An authoritarian leader is one who stresses on production, rather than addressing employee needs. The task-oriented manager coerces, threatens with punishment, controls, and directs his subordinates to do as he wants. The subordinates are expected to follow without asking any questions. For the manager, it is productivity that matters the most, and failure to achieve this is not an option. Some of the characteristics of produce-or-perish management are described below.
» The goal of an authoritarian manager is to increase production in lesser time.
» Resistance by subordinates is met with anger and intimidation.
» The manager refuses to accept new ideas and alternative viewpoints. The flow of information is one-sided.
» When something goes wrong, the emphasis is more on placing the blame on someone, rather than getting the mistake corrected.
» The subordinates and team members who are tired with the unhappy work environment become indifferent towards their work. They do the bare minimum to keep their jobs, and production is usually compromised.