Continuum of Leadership

In reality there is not only three leadership styles but styles could be many ranging from highly boss centered styles to highly employee centered leadership. According to Tannenbaum and Schmidt the leader has flexibility in choosing the most appropriate style. The choice of the style depends on three factors:

(a)    Forces in the leader which include his value system, confidence in own leadership inclinations, feelings of insecurity and unncertainty, and confidence in his subordinates.

(b)    Forces in subordinates—each employee has different needs, wants, desires, experience, training abilities, skills etc. It is therefore beneficial for the manager to understand the forces at work within his employees. A manager could for instance allow participation in decision making if the employees are competent, well trained, ready to assume responsibility, have high needs for independence, understand and identify with the goals of the organization and necessary knowledge. If these are absent then the leader may be forced to lead autocratically.

(c)    Forces in the situation

Include environmental pressures such as type of organization, effectiveness of work group, type of problem and urgency of the problem. For example production workers may work better under one style while professionals may work better under a different style.