Question

Pros, Cons, and usefulness of Kurt Lewin's Organizational management styles(Autocratic, Democratic,and Laissez-Faire)?

Answer 1

Kurt Lewin was a psychologist who is most famous for his research with Ronald Lippitt in the late 1930s on the three types of leadership: authoritarian, laissez-faire, and democratic. To briefly describe each, authoritarian leadership is defined by the leader setting clear expectations on what they want to be accomplished and exactly how to do it. On the other hand, laissez-faire means to “let do” and this type of leadership is the polar opposite of authoritarian. The leader provides little to no guidance and lets the members of the group make all the choices. Democratic leadership falls between these two extremes of leadership styles. In fact, following this style the leader allows members of the group to participate in the decision making process and encourages member involvement. Each of these styles is notably different. As a result, each has its own qualities and effects on its members (Rustin & Armstrong, 2012). Lewin's experiment consisted of school children who were appointed to three different groups that functioned under the different leadership styles. Not surprisingly, the group that followed the laissez-faire leadership “were the least productive, showed little cooperation or satisfaction and made more (unmet) demands on the leader” (Rustin & Armstrong, 2012, para. 3). However, an interesting comparison existed between the authoritarian and democratic groups.The authoritarian group was actually the most productive of all three groups, but the quality of work was less than that of the democratic group. In addition to this, its group members were much more dissatisfied and were likely to become hostile. On the other hand, the democratic group arose as the most effective because the participants were more committed and motivated and also worked together cooperatively and creatively. The democratic style's members were most efficient and motivated because they were encouraged to participate in most aspects of the group such as decision making (Rustin & Armstrong, 2012).

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