Management and Leadership Styles
The managerial style presents one of the most important factors for employees’ performance as it allows concentrating employees’ collective efforts on organizational goals. Moreover, the communication methods associated with different managerial styles can provide support for the team and encourage the members by providing them with feedback on the work. In addition, different management and leadership are more or less likely to utilize the gratitude component, which presents an essential part of employees’ socio-cultural development. Thus, choosing the right management style for different working conditions can significantly improve the outcome of the team’s work. Therefore, closely analyzing how different management styles enhanced or hindered the team’s progress in finishing the pitch provides significant insight into which management style is more effective for the team’s creative work direction.
Autocratic Leadership
The first team worked with a leader who used an autocratic leadership style of management. The style’s benefits are fully revealed in stressful situations where a small mistake can disrupt all working progress. In situations like this, autocratic leadership is needed to ensure control over team members, leaving them no opportunities for decision-making. Considering the nature of the project of finishing the pitch at the right time, using an autocratic leadership management style would be beneficial for avoiding lateness. However, the assignment primarily relies on the creative component in which team members are supposed to discuss and create one joint concept or plan. Therefore, autocratic leadership limited team members’ opportunity to make their input into the projects, which resulted in a lack of motivation for team members.
Permissive Leadership
The second team worked with a leader who uses a permissive leadership style, which centers on employees’ creative freedom and gratitude. The style can be effective in established teams with experienced members where the individual input of each member can positively influence the outcomes. However, compared to the autocratic leadership style, permissive leadership is not designed for management purposes, and therefore, the team makes the most of decision-making. Thus, in newly assembled teams, a permissive leadership style results in a lack of team management and conflicts between team members, such as disputes and a clash of opposing opinions. Furthermore, considering the short time frame of the assignment, it is likely that the permissive leadership management style hindered the team’s progress through a lack of team management.
Democratic Leadership
The last team that won the competition worked with a leader who used a democratic leadership style. The principles are designed to fulfill employees’ higher-level needs and give gratitude to employees. The application of democratic leadership in the team favored the development of positive work environments that appreciate all team members’ input. Furthermore, democratic leadership gives the members the freedom necessary for the creative process and guides their work within the time frame to ensure that the work is finished at the right time. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain the right balance of employees’ creative freedom and leadership guidance depending on the working conditions.