil, “A Definition and Illustration of Democratic Leadership” Related ArticlesWhat You Need to Know About Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing Nurses in an RN to BSN program gain extensive knowledge about evidence-based practice (EBP) and ways to incorporate research into patient care. 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Submit This iframe contains the logic required to handle Ajax powered Gravity Forms.Submit this form, and an Enrollment Specialist will contact you to answer your questions. *All fields required. Submit Or call 855-215-4021 By submitting this form, I am providing my digital signature agreeing that St. Thomas University (STU) may email me or contact me regarding educational services by telephone and/or text message utilizing automated technology or a pre-recorded message at the telephone number(s) provided above. I understand this consent is not a condition to attend STU or to purchase any other goods or services. Which leader encourages participation of all?Definition of participative leadership
Participative leadership is also known as democratic leadership, as management teams encourage all employees to participate.
Which leadership style is also known as the participative style?Participative Leadership. Sometimes referred to as democratic leadership, participative leadership is a leadership style encouraging leaders to listen to their employees and involve them in decision-making process.
Which leadership styles allow for participation of the members in an organization?Democratic leadership invites the participation of staff members and others, not only in decision-making, but in shaping the organization's vision. It allows everyone to express opinions about how things should be done, and where the organization should go.
Which style of leadership is one promotes the active participation of workers in taking decisions?As a result, participative leadership, which encourages and supports employees to participate in the decision-making process of organizations, has received increasing attention in both theory and practice.
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