Which is not a characteristic of authoritative administration?

Administrative or leadership styles are commonly classified as authoritative (autocratic), democratic (participative), or laissez-faire, based on how decision-making authority is held. In the authoritative style, one person concentrates control, dictates decisions, and enforces compliance without inviting input from subordinates; in the democratic style, authority and responsibility are distributed and decisions are made collectively.

Checking each listed trait against this framework:

• Rudeness — an authoritative administrator typically deals with subordinates in a harsh, dismissive manner while pushing through decisions, so this fits the authoritative profile.

• Suppression of subordinates — centralizing every decision and silencing subordinate input is exactly how authority is concentrated in this style, so this too fits.

• Strict discipline — rigid, non-negotiable enforcement of rules is a core mechanism by which an authoritative administrator maintains control, so this fits as well.

• Sharing — distributing decision-making power and responsibility across the group is the opposite of concentrating authority; it defines the democratic style, not the authoritative one.

Rudeness, suppression of subordinates, and strict discipline all describe how control is centralized and enforced — the defining mechanism of authoritative administration — while Sharing describes distributing that same control instead, so Sharing is the trait that does not belong, confirming it as the exception the question asks for.