Autocratic leaders

As we have discussed in the preceeding chapters, Mark rose rapidly to positions of high responsibility at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute and I.G. Farben. A young, gregarious leader among the autocratic leaders of German science and industry, he developed a style which was unique at that time and place. 

In reality, there are at least two possible solutions to this critical mass problem that don t involve increasing the project team hierarchy, but both depend on exceptional situations. With an extraordinarily broad-minded, open, and cooperative project team large yet functional meetings are sometimes possible, but it s not something one can always count on. Alternately, an autocratic project team leader can run effective large meetings, but if he s that much of an autocrat, why have a project team at all ... 

Flexibility. Successful leaders size up a situation, and adjust their style accordingly (Hersey and Blanchard, 1982). At times, some groups and circumstances call for firm direction—an autocratic style. At other times, the same people might work better under a nondirective, hands-off approach—a democratic style. The best leaders are good at assessing people and situations, and then matching their behavior to fit the need (Zaccaro etal., 1991). 

Autocratic complete control by the leader (like the quasi-mihtary management style mentioned above) ... 

How the leader influences—the leader s style—encircles his personal safety ethic. Over the years, researchers and scholars have described a plethora of leadership styles—laissez-faire, autocratic, charismatic, participative, transactional, theories X, Y, and Z—to name just a few. One widely researched style, transformational leadership, stands out as consistently predictive of business outcomes. The transformational leader focuses on the future, and her approach is strongly oriented toward developing her people. By going beyond her own self-interest, such a leader inspires employees to go beyond their mere shortterm self-interest. The transactional leader, in contrast, focuses on current results and undertakes individual exchanges (of recognition, position, or money) to deliver expected results in the near term. We ll explore these two leadership styles, both of which have their merits and uses, later in this chapter. 

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