An Analysis of Democratic and Dictatorial Leadership Through a Collaborative Exercise
- Program: Center for Leadership Education
- Course: EN.660.331 Leading Teams
Project Description:
Goal-based groups are prevalent in any aspect of life, including sports teams, work cohorts, and governments, each with its own unique style of leadership. When situations form and problems arise, leaders are needed to guide the group through these challenging times. How these leaders lead is important, as each event may require a different response or a different way to lead your teammates.
We analyzed the effectiveness of contrasting leadership styles through a simple exercise of building a spaghetti and marshmallow tower. Teams were assigned either a democratic style of leadership in which everyone must vote upon decisions, or dictatorial leadership in which one leader is assigned to make each decision independently. The idea is that in this simple task, the way a team interacts can be analyzed both quantitatively through the strength and height of their tower, and qualitatively through surveys asking participants about their experience.
Project Photo:
Through these simple spaghetti and marshmallow towers, we analyzed how teams interact. We were able to both quantitatively and qualitatively analyze the impact that contrasting leadership styles have on a team.