Alex Ferguson – Autocratic Leadership Style
Leadership Styles: Autocratic Leadership Style This is the type of leadership exhibits by dictators. A leader exerts high levels of power over his or her followers. An autocratic leader gives his or her idea which the team must follow. He or she has no time for deliberations on others ideas before chosing one. In autocracy, time wasting in long deliberations is reduced but most followers will not like being treated as bench warmers without having anything to contribute. For leading unskilled workers who do not have any skill about a job, this leadership style is appropriate.
Charismatic Leadership Style This is the type of leadership in which the leader lead through encouragement and enthusiasm. A charismatic leader builds power around himself or herself which draws followers around him or her. Charismatic leaders wield so much power about their team that team success always depends on them. They control too much influence on their team. Bureaucratic Leadership Style Bureaucratic leaders are principled and lead by instructions. They write instructions and expect workers and followers to follow these.
It is good for works requiring rules like using machineries but not good for management and skilled staff because it delimits their initiatives. Influential Leadership Style An influential leader delibrates with his team members and followers and use thir contributions to make decisions. Where he or she has a clear road map on the way he or she wants to go, an influential leader will still brain-storm with his or her team member and help the team to come out with his or her idea as collective team decision. He or she is a good moderator nd effective talker. He or she communicates with the team and highlights what needs to be done. He or she rely on his or her team support for performance of the task. He or she develops the team members by delegating tasks and allowing members to air their opinions. This type of leadership is appropriate for managing people with skill and education but not people who do not have ideas about the tasks. Laissez-Faire Leadership Style This is free style leadership style in which the leader gives adequate authority to the team members to decide on their own.
Laissez-Faire is a French word meaning individualistic. A Laissez-Faire leader does not encourage team work, but allows the team members to work individually. It is good to manage skilled workers and where everybody knows his or her role, for example, a University Departmental staff, but it may put a leader out of control if care is not taken. Participatory Leadership Style This is a type of leadership in which the leader shows examples by participating with his or her team members and showing them what to do so that they can carry out the task on their own in future.
It asumes that all team members except the leader do not know the task. It encourages teamwork and ensures that all team members are aware of the task ahead. It is a good way of fostering collaboration. Most skilled workers will not fancy participatory leader because he or she shows thinks that he or she knows all. Service-Oriented Leadership Style It is a type of leadership style in which the leader moderates all team members to reach decision. He is at the back watching proceedings and only comes out with what the team has ageed.
It is a form of democracy except that the leader does not influence decision making. The leader only supply the team members with enough information and background for them to deliberate. It is a good way of leadership where the leader does not have knowledge about the technicalities of what is being decided. For example as a chairman of a committee in which he or she does not have knowledge of how things work. It may expose a leader as a novice if he or she does not manage the situation well. Managerial Leadership Style
A managerial leader is only interested in making sure that the job is done. He or she is only concern about the welfare of his or her team in as much as they can do the job. His or her team is measured by its performance. A managerial leader sees all his or her team members as tools for job performance and dispensable. He may be influential or autocratic depending on situation. He is a result-oriented leader. He puts the structure in place for team members to work and satisfy their requirements as far as they are getting results.
He does not want to understand why there may be failure and does not give room for second trial. Transactional Leadership Style This is the type of leadership in which rewards are measured by performance. This leadership style believes fingers are not equal and deals with individuals team members according to their performance. Good performances are rewarded while poor performances are punished. Transactional leadership does not consider his or her surbodinates as members of his or her team but as workers who must be managed to get works done. His or her tool is “carrot and cane”.
If works is going on fine, he or she can use award to motivate good work or fines to punish bad work. Transformational Leadership Style A transformational leader is a delegator of tasks and inspires his or her team to share in his or her vision and the objectives. This is a true leader who motivates and care for his or her team. He or she wants to achieve results through his or her team and take time to understand the conditions of all the team members. He or she is visible by the team members and show more interest in the team than in the task ahead.
He or she is a good communicator and naturally influence the team. The team members work not only to get paid but for the transformational leader to succeed. The transformational leader sees all his or her team members as potentials and lead by examples. He or she supervises the ideas of his or her team members. This style is good for managing big organisations and large groups like a state. The team members know what the transformational leader requires from them and are ready to work without him. There is no leadership style that canbot be used to manage people in order to meet goals.
After finding his or her leadership style, a leader should realise that human beings are different from each other in the way they think, see. feel and reason. Leaders should therefore, understand that everybody will require different kind of leadership style to be managed for results. While some people will require transformational leadership style, others will require influential or managerial leadership styles. Leadership Styles of Selected Successful Team Managers Sir Alex Ferguson is the most successful manager in British football history – winning more than 30 trophies during his time in charge of the Reds.
Yet despite more than two decades at the Manchester United’s helm, he remains focused on increasing that tally, bringing yet more silverware to Old Trafford. The Reds boss enjoyed a playing career north of the England border that saw him take in spells with Queens Park, St. Johnstone, Dunfermline, Glasgow Rangers Falkirk and Ayrshire United. But it is not for his playing of the game that Sir Alex was to become a success. Following a spell out of the game he moved into coaching, taking up the role of manager of East Stirlingshire, St Mirren then Aberdeen. It was his time at Pittodrie where he earned his reputation as a top coach.
He broke the Glasgow dominance of Scottish football to lead Aberdeen to three Scottish titles, four Scottish cups, one League Cup and one Europeans Cup Winners’ Cup. Following the sacking of Ron Atkinsons as manager of Manchester United, the Old Trafford hierachy moed quickly for his services. They got their man on 6 November 1986. Ferguson inherited a dispirited team of underachievers who had consitently, to their supporters failed to break Liverpool dominance to their supporters discontent. Ferguson motivates his team by listening to their needs and is ready to provide for them.
He sees them as his sons and call everyone of his palyer “son”. He sees them as the greatest asset of his team and is reay to solve their personal problems as a manager. Ferguson does not allow inter team rivalry and has a good system of conflict resolution. All his team members, sees him as a father and not only as a tea manager. Sir Alex Ferguson is an Influential leader, approachable and humorous. In December 2009, he said the secret of his success is a scruffy old red Wakes wooly hat he nicked off Ryan Giggs (one of his team members) way back in Novemeber 1996 before playing against a team in Turkey.
He creates atmosphere of friendliness in his camp and abhor segregation or the existence of unhealthy rivalry in his team. Ferguson said; “The only time Ryan has ever let himself down is letting me steal his Welsh bunnet. He is never going to get it back, because it is lucky for me. I have always worn it. I pinched it off him when we were in Turkey before a game against Ferneberche. At the time, I just thought it would look better on me than him”. He does not do sentimentality when it comes to naming his team. He believes whoever plays for the team is the best choice at the particular time.
