Leadership Styles And Leadership Skills

Leadership has been researched extensively but yet scholars are yet to find or compile an exact definition. As (Kent, Todd, 2004) explain there have been many efforts in defining leadership and several ideas have been compiled yet there is still a distinct discrepancy amongst scholars. Author Chelladurai breaks down leadership into three elements: "(1) leadership is a behavior process, (2) leadership is interpersonal in nature, and (3) leadership is aimed at influencing and motivating members toward group goals" (pg. 160). These are the ways he focuses leaderships and their intentions towards leading. Kent and Todd further discuss the importance of leadership and its distinct aspect to society and organizations, and that future successes are largely dependent upon it (2004). Another area in the domain of leadership styles is when (Zorn & Violanti 1993) define leadership as "patterns of behaviors, assumptions, attitudes, or traits exhibited by individuals in attempting to provide leadership" (pg. 70). Additionally we further examine (Bloom, Vallée, 2005; Chelladurai, 1990; Chelladurai & Seleh 1978; Zhang et. al. 1997) in which "they break down the different styles of leadership into five categories, autocratic, democratic, positive feedback, social support and training and instruction. They

Leaders are some of the most influential individuals in any society. They have the ability to influence those around them with various leadership styles including coercive, authoritative, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting, and coaching. Effective leaders consistently adapt to the environment around them to either enhance or correct any situation facing them. Within these leadership styles the most effective style has been considered that of the authoritative style. This style brings individuals together, builds self-confidence, and easily adapts to the environment around it.

Leadership goes beyond management, for some, leadership is instinctual and pours over into your personal life. This paper will discuss a leader I admire in my personal life, and analyze their leadership style. I will discuss how that leader has influenced my leadership style, as well as how things like environment and the economy affect my leadership approach.

Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.

The Trait Theory is based on the innate characteristics that a leader should have in order to lead successfully. For example, sense of humor, caring, and friendly. People in the Trait Theory have to show certain qualities when they communicate and these qualities have to remain constant in different environments.

When developing a template to assess which leadership styles are best suited to mitigate the effects of a decline in financial compensation, it is imperative to understand leadership theory. One of the first pioneers in leadership theory was Kurt Lewin. Kurt Lewin (1890–1947), was a prominent figure in psychology in his generation. He provided a solid foundation to the teachings of organizational development. In many circles he was known as the father of organizational development. He was best known for the development of field theory. Field theory was essential because it allowed business professionals to understand why undesirable behaviors was produced. It also taught how to bring about desirable behaviors. Field theory was developed in part because Lewin wanted to address organizational employee turnover.

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

The Trait theory is based on the innate characteristics that a leader should have in order to lead successfully. For example, sense of humor, caring, and friendly. People in the Trait Theory has to show certain qualities when they communicate and these qualities have to remain constant in different environments.

Firstly, aspiring leaders need to recognize all of the various styles of leadership that exist. Every organization is structured differently, with differing employee behaviors, and it is the leader’s responsibility to implement the style that will work the best for their specific work or organizational structure. Often, more than one leadership style is implemented to accomplish the desired results of the leader (Blanken). While a multiple of leadership styles exist, three well-known and commonly-practiced leadership styles that will be examined include the Autocratic, Democratic and the Laissez-Fare. These three leadership styles were discovered by psychologist Kurt Lewin in the late nineteen-thirties (Cherry). Psychologist Lewin completed a study that involved assigning various schoolchildren to one of three different groups (Cherry). While each group was led by a particular leadership style, researchers witnessed and recorded all behavior that was exhibited by the children during their assigned projects (Cherry).

This project shows that leadership is defined in many ways. Characteristics of a good leader are questionable. Leadership styles and theories, such as servant leadership, collective leadership, and dictatorship vastly differ but still share similar attributes. While servant leadership and collective leadership theories similarly encompass specific attributes, the collective leadership theory still lacks vision and empowerment. Inversely, at the other extreme of leadership theories is dictatorship. Unlike the servant and collective leadership theories, under a dictatorship, the leader is not open to group decision-making or communication among others. Although exposed to all three leadership styles, I find that I respond best to the servant leadership theory.

Leadership is a concept most people feel informed enough to discuss, but that few are truly educated sufficiently to comment on. Therefore, it is instructive to consider the leadership styles of people with very different approaches both to better understand the diversity underlying leadership, as well as to appreciate the effective and less effective strategies that underlie different leadership outcomes. For that reason, this essay will consider the styles of two leaders who are less visible in this highly contentious presidential election season: Jill Stein (the Green Party nominee) and Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate. The leadership styles of both are very different, yet they are aligned in the sense that both are outsider candidates struggling to gain momentum from a disaffected electorate. This essay begins with a theoretical discussion of leadership more generally and then turns to the two leaders as case studies, comparing and contrasting them and drawing conclusions about how they both work within the same public sphere and for putatively similar ends (i.e., gaining votes).

Many studies define an effective leader and different leadership styles and personality traits. However, with all the research completed about effective leadership, the argument being is it the “what” or the “who” that defines an effective leader? Is an effective leader defined by your level of education or your career by trade? Society has painted a colorful picture of many people of how the ideal effective leader looks. Based on countless statically based studies over many years, it is no secret that the majority of senior level executives in the public and private sectors in the US are educated, white men. Does this mean that white men are the only people capable of being an effective leader? This research shows that leadership is not always about scientific studies on what effective leadership styles and skills are required to be a successful leader.

Since the beginning of time, people have led and others have followed. Some ruled by terror and with an iron fist, others peacefully and with a gentle touch. In the average person’s everyday life, we encounter leaders of all different shapes and sizes, with various styles of leadership. There are strengths and weaknesses in each style of leadership, in particular, Democratic, Laissez-Faire, and Autocratic. These styles have overlapping qualities that either make them more or less effective. When trying to identify effective leadership, it’s important to look at a few specific styles, to identify them, then analyze the similarities and differences.

Bass (2000; 2008) argued that it was worthless trying to find the one most suitable definition of leadership. Leadership has been studied by many different scholars over the years, Denis, Langley & Rouleau (2010) state "Each wave of studies has enriched understanding of the phenomenon." They have come up with many varying different definitions, but these definitions carry a common factor, influence. This case is supported by Maxwell (1993 p;1) who simply states "leadership is influence." Going by this we decipher that a leader must exercise a degree of control over his followers, as well on his organisation. As we shall see later in this article, this holds true for both leadership theories I will discuss in this article.

Trait theories assume all leaders share a number of common traits. This theory identifies traits or characteristics that are essential when being a leader. Traits like assertiveness, good decision making, empathy, integrity, and confidence are some examples of traits of successful leaders; however, there is no magic combination of traits that will guarantee someone to be a successful leader. Traits are based on our inner thoughts and beliefs. Many different studies about leadership traits agree only in the general righteous qualities needed to be a leader. Those traits are known as core traits. The core traits include