Types of Supervisors and Bosses

Composition II

Interview Summary

Types of Bosses/Supervisors

For the various organizational goals and objectives to be accomplished, resources (including human resources) must be organized and activities directed in an optimal manner. Those who engage in the said organization of resources as well as direction of various organizational activities are commonly referred to as bosses, supervisors, or simply leaders. It would be prudent to note that not all bosses embrace the same approach to management and/or leadership. We could, thus, classify bosses based on the leadership styles and approaches they deploy. Towards this end, the following types of bosses/supervisors exist: authoritarian or autocratic bosses, transformational bosses, and laissez-faire bosses.

To begin with, authoritarian bosses are those who subscribe to the authoritarian approach to leadership and management. According to Schedlitzki and Edwards, authoritarian leaders prefer to make all the decisions by themselves and rarely invite employees to participate in decision making (330). As the authors further point out, these kinds of bosses seek to centralize decision-making power and rarely consult subordinates (Schedlitzki and Edwards 330). Although authoritarian bosses could be quite effective in situations that require or call for prompt decision-making, their approach to leadership and management could hurt the morale of employees or staff. Further, an authoritarian boss could stifle innovation as he or she permits little to no input from subordinates or staff.

Next, we also have transformational bosses. These are those bosses who subscribe to the transformational approach to leadership. According to Tarallo, transformational bosses seek to not only empower, but also inspire those that they lead (216). More specifically, in the words of the author, leaders in this particular category “inspire growth, promote loyalty, and instill confidence in group members” (Tarallo 216). Towards this end, they tend to be inspirational, understanding, and supportive. Tarallo points out that owing to their ability to inspire followers, transformational bosses often lead motivated and high-performance teams. For this reason, this approach to leadership has the ability to foster innovation and creativity (217).

Lastly, laissez-faire bosses seek to delegate most of the responsibilities to subordinates. These kinds of leaders, as Stacey points out, believe that employees have the capability and knowledge to make the right decisions (98). They, thus, desist from micromanagement of subordinates. It should be noted that as the author in this case further indicates, this does not mean that these kinds of bosses totally relinquish responsibility (Stacey 99). As a matter of fact, laissez-faire bosses do take charge and responsibility when called upon to do so. However, their approach is largely hands-off and allows subordinates to have greater say in the methods and approaches used to accomplish certain tasks and activities. According to Bojeun, laissez-faire bosses often have the capability to foster a creative and progressive work environment. However, this leadership approach could result in confusion over who is actually in control (Bojeun 107).