Leadership Styles

Definition: The Leadership Styles are the behavioral patterns that a leader adopt to influence the
behavior of his followers, i.e. the way he gives directions to his subordinates and motivates them
to accomplish the given objectives.
The leadership styles can either be classified on the basis of behavioral approach or situational
approach. These approaches are comprised of several theories and models which are explained
below:
Based on Behavioral Approach
1. Power Orientation: The power orientation refers to the “degree of authority” that a
leader adopts to influence the behavior of his subordinates. Based on this, the leadership
styles can be further classified as:
 Autocratic Leadership
 Participative Leadership
 Laissez-Faire
2. Leadership as a continuum: This model is
given by Tannenbaum and Schmidt, who
believed that there are several leadership styles
that range between two extremes of autocratic
and free-rein, which are shown below:
3. Employee-Production Orientation: Several types of research were conducted to study
the leadership behavior that gets affected by the several characteristics that are related to
each other. It was found that employee orientation and production orientation play an
important role in determining the leadership style. The employee orientation is based on
the premise that an employee is an important part of the group and is in parallel to the
democratic leadership style. Whereas the production Orientation focuses on the
production and technical aspects of the job and the employees are considered as the tools
for accomplishing the jobs. Thus, the production orientation is parallel to the autocratic
leadership style.
4. Likert’s Management System: Rensis Likert along with his associates studied the
patterns and behavior of managers to identify the leadership styles and defined four
systems of management. These four systems are: Exploitative Authoritative, Benevolent
Authoritative, consultative system and participative system.
5. Managerial Grid: The managerial grid is the tool designed by Blake and Mouton to
determine the leadership style. According to them, the leadership style gets influenced by
both the task-oriented and relation-oriented behavior in varying degrees.
6. Three Dimensional Grid: The three-dimensional grid is also called as a 3-D leadership
model given by W.J. Reddin. Reddin included the effectiveness dimension along with the
task-oriented and relationship-oriented dimensions to study how a leader behaves in a
given situation and a specific environment.
Based on Situational Approach:
1. Fiedler’s Contingency Model: This theory is given by Fred Fiedler, who, along with his
associates identified the situational variables and their relationship to determine the
leadership styles. Thus, this model is comprised of three elements, leadership styles,
situational variables and the interrelationship between these two.
2. Hursey and Blanchard’s Situational Model: According to this model, the leader has to
adopt the leadership style that matches up with the subordinate’s maturity i.e. his
willingness to direct his behavior towards the goal.
3. Path-Goal Model: The Path-Goal Model is given by Robert House, who, along with his
associates tried to predict the effectiveness of leadership styles in varied situations. He
believed that the foremost function of any leader is to define the goals to the subordinates
clearly and assist them in finding the best path to accomplish that goal.
Thus, a manager behavior and the situational demands give rise to several leadership styles as
discussed above.
Robert House’s Path-Goal Model
Definition: The Path-Goal Model of leadership is given by Robert House and others, who
studied the relationship between the leadership styles and the situations. According to them,
there is no single leadership style that fit in all the situations and therefore, they tried to predict
the effectiveness of leadership styles in different situations. Robert House and Mitchell have
identified four types of leadership styles:
 Supportive Leadership: Here, leader emphasizes on establishing the interpersonal
relationships with the subordinates by showing concern for their welfare and building a
friendly environment within the organization. This kind of leadership style is adopted
with the intent to make the job more interesting when the work is more stressful or
hazardous.
 Directive Leadership: The directive leadership style is followed when the subordinates
are inexperienced, or the job is quite complex that cannot be performed without the
manager’s directions. Here, manager properly tells the subordinates about the task and
the ways to perform it.
 Participative Leadership: This kind of leadership style is adopted when the
subordinates are experienced, and the job is complex. Here, the leader involves the team
members who are experts to give their input in the decision-making process.
 Achievement-Oriented Leadership: Here, the manager sets high standard goals for his
teammates with the intent to motivate them to achieve those goals. The leader has full
confidence in his subordinates and adopts this leadership style for the self-improvement
of each group member and to make a task more exciting. Generally, this style is followed
when the task is quite complex, and the subordinates are less motivated.
Thus, the path-goal model posits that the foremost function of the leader is to clarify and set
goals with subordinates, help them in identifying the best path for achieving the goal and
removing the obstacles if coming in the way. In order to do so, the leader adopts different
leadership styles that best suits the situation.
Autocratic Leadership
Definition: In the Autocratic Leadership Style, the leader centralizes the decision-making power
in himself and give directions to his subordinates as to what they are supposed to do and how
they are required to perform the given task. Thus, a leader enjoys the full authority and imposes
his will on others. The autocratic leadership style is also known as authoritarian, directive or
monothetic style. Here, the leader makes the decision by himself without taking any advice from
others. No one can question the decision made by the autocratic leader; he structures the
complete situation, and the subordinates are required to do what they have been told by the
leader. This kind of style is suitable for the situation, where the leader knows the solution of the
problem and can very well direct his subordinates to get the task accomplished quickly and
efficiently. Especially, in military, construction and manufacturing jobs, the subordinates prefer
an autocratic leadership style, where they can focus on the specific jobs and leave the complex
decision making to the leader.
At times, the autocratic leadership style can be negative as the group members may feel insecure
and afraid of leader’s authority. Since the autocratic leader takes a decision on his own with little
or no input from the subordinates, may demoralize the group members, as they are not able to
contribute their ideas and use their expertise or knowledge in certain situations.
Also, it has been observed that in the autocratic leadership style less creative solutions are
obtained that may hurt the overall performance of the group. Hence, the creative group members
may detest this style of leadership.
Laissez-Faire Leadership Style
Definition: The Laissez-Faire or Free-Rein is the leadership style wherein the leader gives full
freedom to his subordinates to act on their own. Here, the leader once defines the goals, policies,
programmes and the limitations for action and then leaves the remaining process to be
accomplished by the subordinates on their own.
In Laissez-Faire leadership style, the leader maintains contact with outside people and bring in
information to the group members which they need for the accomplishment of the given task.
Although, the subordinates are given the power and authority to make decisions the leader still
takes responsibility for the actions of his group members.
This leadership style proves to be beneficial only when the group members are highly skilled,
well-motivated and capable enough to accomplish the task assigned to them. The Laissez-Faire
style is most suitable in the situations, where the group members are more knowledgeable than
the leader and possess expertise in a particular field that can be used to find a solution to the
complex problem. Thus, highly passionate team members prefer this style of leadership.
One of the major disadvantages of the Laissez-Faire leadership style is that the project may go
off track in case the group members are not knowledgeable and lacks experience in making the
effective decisions. Also, the project may suffer if no clear lines of authority and responsibility
are defined among the group members. Lack of guidance and feedback from the leader may also
affect the viability of the project which in turn may lead to inadequate integration among the
teammates.
Participative Leadership
Definition: The Participative Leadership Style often called as Democratic or Ideographic style
wherein, the leader decentralizes the decision-making process and encourages his teammates to
contribute towards the goals and share responsibility in them.
In participative leadership style, the leader motivates the team members to get physically and
mentally involved in the group situations and give their opinions and ideas, but the power to
make the final decision rests with the leader. Thus, a leader involves his subordinates in setting
goals and objectives, team building and problem-solving, but keep the authority of final decision
making with himself.
The participative leadership style is best suited in the situations where the leader wants to amend
any change in the organization and finds easy to gain the support of his subordinates as they
being the part of that decision process. Also, the group members feel that they are an important
part of the group as their opinions are being valued, and their ideas are being taken into the
consideration. They feel motivated and even perform in the absence of the leader. Their morale
gets increased, and the sense of competitiveness decreases.
Although the participative leadership style has several advantages, it can result in a delayed
decision making, and unnecessary huge cost could be incurred in the overall decision-making
process.