The autocracy

The culture of a red autocracy

In a red organization culture people strive for self-preservation and self-respect. The essence of red is: ‘Life is a jungle. It is about survival and the most fit wins (‘Survival of the fittest’). I am hard and expect from the people around me that they are too. I take charge of people and bend them to my will. Respect and reputation are more important than life itself, I avoid at all costs that I lose respect or my reputation. I do what I have to do and never take a step back. I take what I think is mine and I do what makes me feel good. I do not have to worry about what has not happened yet.

How do you recognize a red organization?

• There is a clear leader that everyone is afraid of or has a lot of respect for
• Everything has to be done immediately, there is a constant atmosphere of urgency
• There is often conflict, drama or another emotionally charged situation
• The pace at work is high, people make quick and short-term decisions
• The leader decides a lot himself and tends to get involved everywhere
• Employees pay close attention to the leader’s mind (‘what’s his cap today’) before they approach him to talk about something?
• There is a lot of competition for power, it is dangerous to show vulnerability
• There is a macho atmosphere, tough about how hard you work is normal
• People are lived through the issues of the day, little time is taken to think about the future
• Rules and agreements are often not observed

Leadership in a red autocracy

In a red autocracy, managers work from “power and control”. This power culture includes an intimidating leadership style, control / authoritarian management behavior and dependent, frightened employees. In an autocracy, the supremacy lies with the leader. He has a small number of ‘confidants’ who manage the organization on behalf of the leader. These managers have a lot of power and use that power to wield the scepter over their employees.

Leaders have the basic assumption that people are lazy, do not take responsibility and do not like hard work. The only way to put them to work is through coercion, threat and intimidation. This leadership style creates dependent and fearful behavior from the employees to the managers and often from the managers to the leader.

The involvement of the employees in the organization is very small because there is a lot of distrust towards each other. Everyone looks up continuously because they are afraid of unexpected negative reactions or consequences on their behavior.

The structure of a red autocracy

In an autocracy, the undisputed leader is at the top. There is a great power distance to the layer below. The layer under the leader is mainly chosen on the basis of the relationship with the leader (in particular on trust, built up in the joint past) and less on objectively observable properties. The layer under the big boss are often chiefs, job supervisors, who keep in mind that the work is done by the largely unskilled or low-skilled workers who do the hard work.

The workers work hard to provide for their livelihood and have little time or energy left to think about how they can improve their living conditions. They are often afraid of the consequences of bringing forward new ideas or improvements and prefer to keep their mouth shut. Some of those who suggested ideas saw that the chef initially ignored the idea and later took credit for himself.