“The Psychology of

Leadership”

BS Psychology
Semester 8

Dr. Farah Khan

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Styles of Leadership
 MAJOR LEADERSHIP STYLE

1. The Autocratic or Authoritarian Leader

2. The Democratic or Participative Leader
3. The Laissez-faire or Delegative Leader

OTHER TWO STYLES

• The Charismatic Leader
• The Servant Leader
 ReMAINING Leadership Styles

• Bureaucratic
• Task Oriented
• Relationship Oriented
• Transactional
• Transformational
The Autocratic or Authoritarian Leader

• Makes decisions alone, having total authority.

• Closely supervises and controls people when
they perform certain tasks.
• Does not consult followers for input
• Followers expected to obey orders without
explanations
• Motivation provided through structured
rewards and punishments
 APPLICATION OF AUTOCRATIC
STYLE

• New, untrained employees

• Followers are motivated
• Followers do not respond to any other leadership style
• High-volume production needs
• Limited time for decision making
 The Democratic or Participative Leader

• Gathers information from followers before making decisions

• Shares decision making and problem solving responsibilities,
however maintains the final decision making authority
• Help followers evaluate their own performance
• Allows followers to establish goals
• Encourages followers to grow on the job and be promoted
• Recognizes and encourages achievement
• Can produce high quality and high quantity work for long
periods of time
 FEATURES CHARACTERIZING
DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP

• Distribution of responsibility - A manager that

leads democratically will distribute responsibility
among his group to facilitate participation in decision
making.
• Empowering group members - Leaders must
empower their members so that the members can
accomplish their responsibilities. Empowerment
includes providing training and education necessary
for delegated task completion.

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• Aiding group decision-making process - A major role
of a democratic leader is to ensure democratic
deliberation in making group decisions. This means
that a leader should act as a facilitator and mediator
between group members and ensure that a
psychologically healthy and respectful environment is
maintained.

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APPLICATION OF DEMOCRATIC STYL

• Democracy in leadership is often most effective

when a leader is working with highly skilled or
experienced workers. It allows the leader to
capitalize on their employees' individual talents
and strengths, while also benefiting from the
power of the whole.

• When there is a complex problem that require a lot

of input to encourage team building and
participation
The Laissez-faire or Delegative Leader

• Also known as the “hands-off style

• Little or no direction

• Gives followers as much freedom as possible

• All authority or power is given to the followers

• Followers must determine goals, make decisions,

and resolve problems on their own.

• Laissez-faire is a French phrase meaning “let do”

• Allows people to make their own decisions.

• Leader is still responsible for the decisions that are made, but does not actively
participate in it.

• This style allows greater freedom and responsibility for people.

• However, you need competent people around you or nothing will get done.
APPLICATION OF LAISSEZ-FAIRE

• Followers are highly skilled, experienced, and educated

• Followers have pride in their work and the drive to do it

successfully on their own

• Outside experts, such as staff specialists or consultants are

being used

• Followers are trustworthy and experienced

 CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP
STYLE
• Charismatic leaders are essentially very skilled
communicators – individuals who are both verbally
eloquent, but also able to communicate to followers
on a deep, emotional level. They are able to
articulate a compelling or captivating vision, and
are able to arouse strong emotions in follower.
• Leads by creating energy and eagerness in people.
• Leader is well liked and inspires people.
• Appeals to people’s emotional side.
 SERVANT STYLE

• A Servant Leader shares power, puts the needs of the

employees first and helps people develop and perform
as highly as possible. Servant leadership inverts the
norm, which puts the customer service associates as a
main priority. Instead of the people working to serve
the leader, the leader exists to serve the people.

• The highest priority of this leader is to encourage,

support and enable people to fulfill their full potential
and abilities.
•Helps people achieve their goals.

•Works for the people.

•In 1998, writer and philosopher Larry Spears distilled

Greenleaf's ideas into ten key servant leadership traits:
listening, empathy, stewardship, foresight, persuasion,
conceptualization, awareness, healing, commitment to
the growth and development of people, and building
community.

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Here are 10 characteristics and traits that distinguishes a
servant leader from the more traditional ones.
•Empathy. A servant leader has the ability to recognize
and understand feelings and emotions that are
experienced by their team. ...
•Listening. ...
•Awareness. ...
•Healing. ...
•Conceptualization. ...
•Persuasive. ...
•Stewardship. ...
•Foresight 17
 BUREAUCRATIC LEADER

• Bureaucratic leadership is one of the leadership styles

postulated by Max Weber in 1947. It is a system of management
whereby employees are made to follow specific rules and lines of
authority created by the superiors. ... The bureaucratic
leadership pattern focuses on the administrative needs an
organization has.
• Bureaucratic leadership is a common form of management in
which leadership is based upon fixed official duties and
adherence to a system of rules. ... Leaders are subject to a system
of behavioral and technical rules that define the scope of their
authority, dictate certain actions and constrain certain actions.
• Goes “by the book¨
• Everything must be done according to procedure or policy
 APPLICATION

1. It removes favoritism from the equation.

2. It centralizes duties and roles within a team.
3. It promotes higher levels of creativity.
4. It creates a stronger level of job security.
5. It is a predictable form of leadership.
6. It always seeks to create best practices.
7. It is a leadership style which offers upward
scalability.
8. It is a style of leadership which encourages
familiarity.
 TRANSACTIONAL LEADER
• Leaders and followers work together, exchanging their
time, energies, and skills to increase their joint rewards.

• Motivate followers by appealing to their own self-interest

• Motivate by the exchange process.

• EX: business owners exchange status and wages for
the work effort of the employee.

• Focuses on the accomplishment of tasks & good worker

relationships in exchange for desirable rewards.
 TRANSFORMATIONAL
LEADER
• Transformational leadership is a leadership style in
which leaders encourage, inspire and motivate
employees to innovate and create change that will
help grow and shape the future success of the
company.

• This is accomplished by setting an example at the

executive level through a strong sense of corporate
culture, employee ownership and independence in
the workplace.

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• Leaders heighten group members’ motivation,
confidence, and satisfaction by uniting members and
changing their beliefs, values, and needs.

• Inspire followers to transcend their self-interest for

the organization/for the bigger purpose

• Appeal to followers' ideals and values

• Instils feelings of confidence, admiration and
commitment

• Stimulates followers intellectually, arousing them to

develop new ways to think about problems

• Flexible and innovative.

The Task and Relationship Oriented Leaders

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 Questions
1. Which leadership style do you think is the most
effective? Why?
2. Which leadership style do you think is the least
effective? Why?
3. Which style do you like leaders to use when they
are in charge of you? Why?
4. What leadership style best describes you?