TYPES OF LEADERS/LEADERSHIP
STYLES
1. Autocratic or Authoritarian Style
Leader:
An autocratic also known as authoritarian style of
leadership implies yielding absolute power. Under
this style, the leader expects complete obedience
from his subordinates and all decision-making
power is centralized in the leader. No suggestions or
initiative from subordinates is entertained.
The leader forces the subordinates to obey him
without questioning. An autocratic leader is, in fact,
no leader. He is merely the formal head of the
organisation and is generally disliked by the
subordinates. People within the team are given few
opportunities for making suggestions, even if these
would be in the team’s or organization’s interest.
Autocratic leadership style is often considered the
classical approach. It is one in which the manager
retains as much power and decision-making
authority as possible. The manager does not consult
employees, nor are they allowed to give any input.
Employees are expected to obey orders without
receiving any explanations. The motivation
environment is produced by creating a structured
set of rewards and punishments.
This leadership style can be useful in organisations
with strict guidelines or compliance-heavy
industries.
2. Laissez-faire or Free-rein Style
leader:
This French phrase means “leave it be” and is used
to describe a leader who leaves his or her colleagues
to get on with their work.
Under this type of leadership, maximum freedom is
allowed to subordinates. They are given free had in
deciding their own policies and methods and to
make independent decisions. The leader provides
help only when required by his subordinates
otherwise he does not interfere in their work.
The style of leadership creates self-confidence in the
workers and provides them an opportunity to
develop their talents. But it may not work under all
situations with all the workers and under all
situations. Such leadership can be employed with
success where workers are competent, sincere and
self-disciplined.
Managers may adopt this leadership style when all
team members are highly experienced, well trained
and require little oversight.
3. Democratic or Participative Style
Leader:
The democratic leadership style (also called the
participative style) is a combination of the
autocratic and laissez-faire types of leadership.
Democratic leadership is exactly what it sounds like
— the leader makes decisions based on the input of
each team member. The essence of this style is the
consultation. Democratic leaders ask for input and
consider feedback from their team or subordinates
before making a decision. Subordinates are
encouraged to make suggestions and take initiative.
It provides necessary motivation to the workers by
ensuring their participation and acceptance of work
methods. It reduces the number of complaints,
employee’s grievances, industrial unrest and strikes.
But this style of leadership may sometimes cause
delay in decisions and lead to indiscipline in
workers.
Because this type of leadership drives discussion
and participation, it’s an excellent style for
organisations focused on creativity and innovation
such as those in the technology industry.
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 looks after the
subordinates like a father looks after his family. He
helps guides and protects all of his subordinates but
under him no one grows. The subordinates become
dependent upon the leader. He provides them with
good working conditions, fringe benefit and
employee services. This style has been successful
particularly in JAPAN because of its cultural
background.
It is said that employees under such leadership will
work harder under out of gratitude.
5. Bureaucratic Leadership Style:
Bureaucratic leaders work “by the book”, ensuring
that their staff follow procedures exactly. This style
of leadership might listen and consider the input of
employees — unlike autocratic leadership — but the
leader tends to reject an employee's input if it
conflicts with company policy or past practices.
This is style of leadership emphasizes procedures
and historical methods regardless of their
usefulness in changing environments. Bureaucratic
leaders attempt to solve problems by adding layers
of control, and their power comes from controlling
the flow of information.
The bureaucratic leadership style focuses on fixed
duties within a hierarchy where each employee has
a set list of responsibilities and there is little need
for collaboration and creativity. This leadership
style is most effective in highly regulated industries
or departments such as finance, healthcare or
government.
6. Transformational Leadership:
Transformational leadership is a leadership style
that is defined as leadership that creates valuable
and positive change in the followers.
A transformational leader focuses on
“transforming” others to help each other, to look out
for each other, to be encouraging and harmonious,
and to look out for the organization as a whole. In
this leadership, the leader enhances the motivation,
morale and performance of his follower group.
A person with this leadership style is a true leader
who inspires his or her team with a shared vision of
the future.
Transformational leaders are highly visible, and
spend a lot of time communicating. They don’t
necessarily lead from the front, as they tend to
delegate responsibility amongst their teams. While
their enthusiasm is often infectious, they can need
to be supported by “detail people”.
7. Transactional Leadership:
Transactional leadership is a term used to classify a
group of leadership theories that inquire the
interactions between leaders and followers. This
style of leadership starts with the premise that team
members agree to obey their leader totally when
they take a job on.
The “transaction” is usually that the organization
pays the team members, in return for their effort
and compliance. As such, the leader has the right to
“punish” team members if their work doesn’t meet
the pre-determined standard.
The leader could give team members some control
of their income/reward by using incentives that
encourage even higher standards or greater
productivity.
Transactional leadership helps establish roles and
responsibilities for each employee, but it can also
encourage bare-minimum work if employees know
how much their effort is worth all the time.
Traits of an effective leader:
Effective Communicators
