Autocratic Management Have No Place in Today’s Business World- Discuss Essay

Many people think nowadays that autocratic management is bad and doesn’t motivate employees. They believe this type of management will never work in today’s business world. However, it is not entirely possible for today’s world to have everyone as democratic people, nor is it true that most people are ‘Theory Y’ type. Autocratic management used to be the most effective management technique, as well as the simplest. Employees are told what to do and expected not to question back, like in the army. If the worker fails to accomplish the task then he/she either gets fired or disciplined. Managers always expect his/her decisions and orders to be obeyed without question, and everything will go fine. Managers tend to be in control of nearly everything within a firm, and make all the decisions. They also believe that workers are only motivated by incentives such as money and are lazy, which is based on McGregor’s ‘Theory X’ and Taylor’s theory. The advantages of this type of management are that it is quite efficient, as there are no disputes of any sort between the employees and the management. Secondly, the decisions within a firm could be done very quickly and efficiently as there is practically no such thing as a discussion and opinions. The drawbacks of this style of management, however, are that employees won’t have a sense of self-esteem or self-actualization, which is specified in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It is not possible to fully motivate an employee if this management is used. Also, communications within the firm will almost be non-existent, which is a problem for social needs. Workers will feel bored or demotivated if they even can’t establish any relationship within the workplace. The business world today can be considered as different to the world in the past. However not everything would change in such a swift pace, therefore it is not possible that all employees are ‘Theory Y’ type workers. The initial statement that claims autocratic management has no place in today’s business world is practically impossible to be true, because there are still people in this world that still supports this type of management. There are still lazy and selfish people in the world that fit perfectly into McGregor’s Theory X. Some people might not like the idea of making their own decisions as they fear it might affect the business in a negative way so they would rather rely on management to do all the decision making. Also, workers who, in the past, had worked in an autocratic environment will tend to act the same as their superiors when they become part of the management. It is similar to child abuse, where the child grows up to be a very aggressive person. Autocratic managers obviously wouldn’t like to work in a democratic firm, as the manager tends to refuse any delegation to his/her subordinates. It is believed that autocratic management is very effective in the short-term but would be devastating in the long-term. This is because there is a high chance of a large number of labour turnovers within the business and the morale of existing workers would rapidly decrease. Eventually the employees would probably go on industrial action or, in worse scenarios, sue the business for unfair treatment. The quality of output from subordinates will also decrease, as they are highly demotivated due to the fact that they are like puppets, doing what they’re told. They don’t feel as if they’re a part of the company. It is successful in the short-term because employees are initially motivated by money, which explains the high output. Also, as stated before, decisions are made very quickly therefore the firm can achieve their objectives in no time. Of course, as time passes employees are no longer interested in money that much as before, so they start to get demotivated. In conclusion, there is a place for autocratic management in today’s business world. It is just not as widely accepted as before because humans believe that they can think for themselves and never needs to be commanded by another being. Nevertheless some might say democratic management tends to do better than autocratic management, but that all depends on the employees themselves.