Leadership Styles & Theories

Leadership styles
Leadership style is the manner and appr
oach of providing direction, implementing
plans, and motivating people. As seen by
the employees, it includes the total patter
n of explicit and implicit actions performe
d by their leader.
• authoritarian or autocratic - the leader tells his or her employ
ees what to do and how to do it, without getting their advice

• participative or democratic - the leader includes one or more

employees in the decision making process, but the leader norm
ally maintains the final decision making authority

• delegative or laissez-fair (free-rein) - the leader allows the e

mployees to make the decisions, however, the leader is still res
ponsible for the decisions that are made
• Although good leaders use all three style
s, with one of them normally dominant, ba
d leaders tend to stick with one style, nor
mally autocratic.
 The Situational Theory of Leadership
Hersey Blanchard’s situa
tional theory of leadershi
p suggests that no singl
e leadership style is best
.
 Situational Leadership
Situational leadership theory is often referred to
as the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadershi
p Theory, after its developers, Dr. Paul Hersey,
author of "The Situational Leader," and Kennet
h Blanchard, author of "One-Minute Manager."
 Leadership Styles
• Hersey and Blanchard suggested that there are four primary leadership styl
es:
• Telling (S1): In this leadership style, the leader tells people what to do and
how to do it.
• Selling (S2): This style involves more back-and-forth between leaders and f
ollowers. Leaders "sell" their ideas and message to get group members to b
uy into the process.
• Participating (S3): In this approach, the leader offers less direction and allo
ws members of the group to take a more active role in coming up with ideas
and making decisions.
• Delegating (S4): This style is characterized by a less involved, 
hands-off approach to leadership. Group members tend to make most of the
decisions and take most of the responsibility for what happens.
Leadership Weaknesses: How To Spot
The Qualities Of A Bad Leader
Below are a few tell tale leadership qualities to look for that
poor leaders often demonstrate.
• Poor integrity
• Lack of adaptability
• Little vision for the future
• Lack of accountability
• Poor communication skills
 Leadership theory?
• Leadership theories are the explanations of how and why certain
people become leaders. They focus on the traits and behaviors
that people can adopt to increase their leadership capabilities.
 Some of the top traits that leaders say are vital to good leadershi
p include
:
• Strong ethics and high moral standards
• Great self-organizational skills
• Efficient learner
• Nurtures growth in employees
• Fosters connection and belonging
 Major Leadership Theories
• Behavioral theory. The behavioral leadership theory
focuses on how leaders behave, and assumes that th
ese traits can be copied by other leaders. Sometimes
called the style theory, it suggests that leaders aren’t
born successful, but can be created based on learnab
le behavior.
• Contingency theory. The contingency leadership theory, somet
imes called situational theory, focuses on the context of a leader.
These theories look at the situational effects of the success or fai
lure or a leader. A leader’s effectiveness is directly determined b
y the situational context.
• Great Man theory. The great man theory of leadership, sometim
es called the trait theory, suggests that good leaders are born.
They have innate traits and skills that make them great, and thes
e are things that can’t be taught or learned. The trait theory sugg
ests that leaders deserve to be in their position because of their
special traits. 
• Management theory. The management theory is sometimes
called transactional leadership, and focuses on supervision,
organization, and group performance. Transactional leaders
hip is a system of rewards and punishments, and transaction
al leadership is regularly used in business.
• Participative theory. Participative leadership isn’t as comm
on in the corporate world. Sometimes called democratic lead
ership, this leadership theory suggests that employees be dir
ectly involved in decision making in their organization.
• Relationship theory. The relationship theory of leadership
focuses on leaders who are mainly concerned about their
interactions with others. They are often mentors for employ
ees, scheduling time to talk to them and working to meet th
eir needs.