List and describe the different types of decision procedures recognized by most leadership scholars.

Student answers may vary. The type of decision procedure used by a manager determines how much influence subordinates or group members have over the decision. Scholars have proposed several different taxonomies of decision procedures, and there is no agreement about the optimal number of decision procedures or the best way to define them. However, most leadership scholars would recognize the following four decision procedures as distinct and meaningful: autocratic decision, consultation, joint decision, and delegation.
Autocratic decision: The manager makes a decision alone without asking for the opinions or suggestions of other people, and these people have no direct influence on the decision; there is no participation.
Consultation: The manager asks other people for their opinions and ideas and then makes the decision alone after seriously considering their suggestions and concerns.
Joint decision: The manager meets with others to discuss the decision problem and make a decision together; the manager has no more influence over the final decision than any other participant.
Delegation: The manager gives an individual or group the authority and responsibility for making a decision; the manager usually specifies limits within which the final choice must fall, and prior approval may or may not be required before the decision can be implemented.