Authoritative Management Style Guide

What is the authoritative management style?

An authoritative management style is where the leader or manager will lead their team with clear direction and guidance and look to inspire their team from the start to the end of a project. Managers like this are more likely to take on the mentor role for their team.¹

This style of leadership relies on open communication, understanding and familiarity with their team members to be successful.²For an authoritative manager, employees are valuable resources for information but their input is not necessarily considered when it comes time for the manager to take action.³ It is a management style particularly well suited for businesses undergoing a period of struggle or change.¹

Pros of the authoritative management style:

Increases efficiency of results

This style of leadership sets clear standards and guidelines for employees, making sure every employee is clear about what is expected of them, and their role within the organisation. This management style helps set your team to work towards a unified vision and secure success in achieving organisational goals every time.

When implemented successfully, authoritative leadership promotes consistent, high-quality results from your employees in less time. Under your guidance employees can confidently tackle any task and develop helpful strategies to achieve their work goals.²

Increases clarity for your employees

The authoritative management style unifies tasks and goals so a leader can effectively oversee everything and guarantee everyone is on the same page.²

With an authoritative leader managing everything, a team can move towards the exact same goals with a clear understanding of their individual tasks, and how those feed into the bigger picture.

An opportunity to guide inexperienced or junior employees

The authoritative leadership style is great for managing less experienced employees who may not be able to make decisions independently.

An authoritative manager can give them a push start in their role by clarifying their tasks and responsibilities, helping them polish their skills when working in a team, and utilising the experience of their manager when needed.¹

If you are a manager working with junior or new employees, scheduling monthly productivity check-ins over a coffee can be a great way to not only check on a team members progress but also to monitor their productivity.

Cons of the authoritative management style:

Lack of creativity

With an authoritative management style, much like the autocratic, there is little room for team members to share their own creative solutions to problems. As the authoritative figure, the responsibility of the final decision often falls to the manager and so creative solutions may become limited.

This not only can affect the outcome of a project but in the long run could affect a team or department’s ability to adapt, innovate and, ultimately, grow.⁴

Lack of flexibility

The authoritative management style follows one manager’s plan or goal so can often mean that employees have no or little control over the progression or outcome of a project.

According to a study conducted after the pandemic, 96% of employees surveyed felt that flexibility in working arrangements was important when looking for a new job.⁴ This means that for some employees an authoritative management style where their working schedule is chosen for them, might not be as desirable.

Greater potential for micro-management

An authoritative management style can appear somewhat overbearing to employees who are used to having more freedom and flexibility over how they complete tasks and work towards company goals.

For younger leaders, in particular, who are overseeing more experienced team members, this can result in conflict.¹

An authoritative management strategy can be an effective way to lead your team if you remain aware of the pros and cons of this approach. It is an effective leadership style for teams that lack clarity on projects and tasks and need more prescriptive guidance but may not work well with employees who thrive on flexibility and having their own solutions and ideas implemented.

See our guide on the different management styles next and find out when it’s best to use an persuasive management style vs a democratic management style.

Learn more about the authoritative management style here:

The Authoritative Management Style in The Workplace

What is the authoritative management style?