Leadership Style is defined as "the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people" (U.S. Army handbook, 1973). Up to today there have been identified three management styles: authoritarian or autocratic style (power belongs to the leader), participative or democratic (decisions are made by both leader and employees) and delegative or free reign (leader allows workers to take the decisions).
I believe the most efficient management style in an organization would be the participative style. This particular type of management in a company assures a relaxed atmosphere and promotes trust between employees and manager. Also, its main advantage is that instead of deciding on his own, the leader shares the power with his employees.
Democratic management is preferred in those situations where collaboration between workers and manager is necessary, mostly because they possess complementary knowledge.
This has several effects on the workers: when involved in the decision making process, employees feel trusted and valued, which leads to improvement of their work. Moreover, when allowed to add a personal touch, employees tend to identify their own goals with the goals of the team or organization, therefore putting more effort into achieving them.
There are several other reasons in favor of participative management: employees take pride in the responsibility they have been given and work hard to prove their worth; changes that occur are accepted more easily than in the case of autocratic leadership; there is a strong relationship between manager and workers and when the first identifies problems in various areas, he can turn to his employees for help.
In a nutshell, the democratic way of running a company promotes a horizontal organizational structure rather than a vertical hierarchy and its main advantages revolve around: team work, strong and honest relationship between manager and employees, open and clear communication and encouragement of individual's creativity.
Bibliography
Project Management Issues and Considerations, Project Management Consulting, page 5, AEW Services, February 2002, accessed on July 4th 2006
http://www.maxwideman.com/issacons3/iac1361/sld005.htm
Leadership Styles, Donald Clark, created May 11th 1997, last updated September 28th 2005, accessed on July 4th 2006
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadstl.html
