Each person has his own style of communication - someone wants to put himself on the same level with the people around him, someone prefers to keep apart, away, but there are also people who put themselves above the rest.
Authoritarian style of communication - what is it typical for, what are its advantages and disadvantages?
Authoritarianism - the concept
Authoritarianism - this is initially a political concept derived from the Latin word “auctoritas” (influence, power), which implies the concentration of power in the state in the hands of one person or a small group of people.
In psychology, authoritarianism - it is a characteristic of a person who constantly seeks to subordinate the people around him as much as possible, to influence them, and also to achieve certain goals at the expense of others.
The authoritarian style of communication is most clearly manifested in professional, business relationships, as well as in education or training.
However he also can exist with interpersonal communicationwhen informal leaders are formed in a group of people — individuals who do not have formal leadership rights, but who have such a strong prestige that the rest of the members of such a social group unconditionally fulfill their instructions and requirements, and also accept their remarks as due, allow judging themselves and point out flaws.
What characterizes the authoritarian style of communication?
The authoritarian style of communication is characterized, above all, concentration of influence at its carrier.
The role of the rest of the social group is minimized.
An authoritarian person makes decisions alone, without consulting others, and requires strict implementation, constantly monitoring the process of achieving the goal.
For authoritarian communication style dominant are criticism and prohibitions. At the same time, a positive attitude of an authoritarian personality towards his environment is extremely rare.
The style of communication itself has an aggressive form - this is due to the fact that in many situations an authoritarian personality sees a threat to his authority, trying to counteract it as harshly as possible.
Executive with authoritarian style of communication will minimize informal relationships with your employees. It is characterized by hypercontrol over his subordinates, as well as excessive demands on them.
If, in an attempt to force any specific actions to be carried out, such a leader encounters resistance from his employee, this guarantees a conflict situation in which the authoritarian leader will strive not only to subordinate the employee to himself, but also to punish him.
Promotions are extremely rare. - in a team under the leadership of an authoritarian person, they are more eager to avoid mistakes than to earn rewards.
Authoritarian style of pedagogical communication implies that the teacher himself decides questions related both with the life of the class or group, and with each individual student.
In this case, the teacher conducts a subjective assessment of the activities of students, counteracting its challenge.
In the extreme form of authoritarianism in pedagogy, students do not dare to discuss with the teacher problems directly related to them, their initiative is curtailed and punished, and the opposition of students to an authoritarian teacher leads to conflict situations that are stable over time.
Signs of
What kind characteristic signs Corresponding authoritarian style of communication? It:
- All decisions are made by one person, without the ability of other members of the group to challenge them.
- The possibility of contributing to the organizational work of group members is minimized or completely absent.
- Suppression of the will and desires of the people around them - sometimes even reproaches common sense.
- Extremely aggressive behavior in case of conflict situations.
These signs are characteristic of an authoritarian person, regardless of which group of people he is in - in the circle of relatives and friends, among his subordinates or his students.
Views and examples
Authoritarian communication style often observed in the relationship of parents and child. In this case, the parent is not interested in the preferences and hobbies of the child - in the foreground he has his vision of the situation.
For example, the father orders the child: “You will play football” and sends him to a football club, despite the fact that the child is not interested in playing this sport and he would prefer to learn to play the piano.
However, decisive is the influence of the father who in the case of disobedience can punish a child.
Authoritarian leadership manifests itself in making strict orders and constant monitoring over their execution.
The employee is given a clear indication that he should follow. without initiative.
For example, a manager orders an employee: “Today, by 2 pm, the quarterly report should be on my desk. In case of default, you are deprived of a monthly bonus. ”
The leading incentive for such an order is depriving an employee of material goods, and the possibility of promotion is not even considered.
The authoritarian teacher when communicating with students can be expressed in the constant focus on the negative assessment of the results of their activities.
For example, a teacher says to an excellent student: “Petrov, you get 3 on the test, so your fourth grade is reduced to 4,” while the teacher is well aware that poor performance in the overall capable student is justified by the fact that he was sick for a long time and missed important thematic lessons.
but the author’s authoritarianism does not allow him to single out the student as a person, approach it individually and contribute to extracurricular activities on the missed topic - the teacher is guided by the general principles for evaluating the activities of students, without going into private details.
In married couples, authoritarianism in the style of communication of one of the spouses is expressed in the fact that only he makes decisions that affect the whole family life, while not taking into account either the opinions of its other members, nor the consequences of its own decisions, which may be somewhat negative with respect to the other members.
A simple example of such a style of communication in the family, when the husband says to his wife: “We start saving money for a car, so your study is postponed until later.”
This decision sounds like already taken and not tolerating objections. At the same time, it should be carried out without question, despite the fact that it can exclude the goals of one of the partners.
pros
Authoritarianism in communication, despite the fact that it is presented as the suppression of another's will and a subjective assessment of the situation, has both pros and cons.
Authoritarianism in managing a group of people allows you to make a valuable decision in a minimum amount of timewithout consulting other members of the group.
This allows you to quickly make a responsible decision that affects the outcome of the situation.
Also authoritarianism leader indispensable in difficult, critical situationswhen ordinary workers cannot afford to take the initiative to take any decision affecting the whole group, since they are not willing to take such responsibility, yielding it to the leader.
In the conditions of a job and a crisis, authoritarianism in communication between a manager and his subordinates necessary to maintain strict discipline, without which the efficiency of the enterprise can be significantly reduced.
Also, this form of management shows itself well where the actions of the workers are clearly spelled out on instructions - for example, when serving in the army.
Authoritarianism in communication, as a rule, justifies itself under force majeure circumstances, when you need to quickly and clearly respond to any change in the situation.
In the planned work of the head of an authoritarian form of communication Acceptable with well-developed strategy and sufficient experience of the managerwho need to constantly maintain their credibility with the right decisions.
Minuses
The disadvantages of authoritarianism when communicating are somewhat greater.
Many psychologists point out that authoritarianism in the communication of parents with children influences their whole life - children become inactive, lose activity, as it is due to the orders of the parents.
Children brought up by authoritarian parents easier amenable to the pernicious influence of their peerswhile parents themselves with this style of communication expect greater maturity from the child at any age.
As a result, the alienation of the child and parents, mistrust, and the impossibility of showing love are formed.
The authoritarian communication of one spouse makes possible a happy family life only when the second half is ready to voluntarily always be a victim and occupy a lower position.
In other situations, ignoring and denying the rights of one of the spouses will lead to constant conflicts, disputes and the struggle for the ability to make decisions.
Under authoritarianism in pedagogy, a child, who is trained by an authoritative teacher, has no opportunity for self-expression, he learns in an environment that excludes initiative manifestations, which further affects the student’s creative abilities.
The leader with the autocratic approach of managing the team entrusted to him also eliminates creative decision in some situations, which would lead to the optimization of team activities.
Also, employees of such a manager rarely assume responsibility in the absence of a manager, the habit that they are constantly monitored can lead to some incapacity and lack of independence in decisions.
The authoritarian style of communication, although it gives an opportunity to feel one’s own importance to a person, contributes to raising his self-esteem, in some cases it leads to a restriction of his communication in a team, hostility from peers, subordinates, students, spouses, who also have the right to self-realization and at the same time seek to protect it.
Authoritarian parenting style:
