Leadership Styles

The method or style of leadership a manager chooses to use greatly influences his effectiveness as a leader. An appropriate leadership style coupled with a proper external motivational technique can lead to the achievement of both individual and organizational goals. If the style is inappropriate goals could suffer and workers may feel resentful, aggressive, insecure and dissatisfied.

There are three main styles of leadership:

    (a)    Autocratic Style

All authority and decision making is centered in the leader. He makes all decisions, exercises total control by use of rewards and punishment. An autocratic leader requires conformity from his subordinates and always considers his decision to be superior to those of his subordinates. One advantage of autocratic leadership is that it allows faster decision making but it can easily cause workers to experience dissatisfaction, dependence on the leader or passiveness towards organizational goals.

    (b)    Democratic or Participative Style

This style of leadership seeks to obtain cooperation of workers in achieving organizational goals by allowing them to participate in decision-making.It does not relieve the leader of his decision-making responsibilities or of his power over subordinates, but it requires that he recognise subordinates as capable of contributing positively to decision making. Participative decision-making can lead to improved manager-worker relations, higher morale and job satisfaction, decreased dependence on the leader and better acceptance of decisions. However, it also has certain limitations, delayed decision-making, `group think', time consuming and diluted decisions due to compromising.

    (c)    Laissez Faire Style (Free Reign)

This style does not depend on the leader to provide external motivation but, the workers motivate themselves based on their needs, wants and desires. They are given goals and left on their own to achieve them. The leader assumes the role of a group member.

This approach increases worker independence and expression and forces him to function as a member of a group. The main disadvantage is that, without a strong leader the group could lack direction or control, which may result into frustration in the workers. For laissez faire to work the subordinates must be competent, reliable and well versed with the goals of the organization.