Leader and their styles
If you look at modern organizations today, you will find managers adopting different kinds of leadership styles, in order to achieve their targets. These days, organizations are not like what they used to be. Today we have people from different countries, cultures, educational backgrounds, skills, working in the same team, together, to meet team targets. That’s why leaders, today, rely on various types of leadership skills as well as leadership styles to get the best out of their subordinates. Given below is a list of the most commonly observed types of leadership in the modern-day corporate world.
Different Types of Leadership Styles
Autocratic Leadership
In autocratic leadership style, decision making is the sole prerogative of the leader. Everything, right from how things are to be done, what will be the individual and group targets, the structure of punishments and rewards, etc., is decided by the leader himself, without any input from anybody. Such a leadership style works well in situations when some emergencies arise, and have to be dealt with immediately.
Bureaucratic Leadership
This corporate leadership style entails, exactly following the policies and procedures which have been previously laid down. It is the leader’s job to ensure that all rules are adhered to by the employees. This type of leadership style is effective, if employees perform routine tasks everyday. However, there is no room for creativity or innovative problem solving in this leadership style.
Participative Leadership
Participative leadership style leads to development of trust and loyalty among subordinates for the leader, as he takes them into full consideration, utilizes their skills and knowledge and takes their inputs, before arriving at a decision. Participative style works really well wherein the leader has just joined the organization, or the department, and is completely new to how things operate.
Laissez-faire Leadership
This team leadership style is the anti-thesis of autocratic style. In this, the subordinates are given absolute freedom by the leader to determine their own goals and ways of reaching them. Such types of leadership is based on the principle of least interference. It can be a great success if the subordinates are experienced and skilled, however can backfire if they are not trustworthy.
Transactional Leadership
This leadership style works on the principle that when subordinates sign a contract to participate in a particular project, they take their manager as the ultimate authority. Also, there are set rules for rewards and punishments. If the subordinates perform well, they are rewarded and if their performance is below expectation, they are punished.
Transformational Leadership
In the transformational leadership style, the leader sells his vision to his subordinates, by bringing it forth in the most passionate and appealing manner. The transformational leader motivates his subordinates to work for a given task with great enthusiasm. The leader genuinely cares for the welfare of his subordinates and wants them to learn new things and progress by working with him on his vision.
Servant Leadership
The leader acts as someone who is out there to help other people grow. By acting as a serving leader, he gives them freedom to grow, nurture their spirit and in the process become trusting of him and in the end giving him their whole and sole commitment. This leadership style goes a long way in aiding community building.
Charismatic Leadership
Such types of leadership style is most commonly seen in politicians. A charismatic leader, by using his charm, his ability to make others feel important and his skill of gauging concerns of the people, and using some clever words to address them, is able to garner many admirers. People are attracted towards him and thus, like to work for him. You may read more on leadership styles and examples.
Situational Leadership
This leadership style in management is adopted by a leader in accordance with the prevailing situation. Some determining factors can be, the ability of the subordinates, the kind of co-operation that exists among various team members, available resources, etc.
Quiet Leadership
This type of leadership style is the exact opposite of charismatic leadership style. In this, the leader motivates his team through his actions rather than words. This leadership is all about being rational and people-oriented at the same time.
These are the different types of leadership styles, which managers follow in organizations today. To be termed as a successful leader and for effective leadership, a manager should know which leadership style to follow in any given situation, to get things done!
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