Leadership Styles

Leadership Styles

Leadership style depends on one’s own skills, experience, team, and task trying to achieve. There is no right leadership which is suitable for all situation.

Some of the great leaders are mother Teresa, John Kennedy, Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, and Steve Jobs.

Leadership rests on the relationship and leaders should know his or her subordinates well.

According to the Ohio case study, the leader's behavior to achieve an objective depends on task or nurture support. Also as per the Case study of the University of Michigan, this depends on production orientation and Employee orientation. All researches show that leadership concerns results or people.

(Anon., n.d.)

However, the leader’s job is to use structure, support, and reward to make a work environment that helps employees while thinking of what your team members want and need.

The leader creates a psychological structure for subordinates by doing such things as allocating specific tasks, specifying procedures to be followed, explaining his expectations of subordinates, and scheduling work to be done (House, n.d.).

There are 3 main leadership styles.

·         Autocratic Leadership ( The Boss)

·         Democratic Leadership (All-Inclusive)

·         Laissez-faire or Free rein Leadership (Chilled-out)

Autocratic leadership

Autocratic leaders achieve results quickly. This is a leadership style where one person controls all the decisions and take very little ideas from group members. They make decisions based on their own beliefs and do not involve others for their suggestions or advice.

Advantages

·         Quick decision making

·         Effective in small groups or teams

·         Beneficial in pressurized situations

Disadvantages

·         Impairment of the moral of the team members

·         Discourage team inputs

·         Non-utilization of creative and innovative ideas of the team

Democratic Leadership (All-Inclusive)

The leader invites and encourages the team members to play an important role in the decision making process, while the ultimate decision making power rests with the leader. The leader guides the employees on what to perform and how to perform while employees share their experience with the leader.

Advantages

·         Leads satisfied, motivated and skilled employees

·         Make a positive work environment

·         Encourage creativity

Disadvantages

·         Time-consuming

Laissez-faire or free rein Leadership (Chilled-out)

This leadership is also known as delegative leadership. They are hands-off and allow group members to make decisions. They give little guidance and provide all tools and resources to the team members and expected to solve problems in their own way.

Advantages

·         Great job satisfaction

·         Development of employees

·         Positive motivation

·         Utilization of employees potentiality

Disadvantage

·         Lack of guidance

·         Potential ignorance of the leader

·         Unsuitable for less competent and less skilled

(Kaleem, 2016)

After all, leadership depends on

* Who you are

* What is the context?

* Who your subordinates are

References

Anon., n.d. Leadership Theories and Styles That Employees Will Respond To. [Online]
Available at: https://www.google.com/search?q=leadership+styles+and+theories&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj4woX98YHkAhVhl48KHTa0DJgQ_AUIESgB&biw=1366&bih=657#imgrc=8Y5fUkF89oUYJM:

House, R. J., n.d. A Path-Goal Theory of Leader Effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 16(Sage Publications, Inc. ).

Kaleem, Y., 2016. Leadership Styles & Using Appropriate Styles in Different Circumstances. Researchgate, Volume 3.