I'd always been the kind of person who've believed in motivating a person through love. I regarded fear motivation as a wrong practice. Appreciation and kindness seemed to me the best way to get work done through people. Democracy and freedom in work was important. But, lately a few instances where I've had the responsibility to manage has made me think differently. How you motivate and manage largely depends upon the kind of people you're dealing with. If it's proactive subordinates or team members who take their work seriously, are dedicated, willing to learn and understand what is expected of them then appreciation and democracy works the best. However, if you're dealing with people who're incompetent yet exhibit an atmosphere of overconfidence, take no initiative to learn, have no respect for authority and constantly makes mistakes that put you in a difficult position then direction, strictness and some degree of fear motivation becomes necessary.
Administering activities and managing a group of people is a difficult job. We cannot say one model works better than the other one. Whether you become a democratic leader or an authoritarian one depends directly on the kind of people you're managing. On a personal level, it might be considered as changing colors but on a professional level it's being flexible and tactful. After all, one's responsibility as a chief administrator is getting the work done efficiently and up to the standards without any blunders and not pleasing people. The key rule here is to learn about the people you're going to manage and adjust your management style accordingly.
