Leadership is a great personality trait that helps people out in a crowd and it helps people influence and guide others in the team to reach a common goal. Each person is different and has his/her own ways of doing things. The style of work and time taken to accomplish a goal are also different for different people. But, in an organization, where each task is expected to be completed in a given span of time (deadline), there must be effective coordination among employees. And, here comes the role of a leader. The role of a leader is to coordinate the thoughts and actions of his/her team members and help them adopt a common pace – this, in turn, ensures that the goal is reached in time. Leaders set rules and directions and make sure that they are followed strictly. A leader should be idealistic, focusing on excellence and sticking strongly to ethics. Leaders should be compassionate and caring as well and must also know how to mentor their team members. They should be the go-getters who are always willing to take big steps and must also be able to observe things from different perspectives giving a new outlook to the task/s assigned. The different types of leaderships are listed below. Scroll down and read on.
Types of Leadership
Autocratic Leadership
Autocratic leadership is considered a classic approach to leadership. Here, the leader has complete authority and power to control the team members. There is no place for trusting relationships in this type of leadership and the members are not entitled to seek explanation for a particular decision or give feedback or participate in the decision making process. All decisions are made by the leader and the team members have to obey them. Objection to the leader’s decision is not entertained and is considered punishable. Rewards, generally monetary, are the only motivational factors while punishments are given in case of failure. This leadership style is suitable for emergency situations or cases where members have conflicting ideas and are not able to reach a decision. This style is considered ideal for the armed forces and profiles which don’t require creativity but generally, it is not a popular leadership style. The disadvantages of autocratic leadership are that it hinders socialization and workplace communication and also suppresses the leadership qualities of the team members. Adolf Hitler is an example of an autocrat leader.
Bureaucratic Leadership Style
Here, there is a hierarchy of power. Rules are written and fixed. The leader is more like a policeman who just has to ensure everything is done as per rules. But this kind of leadership is effective only when the work is repetitive and undergoes routine tasks again and again based on same set of rules and regulations – it would not suit tasks where the leader has to take instant decisions depending on the situation. In a bureaucratic leadership style, the team spirit and work is maintained by strict rules and the employee who gives a noticeable performance is rewarded with a promotion. This is the style followed by supervisors in factories.
Democratic Leadership
In this type of leadership, the leader and the team members actively participate in the process of decision making. This enables the team members to put forth their perspective and these suggestions are considered while making decisions. This ensures quality performance of the team. The employees are informed of each and every development in the project and also about the factors affecting their work. This provides all the team members with a sense of responsibility and gives them an opportunity to grow and ensures motivated employees. Democratic leadership is an excellent approach to discover all aspects of a problem and all possible solutions for that. The drawback lies in the chances that the team members might come up with contrasting ideas and create a conflict, Also, this method, since highly participative, can lead to delays in decision making. D. Eisenhower is a famous democratic leader.
Laissez-Fair Leadership Style
This is the most liberal style of leadership. Here the employees are provided with ultimate freedom to set their goals, select modus operandi and determine the time limit to resolve problems on their own. The leader provides the team members with all the facilities and materials they need to achieve the goal and also provides answers in case of any doubts. This leadership style is adopted only when the team members are highly skilled and experienced and the work is extremely creative in nature and the leader has complete faith in the team members.
All chiefs are not leaders! Leadership is a great personal trait and also qualifies for a virtue. Hope the above article helped you understand different types of leaderships.
