Leadership and its styles

Meaning of leadership

Leadership is the process of influencing people so that they work willingly towards the goals of the organisation. It rests on the ability to influence others, aims at a change in their behaviour, depends on the relationship between leader and followers, serves the common goals of the organisation and never stops. Keith Davis described it as the ability to persuade others to pursue set objectives with enthusiasm. Three things shape every case of leading: the leader, the followers and the situation, and the situation affects how well a given approach works. Followers matter too; their skills, commitment and readiness to cooperate help make a person an effective leader.

Basis of classifying styles

Styles can be classified in many ways, but the most common basis is how the leader uses authority. On that basis there are three basic styles; the question underneath is how far a manager should decide alone and how far he should involve the group.

Democratic or participative style

This leader draws up plans and takes decisions after consulting subordinates and encourages them to take part. Policies are worked out through group discussion, the leader explains the longer-term plan behind each task, treats praise and blame as matters for the whole group, and takes part as one of its members. The style is widely used today, because people tend to perform best when they help set their own objectives. A product head at a Bengaluru software firm who settles release priorities with her team is leading this way.

Autocratic or authoritarian style

This leader issues orders and expects them to be obeyed; communication runs one way, and subordinates simply carry out the command. He fixes policies without consulting the group, tells it only the immediate next steps and keeps himself apart for most of the time. Such a leader does not like to be contradicted and relies on reward or punishment according to results. The style can raise output where a supervisor must meet a production deadline, and it allows quick decisions. A site engineer racing to finish a flyover before the monsoon may lead in this way.

Free-rein or laissez-faire style

This leader uses power only when it is truly necessary. The followers enjoy wide independence to set their own objectives and decide how to achieve them, solving problems themselves, while the manager supports them and supplies the information they need; the subordinate takes responsibility for the work. At its extreme the leader leaves the group entirely to itself and does not take part. A research laboratory of senior scientists may suit this style; an inexperienced team would not.

No single best style

The three styles are not watertight. A leader may combine them as the situation demands: even a free-rein leader keeps some rules, and a democratic leader may have to act alone in an emergency. Tannenbaum and Schmidt showed leadership as a continuum, with many styles lying between the autocratic and free-rein extremes.

Conclusion

Leadership is the art of winning willing effort. The right style depends on the leader, the followers and the task, and a good manager moves along the range of styles as conditions change.