Leadership style

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A leadership style is a leader's style of providing direction, implementing plans,
and motivating people.[1] There are many different leadership styles that can be exhibited by
leaders in the political, business or other fields.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Authoritarian
 2 Paternalistic
 3 Democratic
 4 Laissez-faire
 5 Transactional
o 5.1 Effect on work teams
 6 Transformational
 7 See also
 8 References

Authoritarian[edit]
The authoritarian leadership style or autocratic leader keeps strict, close control over
followers by keeping close regulation of policies and procedures given to followers. To keep main
emphasis on the distinction of the authoritarian leader and their followers, these types of leaders
make sure to only create a distinctprofessional relationship. Direct supervision is what they
believe to be key in maintaining a successful environment and follower ship. In fear of followers
being unproductive, authoritarian leaders keep close supervision and feel this is necessary in
order for anything to be done. Authoritarian leadership styles often follow the vision of those that
are in control, and may not necessarily be compatible with those that are being led. Authoritarian
leaders have a focus on efficiency, as other styles, such as a democratic style, may be seen as a
hindrance on progress.
Examples of authoritarian communicative behavior: a police officer directing traffic, a teacher
ordering a student to do his or her assignment, and a supervisor instructing a subordinate to
clean a workstation. All of these positions require a distinct set of characteristics that give the
leader the position to get things in order or get a point across. Authoritarian Traits: sets goals
individually, engages primarily in one-way and downward communication, controls discussion
with followers,and donates interaction
Several studies have confirmed a relationship between bullying, on the one hand, and an
autocratic leadership and an authoritarian way of settling conflicts or dealing with disagreements,
on the other. An authoritarian style of leadership may create a climate of fear, where there is little
or no room for dialogue and where complaining may be considered futile.[2]

Paternalistic[edit]
The way a Paternalistic leader works is by acting as a father figure by taking care of their
subordinates as a parent would. In this style of leadership the leader supplies complete concern
for his followers or workers. In return he receives the complete trust and loyalty of his people.
Workers under this style of leader are expected to become totally committed to what the leader
believes and will not strive off and work independently. The relationship between these co-
workers and leader are extremely solid. The workers are expected to stay with a company for a
longer period of time because of the loyalty and trust. Not only do they treat each other like family
inside the work force, but outside too. These workers are able to go to each other with any
problems they have regarding something because they believe in what they say is going to truly
help them. [3]
One of the downsides to a paternalistic leader is that the leader could start to play favorites in
decisions. This leader would include the workers more apt to follow and start to exclude the ones
who were less loyal. In today’s market paternalism is more difficult to come by according to
Padavic and Earnest who wrote “business dimensional and Organizational Counseling.” They
believe this because there have become more lay-offs and stronger unionization. This affects
paternalistic leaders because the co-workers may not believe that their jobs are 100% ensured.
When this happens, workers begin to look for bigger and better job opportunities instead of
staying at one company for a longer period of time. Because of this, the leader may be thinking
that you could be leaving and not fully believe you when you tell them something about a job
opportunity. This could put the workers and leader at risk for a bad situation. [3]
According to B. M. Bass who wrote Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations, workers
who follow paternalistic leadership also have better organization skills. The leader encourages
organization because they allow the workers to complete tasks so that they can stay on top of
their work. The workers complete tasks this boosts self-confidence and it makes them work
harder to reach a goal and exceed the goal to prove to their boss they are working hard. Having
this style of leadership can also help implement a reward system. This system will allow their
workers to work even better because there is something for them at the end of the tunnel. While
doing this they will also be able to accomplish more work in a set time frame. [3]

Democratic[edit]
The democratic leadership style consists of the leader sharing the decision-making abilities
with group members by promoting the interests of the group members and by practicing social
equality.[4]
This style of leadership encompasses discussion, debate and sharing of ideas and
encouragement of people to feel good about their involvement. The boundaries of democratic
participation tend to be circumscribed by the organization or the group needs and the
instrumental value of people's attributes (skills, attitudes, etc.). The democratic style
encompasses the notion that everyone, by virtue of their human status, should play a part in the
group's decisions. However, the democratic style of leadership still requires guidance and control
by a specific leader. The democratic style demands the leader to make decisions on who should
be called upon within the group and who is given the right to participate in, make and vote on
decisions.[5] Traits of a Good Leader compiled by the Santa Clara University and the Tom
Peters Group:

 Honest — Display sincerity, integrity, and candor in all your actions. Deceptive behavior will
not inspire trust.
 Competent — Base your actions on reason and moral principles. Do not make decisions
based on childlike emotional desires or feelings.
 Forward-looking — Set goals and have a vision of the future. The vision must be owned
throughout the organization. Effective leaders envision what they want and how to get it.
They habitually pick priorities stemming from their basic values.
 Inspiring — Display confidence in all that you do. By showing endurance in mental, physical,
and spiritual stamina, you will inspire others to reach for new heights. Take charge when
necessary.
 Intelligent — Read, study, and seek challenging assignments.
 Fair-minded — Show fair treatment to all people. Prejudice is the enemy of justice. Display
empathy by being sensitive to the feelings, values, interests, and well-being of others.
 Broad-minded — Seek out diversity.
 Courageous — Have the perseverance to accomplish a goal, regardless of the seemingly
insurmountable obstacles. Display a confident calmness when under stress.
 Straightforward — Use sound judgment to make a good decisions at the right time.
 Imaginative — Make timely and appropriate changes in your thinking, plans, and methods.
Show creativity by thinking of new and better goals, ideas, and solutions to problems. Be
innovative!
Research has found that this leadership style is one of the most effective and creates higher
productivity, better contributions from group members and increased group morale. Democratic
leadership can lead to better ideas and more creative solutions to problems because group
members are encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas. While democratic leadership is one
of the most effective leadership styles, it does have some potential downsides. In situations
where roles are unclear or time is of the essence, democratic leadership can lead to
communication failures and uncompleted projects. Democratic leadership works best in
situations where group members are skilled and eager to share their knowledge. It is also
important to have plenty of time to allow people to contribute, develop a plan and then vote on
the best course of action.[6]

Laissez-faire[edit]
The laissez-faire leadership style is where all the rights and power to make decisions is
fully given to the worker. This was first described by Lewin, Lippitt, and White in 1938, along
with the autocratic leadership and the democratic leadership styles. The laissez-faire style is
sometimes described as a "hands off" leadership style because the leader delegates the tasks to
their followers while providing little or no direction to the followers.[7][unreliable source?] If the leader
withdraws too much from their followers it can sometimes result in a lack of productivity,
cohesiveness, and satisfaction.[8]
Laissez-faire leaders allow followers to have complete freedom to make decisions concerning the
completion of their work. It allows followers a high degree of autonomy and self-rule, while at the
same time offering guidance and support when requested. The laissez-faire leader using guided
freedom provides the followers with all materials necessary to accomplish their goals, but does
not directly participate in decision making unless the followers request their assistance.[9][unreliable
source?]

This is an effective style to use when:

 Followers are highly skilled, experienced, and educated.

 Followers have pride in their work and the drive to do it successfully on their own.
 Outside experts, such as staff specialists or consultants are being used.
 Followers are trustworthy and experienced.
This style should NOT be used when:

 Followers feel insecure at the unavailability of a leader.

 The leader cannot or will not provide regular feedback to their followers.[9]

Transactional[edit]
Main article: Transactional leadership
Transactional leaders focus their leadership on motivating followers through a system of rewards
and punishments. There are two factors which form the basis for this system, Contingent Reward
and management-by-exception.[citation needed]

 Contingent Reward Provides rewards, materialistic or psychological, for effort and

recognizes good performance.
 Management-by-Exception allows the leader to maintain the status quo. The leader
intervenes when subordinates do not meet acceptable performance levels and initiates
 corrective action to improve performance. Management by exception helps reduce the
workload of managers being that they are only called-in when workers deviate from course.
This type of leader identifies the needs of their followers and gives rewards to satisfy those
needs in exchange of certain level of performance.
Transactional leaders focus on increasing the efficiency of established routines and procedures.
They are more concerned with following existing rules than with making changes to the
organization.
A transactional leader establishes and standardizes practices that will help the organization
reach:

 Maturity
 Goal-setting
 Efficiency of operation
 Increasing productivity.
Effect on work teams[edit]
survey done by Jun Liu, Xiaoyu Liu and Xianju Zeng on the correlation of transactional
leadership and how innovations can be affected by team emotions. The research was composed
of 90 work teams, with a total of 460 members and 90 team leaders. The study found that there
is a relationship between emotions, labor behavior and transactional leadership that affect for the
team. Depending on the level of emotions of the team; this can affect the transactional leader in
a positive or negative way. Transactional leaders work better in teams where there is a lower
level of emotions going into the project. This is because individuals are able to

 Think freely when setting their emotions aside from their work.
 Have all of their focus on the given task.
A transactional leader is:

1. Negatively affected when the emotional level is high.

2. Positively affected when the emotional level is low.
Transactional leadership presents a form of strategic leadership that is important for the
organizations development. Transactional leadership is essential for team innovativeness.

Transformational[edit]
A transformational leader is a type of person in which the leader is not limited by his or her
followers' perception. The main objective is to work to change ortransform his or her
followers' needs and redirect their thinking. Leaders that follow the transformation style of
leading, challenge and inspire their followers with a sense of purpose and excitement.[10] They
also create a vision of what they aspire to be, and communicate this idea to others (their
followers). According to Schultz and Schultz, there are three identified characteristics of a
transformational leader:

 Charismatic leadership has a broad knowledge of field, has a self-promoting personality,

high/great energy level, and willing to take risk and use irregular strategies in order to
stimulate their followers to think independently
 Individualized consideration
 Intellectual stimulation

See also[edit]
 Leadership
 Super-team

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ Definition of leadership style
2. Jump up^ Salin D, Helge H “Organizational Causes of Workplace Bullying” in
Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace: Developments in Theory,
Research, and Practice (2010)
3. ^ Jump up to:a b c Erben and Guneser, Gul and Ayse (November 2008). "The
Relationship Between Paternalistic Leadership and Organizational
Commitement:Investigating the Role of Climate Regarding ethics". Journal of
Business Ethics 82 (4): 955–968. doi:10.1007/s10551-007-9605-z. Retrieved
12/1/2012. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
4. Jump up^ Foster, D.E. (2002). "A Method of Comparing Follower Satisfaction
with the Authoritarian, Democratic, and Laissez-faire Styles of
Leadership.". Communication Teacher 16(2): 4–6.
5. Jump up^ Woods, A.P. (2010). "Democratic leadership: drawing distinctions
with distributed leadership". International Journal of Leadership in
Education 7 (1): 3–36.
6. Jump up^ Martindale, N (2011). "Leadership Styles: How to handle the
different personas". Strategic Communication Management 15 (8): 32–35.
7. Jump up^ "Laissez Faire Leadership Style". Careers, Finance and Investing.
Money-zine.com. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
8. Jump up^ Johnson, C. E.; Hackman, M. Z. (2003). Leadership, a
communication perspective (4 ed.). Waveland Press.
p. 38. ISBN 9781577662846.
9. ^ Jump up to:a b "Styles Of Leadership". Essortment. Retrieved March
16, 2012.
10. Jump up^ Schultz & Schultz, Duane (2010). Psychology and work today.
New York: Prentice Hall. pp. 201–202. ISBN 0-205-68358-4.
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