Critical Thinking - Assignment 2
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Centennial College *
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Management
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Apr 3, 2024
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4
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2 Chapter 8, Critical Thinking: 3. Do you see any problems with a participative (democratic) leadership style? Can you see a manager getting frustrated when he or she exercises less control over others? The participative or democratic leadership is a style of leadership in which both managers and employees are involved in the decision-making process. This encourages participation, teamwork, and transparency, alongside motivating and empowering the employees. In this style of leadership, the subordinates are encouraged to share their point of view during the decision-making process, and all the members are kept informed about all the circumstances of the situations. This focus on communication is the most important aspect and the most important skill necessary for the participative leadership style to be successful. A democratic leadership can offer many advantages over other styles such as: •
Stronger teamwork: Participative leadership can increase employee satisfaction and create a stronger relationship between all the employees and the manager due to the time spent making decisions together. •
Increases innovations: When allowing all the team members to give their opinions during the decision-making process, can help to boost innovation in the sector. •
Empower the employees: This style encourages employee participation making their voice heard and consequentially creating an environment where they feel like their decision affect the work.
3 Despite all the strengths present in a participative leadership, there are drawbacks to this approach. •
Slow decision-making process: A significant drawback of involving other people in the decision-making process is how slow it can be. The process of allowing every person's opinion to be heard and taken into consideration may not be able to be executed in the need to make an urgent decision with a short deadline. •
Possibility of conflict: With open communication among all team members present in a democratic leadership process there is a risk of conflicts in the case of extremely divergent opinions resulting in personal rifts. •
Dependence on the team: The participative leadership style depends on the expertise and decision-making skills of the team. If some members are not as experienced in the discussed topic, taking their input can dilute the quality of perspectives. •
Not suited for times of crisis: During times of crisis there is no time for a democratic strategy, due to the necessity of taking action and making tough decisions as fast as possible, resulting in the impossibility of discussing a solution with the team. The manager can get frustrated when exercising less control over others when adopting a democratic leadership style. A democratic leader needs to be fair, collaborative, unbiased, empathetic, and rational. If they lack those qualities it's natural to get frustrated by this leadership style. Another perspective to be considered in the case the manager is used to working in an autocratic leadership where they are the sole responsible for the
4 decision-making process, moving to a participative leadership can be frustrating due to how much longer it takes to make decisions by having to listen to the opinion of every member of the team. In this case, the manager needs to learn the value that other people's knowledge can bring to the decision-making process in order to become more comfortable with this style.
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5 References Kokemuller, S. (n.d.). Weaknesses of a Participative Style of Management. Chron.
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/weaknesses-participative-style-management-
77537.html Nickels, W. G. et al. (2019). Understanding Canadian Business (10th ed.) McGraw Hill Education Ricotta. (n.d.). Democratic Leadership: Effective Strategies, Pros & Cons and Characteristics
. https://www.ricotta.team/blog/democratic-leadership-style STU Online. (2014, November 25). What is Democratic/Participative Leadership? How Collaboration Can Boost Morale.
https://online.stu.edu/degrees/education/democratic-participative-leadership/ Wevalgo. (n.d). Is the Democratic Leadership Really Good?
https://www.wevalgo.com/know-how/manager-
excellence/leadership/democratic-leader