Synonyms
Authoritarian leadership; Domination; Power-over subordination
Introduction
Autocratic leadership is a type of leadership style in which the leader asserts absolute power over their employees and demands complete obedience from their employees (Cheng et al. 2004; Ertureten et al. 2013). This style is also often referred to as authoritarian leadership, and both terms are somewhat synonymous. Leaders who adhere to this style of leadership often centralize their decision-making and desire power and control over their employees. An autocratic leader creates a “clearly defined intra-team hierarchy” (DeHoogh et al. 2015), and this is strictly adhered to by the leader. Any breaks or disobedience with this hierarchy is not tolerated and can lead to detrimental consequences for employees.
Autocratic leaders make decisions based on their own ideas and judgments and rarely consider or accept advice from their employees and subordinates. Autocratic leaders are known to be dominant, and...
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Ahmed, S., Simha, A. (2023). Autocratic Leadership and Abuse. In: Poff, D.C., Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22767-8_1300
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22767-8_1300
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