Leadership Styles

While studying leadership, I came across four types of leadership styles: Autocratic, Democratic, Laissez Faire and Charismatic leadership. Autocratic leadership is where people are told what they are supposed to do without taking into consideration their suggestions, opinions or views. Democratic Leadership is where it demands everyone in the organisation to be creative, perform as a team, solve complex problems, improve quality and provide outstanding customer service. The style presents a happy medium between over controlling and not being engaged and tends to be seen in organisations that must innovate to prosper. Laissez Faire Leadership is where the leader leaves everything to their subordinates; everything from planning to execution is done by the people. Leader has the least say in making the decisions. Here people should be highly qualified, skilled and trained in order to make decisions on their own. Charismatic Leadership is where the leader is highly appealing to the people and can influence them easily towards it. It is crucial to understand the different types of leadership styles and in what situation it is best suited. You cannot say which is better and which is not so good. Each style works in different situations. For Instance, If you are in a boat which is going to get drowned in one hour, in that case you need someone who is straight forward and can make decisions faster, i.e. someone who is autocratic. Here people want to be led by someone who is more trustable and who make quicker decisions.

It is important, when in an organisation a leader interacts with as many people as possible to understand how people perceives different things. There can be different types of people in the organisation which can be broadly categorised into four groups, walking dead, urban terrorists, fans and the stars. A leader must try and see who is good at what and accordingly should assign responsibilities to get an effective outcome. Motivation is the key that aspires people to convert from various groups to stars. Many a times it happens that leader is aware of all the problems and what exactly are going on in the organisation. It is important that the leader is able to deliver what the organisation wants from its people and that people don’t work without knowing what they are working for or what their ultimate goal is.

: 24 Jan 2010 22:18 |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem