An Overview of Leadership Style Essay

Factors that can influence an individual’s choice of leadership in any given situation are many and varied. An individual is likely to have a primary leadership style which they are most comfortable with using. Often the primary leadership style is that which most suits their innate personality traits. For example,

Grojean, Resick & Diskson (2004) suggest that leaders are responsible for facilitating their follower’s to become capable and guide them to improving their capabilities and strengths. Differentiating between different leadership styles can be done in a number of ways. It was determined that the traditional styles of leaders include authoritian (autocratic), democratic, permissive (laissez-faire) and bureaucratic (Viinamäki, 2009).

Leaders have a “the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p. 402). In the past leaders have been described by certain traits or characteristics. These traits can help an organization identify potential candidates who may be strong leaders. Later behavior approaches of leaders were identified that could be taught. In short, leaders could be made. Situations have an impact on which leader behaviors will be most effect at any given time. Several contingency theories have been formulated over the years to identify how situations influence leadership behavior. Each style has strengths and

Any leader uses a range of different styles at different times during the course of a single day. Decisions have to be made and it may be appropriate for different styles of leadership at different times, and for different situations during that day.

I’m predisposed to this leadership theory or style because of its consideration for awareness of the element(s) of reality, that is, life experiences and some other factors, and the adaptability to each environment one finds self. This leadership theory presents itself with the understanding that organizations are different from one to another, and as a result of the differences in structures and the kinds of people that can be found around organizations; the most important leadership capability is the ability to adapt to the environment. There is no one style that fits all, but this style helps to better lead as there are times when one may need to exact authority and at some other time, one would need to show humility. Because we all come from different backgrounds, have difference life experiences and different role models, our values, preferences and priorities become shaped over the course of lifetime. Instead of trying to fit into expectations of people about what a

To begin, autocratic leadership involves leaders to make decisions without input from their followers (Frandsen, 2014). This style of leadership also incorporates negative reinforcement. Maboko (2011) gathered that nurse managers who embodied an autocratic leadership style yield registered nurses to feel unappreciated, criticized and blamed. On the other hand, a democratic leadership encourages and facilitates open discussions and participation from its followers. Followers are given responsibility, accountability and constructive feedback to improve (Frandsen, 2014). McKeown and Carey (2015) stated the lack of democracy and participation is one of many sources of a decreased morale. The lack of control had a negative connotation on nurses and their relationships with patients. Additionally, this resulted in fragmented care and poor

With that in mind, leadership theory has identified four management styles--authoritarian, democratic, participatory, and laissez-faire. There is inherently nothing wrong with any of them; all have their place at any given time. But it's the communication aspect that is important when implementing any given method of leadership that makes an organization rise or fall, and determines if respect is retained or lost within the group. Stated another way, the problem does not lie in the styles themselves, but rather in the presentation.

An effective leader has many factors that enable them to be successful. Some of the key characteristics of an effective leader are passion, charisma, dependability, problem solver, communication skills, and multi-tasking abilities. Marquis and Huston (2015) describe four types of leadership styles; autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, and bureaucratic. The autocratic leadership style deals more with acquiring control and accomplishing tasks rather than relationships (Marquis & Huston, 2015). This type of leader generally makes independent decisions and uses force to implement power. Democratic leadership differs by having human relations and teamwork as the main focus (Marquis & Huston (2015). This leadership welcomes open and two-way communication. Laissez-faire leadership has minimal established policies abstains leading (Marquis & Huston, 2015). The bureaucratic style leans on established rules and policies and lacks security (Marquis & Huston, 2015). Most of the time, the rules are inflexible and the relationship with staff is impersonal. An effective leader can recognize the needs of the organization and foster that leadership style. W.C. recognizes fairness, consistent decisions, listening ability, and knowledge of the field as key qualities in a leader. She believes she has a combination of democratic and bureaucratic leadership styles. Her bureaucratic style promotes corporate policies and mandated regulatory compliance. Part of the qualities of a

Leadership Evaluation and Philosophy: An Appraisal of Angela Merkel’s Leadership during the Euro Crisis and My Leadership Philosophy

The styles today are less authoritative and more on trying to get feedback from co-workers. This change is driven by today’s individuals that want to be treated with respect and empowered to be self-driven. Today’s business environment requires managers to constantly evaluate his or her leadership style to maintain the so called competitive edge. Leadership moves through many power roles and how power vs. soft power that relates to managers as they manage people. The types of leaders are described with characteristics, as it relates to each individual. The characteristics styles that leaders show

Autocratic leadership is a classical leadership style with the following characteristics: manager seeks to make as many decisions as possible, manager seeks to have the most authority and control in decision making, manager seeks to retain responsibility rather than utilise complete delegation , consultation with other colleagues in minimal and decision making becomes a solitary process managers are less concerned with investing their own leadership development, and prefer to simply work on the task at hand. Whereas Democratic Leadership is the leadership style that promotes the sharing of responsibility, the exercise of delegation and continual consultation. The style has the following characteristics: manager seeks consultation on all

When I think about the type of leader I would like to be, there is one supervisor that always comes to mind because of the positive environment she cultivated. In researching the different leadership styles for this assignment, I believe that this is the style that she used with her staff. I was interested in learning more about transformational leadership and how I can cultivate this style in the way that I lead my current team as well as the way in which I lead future teams.

In terms of leadership styles a wide variety exists for one to employ (Boykins, 2013). There isn’t firm consensus as to which styles prove to be the most effective. Different situations call for different approaches. In the article, Empirical Study of Leadership Styles, it discusses several leadership styles that I can relate to.

An effective leader influences their employees in a desired manner to achieve goals and objectives. Different leadership styles can affect an organization’s effectiveness and performance. The objective of this paper is to analyze the review of literature on various leadership styles over the past years and how effective and ineffective different leadership styles are in the workplace.

Murphy (2005) maintains that leaders are accountable for helping their follower’s to become efficient and support them to develop their strengths and abilities. Distinguishing and categorising between different leadership styles can be done in several ways, (Gopee and Galloway, 2009). In this essay traditional classification of authoritian (autocratic), democratic, permissive (laissez-faire) and bureaucratic styles of leaders will be discussed.