Compare and Contrast Two Leadership Styles or Theories

Sample Answer

Leadership refers to the art of inspiring a group of people to act towards the realization of a common objective. As such, a leader can be defined as a person with have a combination of personality and leadership skills to influence others to follow his or her direction. To be an effective leader, one has to be motivating, visionary, and responsible to successfully run an organization (Zaccaro, Dubrow & Kolze, 2018). Consequently, this paper seeks to compare the democratic and autocratic leadership styles in nursing.

The democratic leadership connotes a style where participation in decision making is encouraged. A democratic nurse leader accommodates perspectives of subordinates and promotes open communication (McKeown & Carey, 2015). Although the ultimate decision is made by the manager, the stakeholders and subordinates are asked to provide their feedback and are also given feedback. Conversely, autocratic leadership connotes a style where the manager is the boss who makes all decisions and gives particular orders and directions to the subjects, but discourages dissent.

Rationale for Selecting the Leadership Styles

The rationale for selecting the democratic and autocratic leadership styles is to create a clear understanding of the styles to nurse managers who possess either of them. The above is based on the fact that the two leadership styles carry an impact on the willingness of the workforce to perform their duties and responsibilities with dedication. Consequently, the significance of the democratic style of leadership in nursing is that it improves the participation of subordinates in the decision making process of the organization (McKeown & Carey, 2015).

It also enhances joint goal setting where every employee is free to give suggestions on various aspects of management. It increases employees’ sense of belonging and value because they feel appreciated and engaged in the organization. On the other hand, the significance of autocratic leadership style is in its improvement of productivity. Since autocratic leaders have the ability to move information in the entire organization faster, few delays are often witnessed in the productivity chain.

Employees are less likely to stop their engagements or deter them since they get timely communication and decision from their leadership (Cope & Murray, 2017).

Similarities and Differences between Democratic and Autocratic Leadership Styles

Essentially, democratic and autocratic leadership styles have little in common to share because they appear to be the exact opposites of one another. However, a similarity can be identified in the sense that ideas need to be stored in both cases prior to making a business decision. In democratic leadership, employees are involved first before the decision making process. The same applies in autocratic organization where the leader must first consider the decision before rolling out to employees.

According to Cope and Murray (2017), there are several differences in the two leadership styles. In democratic leadership, employees are involved in decision making while an autocratic leader tends to make independent decisions. Besides, while autocratic leadership is mostly oriented towards realization of organizational goals, democratic leadership emphasizes on developing relationship with employees. Regarding their difference in degree of control, autocratic leadership demonstrates more control over employees, while democratic leadership shows low degree of control over employees.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Democratic Leadership

Democratic leadership is associated with many advantages. First, it focuses on team involvement, participation, and engagement. The contribution of every employee is welcomed and their performance also acknowledged and rewarded where necessary. In turn, the level of employees’ morale is elevated. Besides, the level of productivity is high and employees often create innovative and creative ideas because of high cooperation of employees. This leadership style also encourages communication which is critical in enhancing motivation and ensuring greater adaptability and flexibility.

On the other hand, disadvantages include time wastage when trying to come to consensus during decision making, which may cause serious damages in situations that require immediate actions. Besides, the style is not suitable where decision making should be made instantly. Further, there is a possibility of making wrong decisions where unskilled employees are involved in decision making.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Autocratic Leadership

Autocratic leadership is associated with several merits such as having a clear line of control because every decision emanates from the leaders. It is also easy to learn due to its intuitive nature, which does not need expert training or knowledge of leadership theory. Besides, it also fosters faster decision making, and improves productivity. Adversely, the demerits include increased work burden to the leaders because a leader is fully responsible for every operation.

There is also a danger of depending entirely on a leader and employees are not empowered to work in the absence of a leader. Moreover, it is unsuitable for highly trained and motivated employees who do not need to be told what to do. This leadership style lowers their morale and reduces creativity and productivity.

The Environment/Conditions Where Both Styles Would Work Best

Autocratic leadership style can best work in straightforward or simple tasks. It is also critical in emergency situations where a strong voice to give direction is necessary. On the other hand, democratic leadership can work best where there is need to develop relationship with staff members, which is anchored on trust and accountability.

Summary

Both leadership styles have merits and demerits and so, their suitability depends on the needs of the organization and what is to be achieved. It is important to identify the leadership style to employ in an organization because every style tends to impact the willingness of the workforce to perform their duties and responsibilities with dedication and also great influence on the job satisfaction and determination of nurses.

Essentially, nursing practice is centered on professional nurses. Therefore, leadership is significant for nurses at all levels to ensure safety of care and positive outcomes. The effectiveness of leadership style employed by nurse leaders is crucial determinant of job commitment and satisfaction among nurses.

References

• Cope, V., & Murray, M. (2017). Leadership styles in nursing. Nursing Standard, 31(43).
• McKeown, M., & Carey, L. (2015). Democratic leadership a charming solution for nursing’s legitimacy crisis. Journal of clinical nursing, 24(3-4), 315-317.
• Zaccaro, S. J., Dubrow, S., & Kolze, M. (2018). Leader traits and attributes. In J. Antonakis & D. V. Day (Eds.), The nature of leadership (p. 29–55). Sage Publications, Inc.