LEADERSHIP

STYLES
Leadership Styles or Types of Leaders
 Leadership Style refers to the consistent
behaviour pattern of a leader as perceived by
people around him.
 It is the result of the philosophy, personality

and experience of the leader.

 It also depends upon the types of followers

and the conditions prevailing in an

organisation.
 The leadership styles or types of leaders can be
classified based upon the following categories :
1. Based on Attitude and Behaviour
2. Based on official Recognition/Relationship
3. Based on concern for production versus concern
for people (Managerial Grid)
4. Based on decision-making (Likert’s System
Management )
5. Transactional and Transformational Leadership
6. Leadership through Empowerment
1) Leadership style based on Attitude and Behaviour

1. Autocratic or Authoritarian style Leader

These leaders keep the decision-making authority and
control in their own hands and assume full responsibility
for all actions. The subordinates are required to
implement instructions of their leaders without question.

Advantages
a) It is useful when the subordinates are new on the job and
have had no experience either in the managerial decision
making process or performing without active supervision
b) It can increase efficiency when quick decisions are to be taken.
c) It is useful when the chain of command and the division of
work is clear and understood by all and there is little room for
error in the final work.
d) Suitable for those subordinates who feel comfortable to
completely depend on the leader.

Disadvantages
e) One way communication without feedback leads to
misunderstanding and communications breakdown.
f) An autocratic leader makes his own decisions which can be
very dangerous in this age of technological and sociological
complexity.
b. It fails to develop his commitment to the goals and
objectives of the organization.
c. It may result in worker dissatisfaction,which in the
long run can be a threat to the work efficiency.

2. Laissez-faire or Free-reign style Leader

Under this type of leadership,maximum freedom is
allowed to subordinates.The leader does not intervene
or control and there is complete group or individual
freedom in decision-making. This type of leadership is
highly effective when the group members are highly
intelligent and does not require direct supervision.
 Advantages
a) It creates an environment of freedom, individuality as well
as team-spirit.
b) It is highly creative with a free and informal work
environment.
c) Highly useful when people are highly motivated and
achievement oriented.

Disadvantages

d) It may result in disorganized activities which may lead to

inefficiency and chaos.
e) Insecurity and frustration may develop due to lack of
specific decision making authority and guidance.
3. Participative or Democratic Leadership

 Democratic style of leadership implies compromise between

the two extremes of autocratic and laissez-fair style of
leadership. In this type of leadership, the supervisor acts
according to the mutual consent and the decisions reached
after consulting the subordinates.
 The management recognizes that the subordinates are
equipped with talents and abilities and that they are capable
of bringing new ideas to the workplace.
 It provides necessary motivation to the workers by ensuring
their participation and acceptance of work methods,thus
increasing the job-satisfaction and reducing the employee
grievances.
Advantages
a) The leadership induces confidence,cooperation and
loyalty among workers.
b) It results in higher employee morale.
c) Increased productivity and satisfaction.

Disadvantages
d) The labour must be literate,informed or organized
which is not always possible.
e) Causes a delay in decision-making
f) Leads to indiscipline in workers.
4. Paternalistic style leader
This style of leadership is based upon sentiments
and emotions of people.A paternalistic leader is like
a father to his subordinates.He helps,guides and
protects all his subordinates.But,the subordibates
thus become dependent upon the leader.
 2) Leadership Style based on official
Recognition/Relationship
 They can be classified under two categories:

1. Formal Leader

 He is formally appointed or elected to direct and control the

activities of the subordinates.
 He is a person created by the formal structure, enjoys
organisational authority and is accountable to those who have
elected him.
 He has a two-fold responsibility of fulfilling the demands of
the organisation and is also supposed to help, guide and direct
his subordinates in satisfying their needs and aspirations.
2. Informal Leader

 They are not formally elected but derive authority

from the people who are under their influence.
 They often command respect and are approached to
help, guide and direct the subordinates in satisfying
their needs and aspirations.
 They are created to satisfy those needs which are not
satisfied by the formal leaders.
 An organisation can make effective use of informal
leaders to strengthen the formal leadership.
3) Leadership style based on concern for production
v/s concern for people ( THE MANAGERIAL GRID)

 Developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton

 They separated two primary concerns in
organizations namely, the concern for
production and the concern for people.
 They believed that a high concern for production
necessarily meant low concern for people and
high consideration for workers meant low
production.
 The Managerial Grid model emphasized that both
concerns should be integrated to achieve the objects of
the organization.
 It also assumed that people and production factors are
complementary to each other rather than mutually
exclusive.
 There are five representative styles of leadership on the
managerial grid:
i. Impoverished Management - Coordinates (1,1) : In this
style the manager is least concerned with either people
or production. The manager makes minimum efforts to
get the work done, and gets minimum standards of
performance and minimum worker dedication.
ii. Country Club Management - Coordinates(1,9) : In this
style the managers have great concern for the people
and establishes personal and meaningful relationship
with people. They will have a friendly atmosphere and
high morale.
iii. Task Management – Coordinates(9,1) : These leaders
have high concern for production and low concern for
people.They will have excellent work design and
minimum work interference.
iv. Team Management – Coordinates (9,9) : These leaders
have high concern for production as well as for people.
Trustworthy and dedicated people and will have
organized task performances.
v. Middle-of –the road management Style –
Coordinates(5,5) : It is concerned with balancing
the necessity to get the work done while
maintaining worker morale at satisfactory level. The
goal is to achieve adequate organisational
performance.
4) Leadership style based on decision-
making(Likert’s System Management)

 Rensis Likert treats the organisation as a complex

system based on the principle of supporting
relationships, in which decision-making, leadership,
motivation, communication and control move together.
 He was of the view that these variables are
measureable and could be related to production and
profit over time.
 He was of the view that traditional job oriented
supervision was the cause of low productivity and low
morale.
 He classified leadership styles into four categories :
1) Exploitative Autocratic : In this style, there is no
participation of workers because these leaders have
no confidence and trust in subordinates.
2) Benevolent Autocratic : There is no proper
confidence in subordinates and the relationship is
that of a master and a servant.
3) Participative : The subordinates are allowed to
participate in decisions and express their opinions.
Leader does not have full confidence in them.
4) Democratic : The confidence and trust in
subordinates is full and they meaningfully participate
in decision-making.
5) Transactional and Tranformational Leadership

Transactional Leadership

 The leader guides and motivates their followers in the

direction of established goals and objectives by
clarifying the roles and task requirements.
 It is more of an exchange relationship by linking job

performance to valued rewards.

 It involves leader behaviour that improves employee

performance and satisfaction.

 It involves a laissez-faire attitude, where leader is just a

figurehead and the subordinates are free to plan and

design their own activities.
Transformational Leadership

 The transformational leaders helps to energize and

direct employees to new set of behaviours.
 They change the situation for the better, develops

followers into leaders and inspires people.

 A classic example is that of Mahatma Gandhi, who

raised the hopes, aspirations and dreams of millions of

people in India.
 They do not use power for personal gain and are

sensitive to the needs of their followers.

 They are value-driven in terms of ethics and morality.
 According to Bernard M.Bass, the four factors in
transformational leadership are:
1. Idealized influence : They have high moral and ethical
standards and act as strong role models.
2. Inspirational motivation : They have high expectations from
the followers and inspire them through respect and
motivation to come up to such expectations.
3. Intellectual Stimulation : They stimulate the followers to be
creative and encourage them to try new ways of dealing
with issues.
4. Individualized consideration : They recognizes variations in
skills, abilities and desires for growth opportunities among
subordinates. It refers to the genuine interest of the leader
in his subordinates.
6) Leadership through empowerment
 Empowerment means the freedom to decide responsibly.
 It encourages team members to share the responsibilities
of their leaders and managers.
 Team members are held responsible for improving and
maintaining the processes for which their teams are
responsible.
 Leaders need to be empowered so that they are free to
make their own decisions.
 A leader who empowers his team members, actually
places his trust in them and encourages them to think like
leaders.
 The influence depends on the power base
enjoyed by leaders. There are five bases of
power namely coercion, reward, legitimate,
expert and reference. When a person threatens
others to work it is coercion. It gives rise to
negative feelings and hostility. Reward power
impels to motivate and award employees who
have done some commendable tasks. This
power is used to motivate the employees with
the monetary or non-monetary reward.
 Legitimate power is derived from the
position.His position has the power,without
which he is powerless. Expert power is
possessed by expert and technically qualified
persons. The knowledge, skill and behavioural
command are the given power base to
influence others. They will be consulted even
after retirement or leaving the job. Referent
power is possessed by a person because of his
exceptional qualities. He is referred to as a
model of organizational development.