Leadership Styles: Various types

Various types of leadership styles explained.

From Mahatma Gandhi and Winston Churchill, to Martin Luther King and Steve Jobs, there can be as many ways to lead people as there are leaders. Fortunately, business people and psychologists have developed useful styles that describe the main ways that people lead. When you understand these styles, you can develop your own approach to leadership, and become a more effective leader as a result.

In this article, we’ll highlight some of the common approaches to leadership that you can use. We’ll also look at some specific styles of leadership, and we’ll explore advantages of disadvantages of each.

Leadership is said to be a vital quality which is becoming very rare in organizations.

These styles of leadership are based on several different approaches to leadership. Different leadership styles are based on the personality of the individual and on situations in which a person leads.

Definitions and descriptions of leaderships styles range from the very simple to the very complex. Leadership styles can be identified by how authority is used, how a leader relates to others, employees minds are used, and how a leader communicates.

So, let’s look at some useful approaches – shown mainly in the order they appeared – that you can use to become a more effective leader. Your own, personal approach is likely, your people’s needs, and the situation you’re in. to be a blend of these, depending on your own preferences.

Let’s take a look at the various types of Leadership:

Lewin’s Leadership Styles

Psychologist Kurt Lewin developed his framework in the 1930s, and it provided the foundation of many of the approaches that followed afterwards. Lewin’s framework is popular and useful. He argued that there are three major styles of leadership: Autocratic leaders, Democratic leaders, Laissez-faire leaders.

Autocratic Leadership

In this style the leader holds all authority and responsibility. The leader make decisions on their own without consulting subordinates.

• Leader assumes absolute power over the team
• Dictates all actions to be taken
• No opportunity for suggestions or ideas from the team

Some of the leaders that support this kind of leadership include: Albert J Dunlap (Sunbeam Corporation) and Donald Trump (Trump Organization) among others.

• Pros: Manage a crisis or emergency
• Cons: People resent this style – absenteeism and high staff turnover

Autocratic leaders make decisions without consulting their team members, even if their input would be useful. This can be appropriate when you need to make decisions quickly, when there’s no need for team input, and when team agreement isn’t necessary for a successful outcome. However, this style can be demoralizing, and it can lead to high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover.

Democratic Leadership

In this leadership style, subordinates are involved in making decisions. The democratic leader holds final responsibility, but he or she is known to delegate authority to other people, who determine work projects.

Leader allows team to contribute, but takes the final decision. Allows team members to engage in work activity. Draws upon experience and skills of team members. Democratic leadership is the most preferred leadership.

• Pros: Useful in planning specific tasks, projects or addressing problems
• Cons: Can be time-consuming, particularly if decisions need to be made

Democratic leaders make the final decisions, but they include team members in the decision-making process. They encourage creativity, and people are often highly engaged in projects and decisions. As a result, team members tend to have high job satisfaction and high productivity. This is not always an effective style to use, though, when you need to make a quick decision.

Laissez-faire (let it be) Leadership

Laissez-faire leadership gives authority to employees. Departments or subordinates are allowed to work as they choose with minimal or no interference.

Leader allows Complete freedom to the workers.
Workers take decisions without collaboration with their leader.
The leader assumes the role of leader

• Pros: Empowers the team member & gives team members experience in controlling tasks.
• Cons: Can Lack of direction, result in uncertainty and chaos if not
  managed

Laissez-faire leaders give their team members a lot of freedom in how they do their work, and how they set their deadlines. They provide support with resources and advice if needed, but otherwise they don’t get involved. This autonomy can lead to high job satisfaction, but it can be damaging if team members don’t manage their time well, or if they don’t have the knowledge, skills, or self motivation to do their work effectively.

Laissez-Faire style of leader is passive. He only acts as a contact man. He provides information and resources to his subordinates. He believes that the subordinates will work best if they are left alone. Therefore, he gives them complete freedom to take their own decisions. He allows them to plan and organise their own work. He allows them to set their own goals and to solve problems on their own.

According to research, this kind of leadership has been consistently found to be the least satisfying and least effective management style.

More Leadership Styles

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is about initiating change in organizations, groups, oneself and others. Transformational leaders motivate others to do more than they originally intended and often even more than they thought possible.

Transformational Leadership have integrity and high emotional intelligence, and are generally energetic, enthusiastic, passionate, empathetic, and humble. They motivate people with a shared vision of the future, and they communicate well. They sets an example in exemplary behaviour where action speak louder than words. Not only are these leaders concerned and involved in the process, they are also focused on helping every member of the group to succeed as well.

In business, “transformational leadership” is often the most effective style to use. (This was first published in 1978, and was then further developed in 1985.)

This model comprises of four basic components:

Idealised influence : Serves as a role model for followers, who trust and respect them. Followers emulate the leader and internalise their own ideals

Inspirational motivation: They have a clear vision that they can easily articulate to their followers. They help their followers to experience the same passion and motivation to fulfil their goals.

Intellectual stimulation: Leaders who not only challenge the status quo, they also encourage creativity among followers. They encourage followers to explore new ways of doing things and new opportunities to learn.

Individualised consideration: Leaders who offer support and encouragement to individual followers. In order to foster supportive relationships they keep lines of communication open so that followers feel free to share ideas and so that leaders can offer direct recognition of each followers unique contributions.

Transformational leaders inspire their team members because they expect the best from everyone, and they hold themselves accountable for their actions. They set clear goals, and they have good conflict-resolution skills . This leads to high productivity and engagement.

However, leadership is not a “one size fits all” thing; often, you must adapt your approach to fit the situation. This is why it’s useful to develop a thorough understanding of other leadership frameworks and styles; after all, the more approaches you’re familiar with, the more flexible you can be.

Charismatic Leadership

Charismatic leadership resembles transformational leadership: both types of leaders inspire and motivate their team members.

The difference lies in their intent. Transformational leaders want to transform their teams and organizations, while leaders who rely on charisma often focus on themselves and their own ambitions, and they may not want to change anything.

Charismatic leaders might believe that they can do no wrong, even when others warn them about the path that they’re on. This feeling of invincibility can severely damage a team or an organization, as was shown in the 2008 financial crisis.

In this leadership, the charismatic leader manifests his or her revolutionary power. It involves a transformation of followers’ values and beliefs.

Leader uses personality and strength of character. Injects enthusiasm into the team. Improves morale

• Pros: Manage change or when dealing with stressful or difficult situations
• Cons: Leader may believe in themselves more than the team as a whole –
  team may consider themselves weak without presence of leader

Bureaucratic Leadership

Following directions, regulations or processes ‘By the book’.

• Pros: Managing work involving serious risks to safety or handling cash
• Cons: No flexibility – stifles creativity or innovation if used when inappropriate

Bureaucratic leaders follow rules rigorously, and ensure that their people follow procedures precisely.

This is appropriate for work involving serious safety risks (such as working with machinery, with toxic substances, or at dangerous heights), or with large sums of money. Bureaucratic leadership is also useful for managing employees who perform routine tasks.

This style is much less effective in teams and organizations that rely on flexibility, creativity, or innovation.

Bureaucratic leader follows all the rules and formalities of the organisation. They do not believe in new ideas. They want their subordinates to follow all orders. This leadership style result in red-tapism and unwanted paper work.

Visionary Leadership

This form of leadership involves leaders who recognize that the methods, steps and processes of leadership are all obtained with and through people. Most great and successful leaders have the aspects of vision in them.

Strategic Leadership Style

In strategic leadership, the leader is essentially the head of an organization. The strategic leader is not limited to those at the top of the organization. It is geared to a wider audience at all levels who want to create a high performance life, team or organization.

Team Leadership

Team leadership involves the creation of a vivid picture of its future, where it is heading and what it will stand for. The vision inspires and provides a strong sense of purpose and direction.

Cross-Cultural Leadership

This form of leadership normally exists where there are various cultures in the society. Most of the leaderships observed in the top companies are cross-cultural because of the different cultures that live and work there.

Facilitative Leadership

Faciltative leadership is too dependent on measurements and outcomes – not a skill, although it takes much skill to master. The effectiveness of a group is directly related to the efficacy of its process.

Transactional Leadership

Transactional Leadership is a leadership style that motivates employees or followers by the system of rewards and punishments. If the employee does something good, they get tangible rewards. If the employee does something bad, they are punished.

The ‘transaction’ is the money or any other award that the company pays to its subordinates for their compliance and effort on short-term tasks. It is based on the assumption that punishment or reward creates motivation.

This style starts with the idea that team members agree to obey their leader when they accept a job. Transactional leadership works through creating clear structures. It is the leader’s responsibility to establish a system of rewards that will be valued by the employee. This is a leadership that maintains or continues the status quo.

Transactional leadership is present in many business leadership situations, and it does offer some benefits. For example, it clarifies everyone’s roles and responsibilities. And, because transactional leadership judges team members on performance, people who are ambitious or who are motivated by external rewards – including compensation – often thrive.

The downside of this style is that, on its own, it can be chilling and amoral, and it can lead to high staff turnover. It does not take into consideration other employee motivations or irrational behaviour. It limits employee improvement, is ineffective in providing skilled employees for organisations, and has limitations for knowledge-based or creative work. As a result, team members can often do little to improve their job satisfaction.

This style of leadership is also least interested in change.

Servant Leadership

A “servant leader ” is someone, regardless of level, who leads simply by meeting the needs of the team. The term sometimes describes a person without formal recognition as a leader.

These people often lead by example. They have high integrity and lead with generosity . Their approach can create a positive corporate culture, and it can lead to high morale among team members.

Supporters of the servant leadership model suggest that it’s a good way to move ahead in a world where values are increasingly important, and where servant leaders can achieve power because of their values, ideals, and ethics .

However, others believe that people who practice servant leadership can find themselves “left behind” by other leaders, particularly in competitive situations.

This style also takes time to apply correctly: it’s ill-suited to situations where you have to make quick decisions or meet tight deadlines.

Consultative Leadership

Consultative type of leader has an open mind. He encourages his subordinates to give their suggestions and comments. If these suggestions and comments are good, then he will accept them. So this leader consults his subordinates before taking a decision. However, the final decision is taken by the leader. Therefore, he takes full responsibility for his decision.

This style focuses on using the skills, experiences, and ideas of others. However, the leader or manager using this style still retains the final decision-making power. To his or her credit, they will not make major decisions without first getting the input from those that will be affected.

The consultative leader traits are: often involve others in problem solving, team building, retains right for final decisions, focuses his/her time on more important activities, provides proper recognition, delegates but keeps “veto power”, weighs all alternatives before final decision is made.

Participative Leadership

Participative type of leader encourages his subordinates to take part in decision making. The final decision is not taken by the leader himself. It is taken by the group (team), i.e. by the leader and his subordinates. The leader gives his subordinates full scope for using their talents. He is loyal to them. Therefore, they are loyal to him. They obey his orders willingly. They have a genuine (real) respect for him.A unique managerial style that many feel uncomfortable with is the participative style. Most of the authority, not all, is given to the team. The manager remains the team leader.

The participative leader traits are: team member ideas or equal with the leader, everyone’s input is considered, leader is team facilitator, leader is coach/player, frequently accepts teams ideas over own, focus is on stimulating creativity, creates culture of innovation

Paternalistic Leadership

Under this management style the leader assumes that his function is fatherly or paternal. Paternalism means papa knows best. The relationship between the leader and his group is the same as the relationship between the head of the family and the members of the family. The leader guides and protects his subordinates as members of his family.

As the head of the family he provides his subordinates with good working conditions and fringe benefits. It is assumed that workers will work harder out of gratitude. This leadership style was admirably successful in Japan with her peculiar social background.

This leadership style has still been widely prevalent in small firms in India. However, this paternalistic approach is unlikely to work with mature adult employees, many of whom do not like their interests to be looked after by a “godfather.” Instead of gratitude, it might generate antagonism and resentment in the subordinates.

Paternalistic style of a leader creates a family atmosphere in the organisation. He acts just like a parent of his subordinates. He advises, guides and helps his subordinates with their personal problems. This style of leadership will be successful in a small organisation having a very few employees and only one leader.

Neurocratic Leadership

Neurocratic leader is highly a task oriented one. He wants to get the work done at any cost. He gets very upset if there is any failure. He is very emotional, sensitive and eccentric. He does not consult his subordinates in decision making. He takes his own decisions

Situational Leadership

Situational type of leader uses different styles in different situations. That is, he changes his style according to the situation. Sometimes he will be autocratic, or consultative, or participative, etc. Now-a-days, most managers use this style of leadership.

Sociocratic Leadership

The sociocratic leader tries to run the organisation just like a Social Club. He gives less importance to production and more importance to friendship. That is, he tries to keep his subordinates very happy. So, he creates a warm and good social environment.

Coaching Leadership

Coaching leadership involves teaching and supervising followers. In this kind of leadership, followers are helped to improve their skills.

The Right Leadership Style

In business, transformational leadership is often the best leadership style to use. However, no one style of leadership fits all situations.

There is no right way to lead or manage that suits all situations so it’s useful to understand different leadership frameworks and styles. You can then adapt your approach to fit your situation.

To choose the most effective approach for you, you must consider the following:

• The skill level and experience of your team
• The work involved (routine, new or creative)
• The organisational environment (stable or radically changing)
• Your own preferred or natural style.

A good leader will find him or herself switching between styles according to the people and work they are dealing with.

It is important to use a range of leadership styles, to do this you need to assess:

• Task needs
• Team needs
• Individual needs

Remember, not all of these styles of leadership will have a positive effect on your team members, either in the short or long term.