Since most people prefer to be involved in decisions concerning their Essay

Since most people prefer to be involved in decisions concerning their jobs, a participative style of leadership will always be m - Essay Example Directive leadership is often more autocratic whilst participative leadership deals more with consensus and direct stakeholder involvement in decision-making processes. In the organisational environment, some cultures and individual employee profiles will require a more directive leadership style in order to ensure compliance and goal-attainment. In a more decentralised organisation, more participative leadership is usually the method of leadership that will attain the most positive performance results. It has been said, however, that since the majority of workers want to be involved in organisational decision-making, then the participative style of leadership will be more effective than directive style. Evidence, however, somewhat refutes this notion, suggesting that both styles have practically equal probability of being effective so long as they are utilised properly and in a suitable organisational environment. Both styles are highly dependent on organisational culture, employee attitude and motivational capacity and organisational structure in order to achieve effective leadership outcomes. Participative versus directive leadership styles Participative leadership involves processes and procedures that tend to open communication channels with employees to gain their input in decision-making (Mullins 2005). The four stages of participative leadership are gaining consensus, consulting with important internal stakeholder, delegating responsibilities, and active involvement by key organisational actors (Mullins 2005). Thus, participative leadership is closely related to transformational leadership style, a style in which the leader acts as a teacher, mentor, and also opens lines of communications with employees where vision and mission are continuously reiterated (Fairholm 2009). Managers using participative style often will use charismatic, psycho-socially-based principles of leadership to gain long-term commitment and dedicated followership. Directive leaders hip is more arbitrary, focusing less on relationship development with employees and more on establishing order through controls or the development of transactional philosophy. Transactional leadership is establishing rewards based strictly on performance where low-performance reprimands are established for failing to meet organisational objectives or project goals. Directive style of leadership establishes specific job role responsibilities and then motivating performance of employees through routine evaluations and serving as a figure in the environment to ensure that compliance to procedure and goals is being accomplished by individuals or teams. Having defined both leadership styles and their differences, both can be properly explored to determine their potential success ratios when utilised in different organisational environments and cultures. In order to understand fully the style of leadership that will be most effective, it is necessary to examine existing research findings on participative versus directive leadership. Gill, Flaschner and Shachar (2006) identified that participative leadership style has a direct relationship with improved employee dedication, job satisfaction and reduced job burnout. Why is this necessarily? Participative lea