Leadership & General Management
| 8 minutes read | Last update: November 2021
Throughout history, great leaders have emerged with particular leadership styles in providing direction, implementing plans and motivating people. These can be broadly grouped into 5 different categories:
- Authoritarian Leadership
- Participative Leadership
- Delegative Leadership
- Transactional Leadership
- Transformational Leadership
Despite these definitions, questions still remain.
- What is the meaning of each leadership style mentioned above?
- What is the difference between the different leadership approaches?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of using each of the leadership styles?
By reading this article, you will discover more about the 5 leadership styles, along with their definitions, advantages and disadvantages. Each of the leadership styles will also be differentiated.
1. Authoritarian Leadership
Authoritarian leadership styles allow a leader to impose expectations and define outcomes. A one-person show can turn out to be successful in situations when a leader is the most knowledgeable in the team. Although this is an efficient strategy in time-constrained periods, creativity will be sacrificed since input from the team is limited. The authoritarian leadership style is also used when team members need clear guidelines.
Advantages:
- Time spent on making crucial decisions can be reduced.
- Chain of command can be clearly emphasized.
- Mistakes in the implementation of plans can be reduced.
- Using authoritarian leadership style creates consistent results.
Disadvantages:
- A very strict leadership style can sometimes lead to employee rebellion.
- It kills employee creativity and innovation.
- It reduces group synergy & collaboration.
- Group input is reduced dramatically.
- Authoritarian leadership increases employee turnover rate.
2. Participative Leadership
Participative leadership styles are rooted in democratic theory. The essence is to involve team members in the decision making process. Team members thus feel included, engaged and motivated to contribute. The leader will normally have the last word in the decision-making processes. However, if there are disagreements within a group, it can be a time-consuming process to reach a consensus.
Advantages:
- It increases employee motivation and job satisfaction.
- It encourages use of employee creativity.
- A participative leadership style helps in the creation of a strong team.
- High level of productivity can be achieved.
Disadvantages:
- Decision-making processes become time-consuming.
- Leaders have a high probability of being apologetic to employees.
- Communication failures can sometimes happen.
- Security issues can arise because of transparency in information sharing.
- Poor decisions can be made if the employees are unskilled.
3. Delegative leadership
Also known as “laissez-faire leadership”, a delegative leadership style focuses on delegating initiative to team members. This can be a successful strategy if team members are competent, take responsibility and prefer engaging in individual work. However, disagreements among the members may split and divide a group, leading to poor motivation and low morale.
Advantages:
- Experienced employees can take advantage of their competence and experience.
- Innovation & creativity is highly valued.
- Delegative leadership creates a positive work environment.
Disadvantages:
- Command responsibility is not properly defined.
- Delegative leadership creates difficulty in adapting to change.