In this era of diplomacy and soft skills, is autocratic leadership a good form o f management?

Given the autocratic style, leaders exercise complete control over their project and issues. This form of authority could be very useful in managi ng small groups or fewer people as in a small business. The question however ari ses as to whether this form of leadership is acceptable in the times when there is more flexibility and freedom offered to the employees and even the slightest authority sounds like too much authority to the young people. The answer however is Autocratic leadership style has several advantages. We tell you how: Monitoring employees It becomes easier for leaders to monitor their employees as they can put them un der close scrutiny. As a result, the employees are also very conscious of how pr oductive they are and definitely worry about their image in the eyes of their bo ss. This way they work hard and are serious about their undertakings. Such a lea dership helps steer ahead even amidst stiff competition and keep up with expecta tions of all. Decision-making There is no tiff in taking a decision. Leaders naturally know what course to fol low next. They do not have to look for a consensus on the decision with any othe r person. As such there is a sense of quick decision-making among the leaders. I n these situations the leader is solely responsible for the outcome. It definite ly takes a good deal of courage and common-sense on part of the autocratic leade rs to make any decision. Reduced dependency Autocratic leaders do not have to depend on many helping hands and therefore do not have to go through the trauma of experiencing unreliability or untimely outc omes from anyone. They have the reigns of all the functionalities at work. Transparency Since there is a single authority, there is little cascading effect of too many people involved either in terms of decision-making or bureaucracy. Things can mo ve pretty straight-forward as there is no word-of-mouth involved. You know where a call to action has come from, you know what must be your course of action, an d thus there is reduced need to cross-check issues. Acceleration Autocratic leadership may also help speed up the pace of your work. You tend to spend less time on unnecessary tasks. You develop the sense of urgency. There is greater loyalty towards your boss. And you develop the zeal and drive towards a chieving the desired goals and targets. Entrepreneurial learning Although autocratic style of leadership is known to be out of context in the pre sent day management levels, there are still several benefits that come from that . As a small business, what do you think must be your form of management?