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Abstract
Throughout the research of autocratic leadership style, there were a great deal of positive and
negatives about this type of leadership style. Leadership styles lay the foundation for how your
company will operate and work together. Many say it can be effective in certain situations and
other disagree with that notion. Autocratic leadership exists outside of businesses and effects the
world as we know it as well. Below, the articles and outline will assist you in understanding the
way of autocratic leadership and why it is utilized.
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Annotated Bibliography
Abdullahi, A. Z., Anarfo, E. B., & Anyigba, H. (2020). The impact of leadership style on
organizational citizenship behavior: does leaders’ emotional intelligence play a
moderating role? Journal of Management Development, 39(9/10), 963–987.
https://doi.org/10.1108/jmd-01-2020-0012
This article explores the impact of autocratic leadership style (and other styles) on the
employees’ behavior. It also, investigates the intelligence of the leaders while leading
their subordinates and how that can affect them. This article will be used to explain that
the leadership style (autocratic) can lay the foundation for how your company will
operate and work together. The employees’ behaviors under certain leadership styles are
important to consider. Though this article will be valuable insight on the relationship
between autocratic leadership, it does expand on other topics which could possibly make
it too broad of an article. Abdullahi has a Bachelor’s in operation and project
management and Doctorate business administration. Anarfo is a lecturer in at GIMPA and his
work on capital structure studies has been published in reputable journals.
Chukwusa, J. (2018). Autocratic Leadership Style: Obstacle to Success in Academic Libraries.
Library Philosophy and Practice, , 1. http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?qurl=https%3A
%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Fautocratic-leadership-style-
obstacle-success%2Fdocview%2F2164513224%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D12085
This article discusses the negative effect that autocratic leadership has on the
organization. It gives its view, in detail, about how much of an obstacle the leadership
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style can be the employees and even the leader. I will be utilizing this article to show the
negative side of the autocratic leadership to combat why others think it is a good style to
use. This author made this article non-bias and had some positives for autocratic
leadership, but also showed why those positives could just lead to dead ends.
Zarinah, A., Nur Farhana, A., & Nadiah, A. (2018). Lean production and business performance:
influences of leadership styles. Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, 9(5S),
1030. https://doi.org/10.4314/jfas.v9i5s.71
This article seeks to analyze the influence of leadership styles in the implementation of
lean production. It shows the different styles and how they would react or fit into lean
production. This source will be helpful because it gives positives and negatives of
autocratic leadership. Which will enable me to use this source to show that this leadership
style is valuable under certain circumstances and sometimes still needs to be used in
certain situations as well. The authors tend to not be bias in their assessment because of
there research backs up their opinions, so I believe this will be a quality source.
Cole, M., Walter, F., & Briker, R. (2021). Hurry up! The role of supervisors’ time urgency and
self‐perceived status for autocratic leadership and subordinates’ well‐being. Personnel
Psychology, 74(1), 55–76. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12400
This article discusses the connection between autocratic leaders and having urgency and
their behaviors with that urgency. The authors go on to mention how these leaders are so
urgent that they don’t ask their subordinates about what they should do for their decision.
I believe this article has very good quality and will be effective in showing the decision-
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making part of autocratic leadership. The criticism there might be is that this article is
very narrow and only discusses that portion, but nothing else. With that being said, the
authors do a great job of focusing in on their topic and gives great outlooks.
Caillier, J. (2020). Testing the Influence of Autocratic Leadership, Democratic Leadership, and
Public Service Motivation on Citizen Ratings of An Agency Head’s Performance. Public
Performance & Management Review, 43(4), 918–941.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2020.1730919
Mr. Caillier discusses the influence of different leadership styles on people. In this article,
the author does get broad while talking about many different topics, but the portions about
autocratic leadership are very informative. I plan to use this this article in the literature
review to show how this can be a downfall of autocratic leadership. This is because most
autocratic leaders tend to see their employees as either contributors or obstacles in effort to
meet their goal. Caillier is an associate professor of political science at the University of
Alabama. His research interests and teaching consist of public management.
Jiménez, M., Fernández-Navas, M., Alvero-Cruz, J. R., García-Romero, J., García-Coll, V.,
Rivilla, I., & Clemente-Suárez, V. J. (2019). Differences in Psychoneuroendocrine Stress
Responses of High-Level Swimmers Depending on Autocratic and Democratic Coaching
Style. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24), 5089.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16245089
Just like in businesses, sports players can have two different reactions to autocratic
leadership. In this article it shows the different responses of swimmers to autocratic and
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democratic leadership. It also shows that autocratic leadership can be stressful on people
and could interfere with how they perform the task they have been told to perform. I plan
to use this article to show the effects of autocratic leadership outside of businesses and
show if it has a positive or a negative effect on athletes. This source will be very helpful
in doing so because they go into depth with the in methods and experiments of young
athletes.
Chan, L., & Conway, L. G. (2018). Autocratic Government Moderates the Relationship Between
Culture and Legal Restriction. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 49(9), 1457–1463.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022118793538
I will be using this article to discuss authoritarian leadership in government and how it
could affect the citizens living under that government. This will be used because I want to
show others that this type of leadership is also used outside of businesses. Chan and
Conway discuss how autocracies introduce laws that are determined less by the culture of
the nation, but by the processes unique to the person in power. This article also goes the
show the difference in how democracies create or Implement laws as well, but overall,
this reference will be helpful in giving autocratic insight outside of businesses.
Talmadge, C. (2016). Different Threats, Different Militaries:Explaining Organizational Practices
in Authoritarian Armies. Security Studies, 25(1), 111–141.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09636412.2016.1134192
This article gives the normal person insight on the types of leadership that are displayed
in the militaries around the world. It is a very broad article because it gives different
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versions of leadership throughout the military. Portions of this will be used to show that
leaders in the military will use their harsh practices to get things done. This article will be
very helpful because it will show that authoritarian leadership is needed in certain
environments, so others can stay protected.
Wang, H., & Guan, B. (2018). The Positive Effect of Authoritarian Leadership on Employee
Performance: The Moderating Role of Power Distance. Frontiers in Psychology, 9
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00357
These authors discuss the positive effects that authoritarian style has on employee
performance and it gives compelling points. They explain that the leaders demand their
subordinates achieve their best performances through strict control and other harsh
measurements.
Gu, Q., Hempel, P. S., & Yu, M. (2020). Tough Love and Creativity: How Authoritarian
Leadership Tempered by Benevolence or Morality Influences Employee Creativity.
British Journal of Management, 31(2), 305–324. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-
8551.12361
This article is a very intriguing article because it tackles both sides of the positive and
negative effects of authoritarian leadership, but largely tackles the negative side. The
negative side is the side that will be discussed in my literature review because this article
gives good insight on why this leadership can be a downfall for a company. A reason was
because of the lack of creativity with the ideas only coming from the top. All three
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authors have their PhD in Management, so the information presented is valuable because
they’ve spent many years looking into the aspect of leadership and management.
Outline
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I. Introduction
a. Autocratic leadership is one of the three widely discussed versions of leadership.
This type of leadership is where the leader makes all the decisions and then
informs his or her subordinates of what will be taking place. It is important to
know everything about it before you can take a stance whether to agree or
disagree with it. People must know the base, or inside, of autocratic leadership
instead of just the outside of it before making their mind up.
b. Throughout this research, numerous articles discussed strengths and weaknesses
using autocratic leadership in businesses, and the use of autocratic leadership
outside of businesses. This literature review will explore all those topics and
recommendations will be given for the overall work of these articles.
II. Success of Autocratic Leadership
a. When autocratic leadership is implemented in the right environment, it can make
your organization very effective and efficient. The quick decision making in
crunch time is one of the best skills of this type of leadership because it gets
things done in the time allowed.
b. Implementation into Correct Situation
i. When it is implemented in the right company, it is very successful for the
company. An autocratic leadership can be effective in a mass production
environment.
(Zarinah et al., 2018)
c. Strict Demands Leading to Better Results
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i. Although many people may not like the way that leaders go about their
business, this style can produce better results. Leaders demand for their
subordinates to achieve the goals and it pushes them to max to achieve
them. These leaders set strict rules and provide punishment, which in turn
motivates the employees to do better.
(Wang & Guan, 2018)
d. Quick Decision Making
i. Autocratic leaders tend to make decisions by themselves and make them
very quickly. Sometimes it is because of urgency and decisions need to be
made. These people prefer to act quickly, without much deliberation, and
they impose deadlines on themselves.
(Cole et al., 2021)
III. Downfall of Autocratic Leadership
a. Autocratic leadership, when implemented, can rub employees the wrong way,
change the dynamic of your organization, and even cause many quarrels in the
organization. There are many employees and managers who don’t agree with this
style of leadership because of the way the leader leads. It has some positives, but
many believe that the negatives outweigh the positives.
b. Impact on Employees’ Behavior
i. Employees have bad organizational citizenship behavior. When their
leader makes decisions without asking them or thinking about their well-
being, the employees tend to disconnect from the leader. They will
cooperate with the decisions but will not fully agree with their leader.
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(Abdullahi et al., 2020)
c. Lack of Creativity
i. A lack of creativity can be a downfall of a company in certain situations.
With the ideas only coming from the top, this can fail to bring new ideas
to the company. Which ultimately will allow the company’s competitors to
pass them in profits.
(Gu et al., 2020)
d. Sees Employees as Obstacles
i. Autocratic leaders can have such a focus on their goals that they may
accidentally (or intentionally) believe that their employees are holding
them back from their goals.
(Caillier, 2020)
IV. Autocratic Leadership Outside of Businesses
a. Autocratic leadership exists outside of the regular companies or businesses. This
style of leadership exists in sports and in governments. You would never notice
this if you weren’t paying attention and it sometimes goes unnoticed by the
common person.
b. Autocratic Leadership in Sports
i. Just like in businesses, sports players can have two different reactions to
autocratic leadership. Some findings show that this style can lead to the
weakening in the athlete-coach relationship and could harm the young
athlete’s career. Autocratic coaches have aggressive behavior, negative
feedback, and training overpressure play negative roles in young athletes’
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performance. They show their discontent and hostility towards
subordinates and other components of the group.
(Jiménez et al., 2019)
c. Autocratic Leadership in Governments
i. Autocratic leadership in government can have many different effects on
the people living within the governing rules. Also, these leaders make the
rules, not because of what the people want, but because he or she thinks it
is the best for his or her country. None of the decisions are based on
cultural stances (population-level processes) either.
(Chan & Conway, 2018)
ii. Autocratic leadership in the military is another situation that affects the
subordinates. There are many mixed emotions about how the subordinates
feel about the leadership style in the military, but it is ultimately done this
way for their own good. Most military practices and commands are very
brutal with its leadership style, but Korea and China are one of the worst.
(Talmadge, 2016)
V. Conclusion and Recommendations.
a. The literature provided made major contributions with to understanding the
research. The articles included numbers and nonbiased opinions to further the
readers knowledge on the subject.
b. The overall strengths are its success in certain situation, better results, and quick
decision making. These may not be traditional anymore, but these strengths are
still valid.
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c. The overall weaknesses employee disconnection, lack of creativity, and leaders
sees the employees as obstacles. These weaknesses are the reasons why many
companies do not use this style of leadership.
d. I believe these articles are not expressing why autocratic leadership isn’t
traditional anymore. They say what other styles are used, but never say why
exactly.
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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OUTLINE
References
Abdullahi, A. Z., Anarfo, E. B., & Anyigba, H. (2020). The impact of leadership style on
organizational citizenship behavior: does leaders’ emotional intelligence play a
moderating role? Journal of Management Development, 39(9/10), 963–987.
https://doi.org/10.1108/jmd-01-2020-0012
Caillier, J. (2020). Testing the Influence of Autocratic Leadership, Democratic Leadership, and
Public Service Motivation on Citizen Ratings of An Agency Head’s Performance. Public
Performance & Management Review, 43(4), 918–941.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2020.1730919
Chan, L., & Conway, L. G. (2018). Autocratic Government Moderates the Relationship Between
Culture and Legal Restriction. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 49(9), 1457–1463.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022118793538
Chukwusa, J. (2018). Autocratic Leadership Style: Obstacle to Success in Academic Libraries.
Library Philosophy and Practice, , 1. http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?qurl=https%3A
%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Fautocratic-leadership-style-
obstacle-success%2Fdocview%2F2164513224%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D12085
Cole, M., Walter, F., & Briker, R. (2021). Hurry up! The role of supervisors’ time urgency and
self‐perceived status for autocratic leadership and subordinates’ well‐being. Personnel
Psychology, 74(1), 55–76. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12400
15
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OUTLINE
Gu, Q., Hempel, P. S., & Yu, M. (2020). Tough Love and Creativity: How Authoritarian
Leadership Tempered by Benevolence or Morality Influences Employee Creativity.
British Journal of Management, 31(2), 305–324. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-
8551.12361
Jiménez, M., Fernández-Navas, M., Alvero-Cruz, J. R., García-Romero, J., García-Coll, V.,
Rivilla, I., & Clemente-Suárez, V. J. (2019). Differences in Psychoneuroendocrine Stress
Responses of High-Level Swimmers Depending on Autocratic and Democratic Coaching
Style. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24), 5089.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16245089
Talmadge, C. (2016). Different Threats, Different Militaries:Explaining Organizational Practices
in Authoritarian Armies. Security Studies, 25(1), 111–141.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09636412.2016.1134192
Wang, H., & Guan, B. (2018). The Positive Effect of Authoritarian Leadership on Employee
Performance: The Moderating Role of Power Distance. Frontiers in Psychology, 9
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00357
Zarinah, A., Nur Farhana, A., & Nadiah, A. (2018). Lean production and business performance:
influences of leadership styles. Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, 9(5S),
1030. https://doi.org/10.4314/jfas.v9i5s.71
