Autocratic Leadership Style

The Autocratic Leadership Style was first described by Lewin, Lippitt, and White in 1938 along with the democratic leadership and the laissez-faire leadership styles. The autocratic leadership style is sometimes referred to as the directive leadership style.

The characteristics of an autocratic style include:

• Work methods that are dictated by the autocratic leader
• Limited employee participation in most aspects of work
• Unilateral decision making by the leader

Lewin, Lippitt and White were one of the first to categorize leadership styles in terms of behavioral characteristics.  Prior to their work, leadership traits were the focus of leadership studies.

Other forms of this term include - autocratic leader, autocratic leaders