Managing Personnel: What Works Best-Autonomy Or Autocracy?

In order to get the best out of their employees, companies have to decide whether they need to follow an autocratic style of functioning, or a democratic style. Suneeta Kaul talks to a cross-section of retailers to figure out what they think is the best way to deal with their employees and teams

-  Suneeta Kaul

Managing a team, ensuring work gets done and day-to-day activities run smoothly is a challenging job for any company. It is even more so in a sector like retail jewellery, which is mostly a family-run business. Issues such as a flexible organizational structure, involvement of multiple generations, the cyclical nature of the business, and so forth, add an extra layer of difficulty to the management process.

In such a situation, what kind of a management style works best for companies -- should the proprietors keep a hawk eye on their teams and personnel, or let them function as they see best? In other words, do companies get better results if they follow an autocratic style of functioning, or a democratic style? Expectedly, there is no unanimity on this, with sections of retailers opting for the ‘tight leash’ method, and others preferring the ‘cut them some slack’ style.

IN THE KNOW
Figuring out whether the autocratic policy is what will work, or the democratic one, will depend on several considerations – the nature of the company, the age of its employees, the time period for which the employees have been with it, and so forth. But the fact remains that more and more companies are tending towards the democratic method of functioning.

KEEP AN EYE ON THEM!