Busi 310 Autocratic Manager
Autocratic Manager
William Neely
Dr. Strong Principles of Management BUSI-310-D08
Liberty University Online
July 1, 2013
Discussion Board Thread
Re: Autocratic Manager
Definition:
“Organizational Management and Leadership” defines autocratic manager as one who makes a decision and then informs the group about the decision. Anita Satterlee (2013). Organizational Management and Leadership. Ch. 1, Pg. 4. Synergistics International Inc.
Summary: Olivier Mesly is a professor of marketing at the University if Quebec in Outaouais and he was curious between the effects of autocratic managers and democratic mangers. In this article he studies the effects of an autocratic manager by investigating the relationship between a musical director and his musicians. Mesly takes the findings and compares it to that of the business world. Mesly comes to the conclusion that an autocratic manager is a predator to his followers and typically has low self-esteem. Since the leader has low self-esteem and his leadership style doesn’t promote positive energy in the group, Mesly theorizes that this leads to neither side trusting one another and thus being less effective than they could be. Mesly sums this up by comparing the relationship to a tug of war where both sides have frustration, unease and suspicion. Mesly theorizes that even though the relationship may work for a while and produce a good outcome, in this case a good concert, eventually there will be too much predator-prey dynamic and it will leak out and be bad when it does.
Discussion: This article is really enlightening on the way autocratic managers affect their subordinates. I was always under the impression that even though an autocratic leader may be frustrating, they are at least very effective. This article shows that they can be for a while but it brings into perspective the underlying prey-predator relationship between the autocratic manager and his subordinates and how that can tear
William Neely
Dr. Strong Principles of Management BUSI-310-D08
Liberty University Online
July 1, 2013
Discussion Board Thread
Re: Autocratic Manager
Definition:
“Organizational Management and Leadership” defines autocratic manager as one who makes a decision and then informs the group about the decision. Anita Satterlee (2013). Organizational Management and Leadership. Ch. 1, Pg. 4. Synergistics International Inc.
Summary: Olivier Mesly is a professor of marketing at the University if Quebec in Outaouais and he was curious between the effects of autocratic managers and democratic mangers. In this article he studies the effects of an autocratic manager by investigating the relationship between a musical director and his musicians. Mesly takes the findings and compares it to that of the business world. Mesly comes to the conclusion that an autocratic manager is a predator to his followers and typically has low self-esteem. Since the leader has low self-esteem and his leadership style doesn’t promote positive energy in the group, Mesly theorizes that this leads to neither side trusting one another and thus being less effective than they could be. Mesly sums this up by comparing the relationship to a tug of war where both sides have frustration, unease and suspicion. Mesly theorizes that even though the relationship may work for a while and produce a good outcome, in this case a good concert, eventually there will be too much predator-prey dynamic and it will leak out and be bad when it does.
Discussion: This article is really enlightening on the way autocratic managers affect their subordinates. I was always under the impression that even though an autocratic leader may be frustrating, they are at least very effective. This article shows that they can be for a while but it brings into perspective the underlying prey-predator relationship between the autocratic manager and his subordinates and how that can tear
References: Anita Satterlee (2013). “Introduction To Organizational Management And Leadership”, Organizational Management & Leadership. Ch.1, Pg. 8-10. Synergistics International Inc. Mesly, O. (2011). From autocratic to democratic managers - what is to learn from contrasting cases? Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business , 4, 1-12.