Running head: PARTICIPATORY LEADERSHIP AND THREE FACTORS TO AVOID 1

Critical Essay: Participatory Leadership and Three Factors to Avoid

Carlos A. Robles Carreros

March 31, 2017

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Critical Essay

Have you ever had a supervisor or a boss that made you feel you wanted to go to work

every day? Or maybe the opposite, in which you dread waking up because you know the

supervisor or boss will be there. That is the feeling of at least 52.3%—who are unhappy at work

according to Forbes magazine (Adams, 2014). The Participatory Leadership model can help.

This model will produce employees that are more engaged in the institution instead of mere

spectators. According to the Participatory Leadership Model, this statistic could go down if

organizational leaders apply this theory, but it also provides insight on what not to do to create

employees that are more engaged. By being careful in avoiding these three factors proposed by

the Participatory Leadership Model: strong ego, fear culture, and lack of vision it is my belief

that employee satisfaction will rise significantly.

Firstly, having an ego when leading can cause employees not to offer their opinions, tend

to adhere to strict rules and never question themselves. When a supervisor has a big ego,

employees tend to fear to provide opinions because the boss is never wrong, and fear being

ridiculed in front of their peers. According to Harry Levinson (as cited by Estrof, 2016), It's a

demonstration of power.” A supervisor or boss that has an unchecked ego also tend to adhere to

strict rules and wants everything to go by the book without any mistakes made. And, they tend to

never question themselves they never make mistakes. I used to work in a small private

educational institution that provided educational services to non-traditional students. The

supervisor that I used to work for had many excellent characteristics but also these three major

flaws. On a regular day, he would provide one set of instructions but the next he would change

them. When an employee tried to understand the change of instructions he would scream at them
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stating he never gave the past order. This cause everyone to simply reserve to themselves any

opinion they had, even if they thought they were right and the instructions would cause chaos in

the institution. With this example, we can see that a big ego in a leader can be very harmful to the

organization.

Secondly, a leader that creates a fear culture in the workplace will promote no

recognition, no mistakes are allowed and a rise in employee loss. According to Guijarro (2014),

the presence of a fear culture will encourage employees not to be recognized for the work done

in the institution and when a mistake is made it will not be tolerated. Also, according to Namie

(2003) Employee recruitment and retention are made more difficult when the employer's

reputation suffers from the antics of one or more petty tyrants. Returning to the supervisor I had,

he would not allow any activity that would be to recognize an achievement of an employee,

stating that it will make another feel bad. Adding to this, he would publicly point out mistakes

done by colleagues to “inform” other what not to do. Only in that year, we had three assistants

that left the institution because of this. Taking into consideration these experts opinions and the

personal accounts expressed, we can emphatically state that this conduct of fear culture will only

increase employee loss, employees are not recognized, and mistakes are not allowed.

Lastly, a lack of vision mixed with short term reasoning and immediate result focused

will cause the employees to produce less in their workplace. A leader or supervisor in a work

area needs to follow the vision established by the company or institution. As Blanchard, K., &

Stoner, J. (n.d.) mention there are three critical factors for a successful company and one is

having a clear vision and direction championed by top management. If there is no vision from

the leaders, the institution will only fail. Adding to the mixture that there is no long-term goal,
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we can expect that there might be some success, but in the long run, there will be no price. As a

result, employees will not see the company succeed and begin losing faith in the institution and

will not give their best. Returning to the supervisor story, as mentioned earlier, he would change

instructions almost daily. No one would ever correct him or reason with him because it would

only get him mad. When asked in meeting for a marketing strategy, he would only allow those

strategies that provided an immediate result, and since this would not happen often, he would say

that the reason the institution was not progressing was due to the lack of good strategic

marketing.

In conclusion, as we have demonstrated the Participatory Leadership Model is a great

leadership model only if these three factors are avoided. Understanding that the high percentage

of dissatisfaction among employees with their current employment can be lowered by just

avoiding these factors can do great things for an institution and its employees. As evidenced in

this essay a strong ego, a fear culture, and lack of vision in the workplace will only create

employees that are not satisfied with their employment and companies will suffer the

consequences.
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References

Adams, S. (2014, June 20). Most Americans Are Unhappy At Work. Retrieved March 31, 2017,

from https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/06/20/most-americans-are-

unhappy-at-work/#432ca004341a

Blanchard, K., & Stoner, J. (n.d.). The Vision Thing: Without It You'll Never Be a World-Class

Organization. Leader to Leader Institute and Jossey-Bass. Retrieved March 31, 2017,

from http://www.cityvision.edu/courses/coursefiles/304/thevisionthing.pdf

Guijarro Del Cura, F. (2014). Desarrollo de liderazgo. Capital Humano, 27(286), 92-95.

Marrano, H. E. (2016, June 9). When the Boss Is a Bully. Retrieved March 31, 2017, from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199509/when-the-boss-is-bully

Workplace Bullying: Hazard for Healthcare Professionals. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.workplacebullying.org/multi/pdf/N-N-2005.pdf