Participative leadership style and organizational outcomes

Participative Leadership Style

Each and every leader exhibits a certain pattern of behavior which dictates the way he or she reacts to people or situations. It is this behavior pattern that further determines the approach a leader adopts in seeking to influence others towards goal accomplishment. This text concerns itself with the participative style of leadership.

The participative style of leadership according to Northouse (2009) "consists of inviting subordinates to share in the decision making." Thus in this case, the leader ensures that subordinates actively participate in the decision making process. When a manager for instance wants to cut costs through the adoption of new production methods, he or she can first seek the input of subordinates before implementing such an idea or go ahead and implement the same without involving subordinates. The latter approach is referred to as autocratic leadership while the former is participative leadership in which case subordinates are actively involved in decision making. It is however important to note that although a participative leader attaches significant value to the opinions and viewpoints of subordinates, the final decision making authority still rests with him or her. When workers are involved in decision making, they feel more appreciated. This leadership style according to Gitman and McDaniel (2007) is common in many successful organizations. Indeed, participative leadership has a unique ability to motivate employees as they can easily identify with the decisions they helped formulate.

Participative leadership is largely effective in a number of scenarios. To begin with, this leadership style is most effective when the leader does not possess all the information needed to solve a certain problem or make an informed decision. In such a case, the input of subordinates can be invaluable. Secondly, this leadership style is also most effective when subordinates are committed to the accomplishment of organizational goals. Further, the participative leadership style can also be said to be highly effective in a team setting. When used in a team setting, this leadership style facilitates the sharing of ideas thus increasing the team's probability of success.

However, the participative leadership style is not considered effective when time is of the essence i.e. when a leader is short on time. Given its very nature, this leadership style invites subordinates to make key decisions alongside the leader. However, there are those scenarios where consultations could end up being counter productive i.e. when any sort of delay in decision making could trigger substantial losses. Secondly, this style of leadership is not effective in those scenarios where a significant level of distrust exists between a leader and subordinates. Such distrust could end up getting in the way of consultations. Further, the quality of suggestions offered in this case remains largely questionable. Also, in those instances where the leader and subordinates do not share common objectives, this leadership style may not be effective.