Are you an autocrat or a democrat? It’s all a matter of style
What is your management style? If you say ‘I have no idea, I’m not a manager’, you are missing the point. In the first place, we are all managers of our daily lives. In the second place, we all have a normal management style, whether or not we have a management job. Your management style is the way you deal with people, particularly when you have to make decisions which involve other people. It is very important to know your style, because you may be using the wrong style at times to achieve your objectives. As you know, a good approach to decision-making is the DIGEST system (see Digest … in this publication). We can reveal a person’s management style by asking this question: ‘When do you involve workers in a decision?’
The old style of management in business was autocratic. In an autocratic style, the manager does not ask for any help or involve the workers at any stage in the process (see Table 1). However, nowadays, many managers use a participatory management style. They involve the workers in some stages but retain control of the decision-making (see Table 2). In a third style, called democratic – Table 3 – the manager involves the workers at all stages except defining the problem (D) and telling people the decision (T). This style is still unusual in business.
Table 1: Autocratic management stages
So what is your management style? Imagine that you have to make a decision which involves other people. For example, let’s say that your tutor has asked you to organize a social event for the students in your group. You could make all the decisions yourself or ask the other students to help you at any stage. Draw up a table (like 1, 2 and 3 on the right) and put ticks against each part of DIGEST.
Now show your table to your friends, because the views of other people are very important in a case like this. They may agree with your ticks or think that you have not been honest about your real management style. You may think, for example, that you involve people in generating alternative possibilities. But in reality, you will only accept your own possibilities and make fun of any other suggestions.
So what is your real management style – autocratic, participatory or democratic? Once you know your management style, you can make another decision. You can decide to change your style completely or for particular situations. For example, an autocratic manager at work may not ‘manage’ his wife or her husband in this way, or a teenage child.
D I
G E S
T
manager
D I
G E S
T
stages D I
G E S
T
manager
workers
Table 2: Participatory management stages
workers
Table 3: Democratic management manager
workers
Theme 3: Reading 91
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