Free Custom «Leadership Styles» Essay Paper

Leadership style can be defined as a way or approach of giving direction, putting down plans and inducing the people to work harder in pursuit of the specific objectives of the group. A leader can also be effectively be described as a person in an organized outfit with ability to influence the people he is in charge of to work towards an objective. There are different styles in leadership that leaders employ but the most common style is where the leader is dominant. It is believed that good leaders try to use all the leadership style delicately balanced so as to ensure compliance and co-operation from the people they govern.There are three major leadership styles;Democratic leadershipIn this style, the leader ensures that the employees or people working under him also have a say in the process of decision making and actions of the organization although the leader has to remain the final person to make the final decision. Many bad leaders do not like this style because it always gives room to the employees to air their grievances and the things they do not like but it has to be understood that using this type of leadership does not make the leader weak, in fact, it lets the leader know what the people want hence taking care of their needs. This minimizes instances of revolt.In democratic leadership, the leader should not be expected to have all the knowledge about something, rather the employees also have to know something so that whenever there is a minor decision to be made, they can always do it alone without being held at ransom waiting for the boss's decision. This mutually benefits the employee and the leader in the organization since more progress is made not only in furthering the goals of the organization but also the motivating the employees.Democratic leadership brings the people together in solving issues that are of common good by allowing them to make better decision, those which they will be responsible for. People develop a sense of belonging in the team in the organization hence this works as a motivation in arriving at the goals set by the organization. There is nothing that leads to failure in an organization like lack of motivation therefore providing it in the team by giving people the freedom really make them feel appreciated. It has to be noted though that freedom comes with responsibility.

 

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Delegative leadershipThis is a style that is somewhat related to the democratic leadership since here the employees are allowed to make decisions only that the leader is answerable to the decisions made by his subjects. Employees, skilled in their work are often able to understand situations knowing what to be done hence allowing them to go ahead though the leader will be responsible for the outcome. It is normal that one, be it a leader or otherwise can do all by him/herself, therefore delegating the duties will not only save time but expertise that could be employed somewhere else.This style of leadership can easily be mistaken for when one wants to give out a task and blame the others when things go wrong; it is not like that, a leader delegates the duty to an employee he has full confidence in and whenever things go wrong, it will not be the employee to be blame but other factors. The moment a leader blames a junior officer under him of failure wrongly, the confidence of the employee will erode significantly hence a backward step in achieving an organizations goal. In the event of irresponsibility, the employee should be reprimanded carefully, not in a way that suggests he is entirely responsible for the failure but that he has to improve to work better in future. The leader therefore should give the employee another chance.Authoritarian leadership

This is a style where leaders always command the employees to accomplish certain duties without listening to their suggestions advice. This is often accompanied by threats from the leader that if the people do not follow to the instructions to the latter, there are consequences to be felt by the employees. It is the exact opposite of democratic leadership and can also be called autocratic style of leadership.It is though applicable when there is all that is needed to solve a particular problem; this includes time, information and resources. The employees have to be well inspired to get the job done. Some people often take this style of leadership as bossing and shouting at people around to make them do what you want, but this is not the case. It can be used delicately especially when there is pressure and short time to get something of great importance done, although after the job is done, you must not forget to restore the rapport with the workers and remind them that it was just necessary at that time.Effects of leadership style in an organizationLeadership style is pivotal in affecting the employees motivation because some styles are outright demeaning thus lowering the confidence of the employees, a factor that will in the long run affect the organizations output and performance. Authoritative leadership leads most of the time to revolt and go-slows thus affecting the production of the organization and on extreme cases, to strikes and demos that lead to loss of property. The needs of the employees in an organization must therefore be balanced carefully to avoid overlooking important and sincere plights of the workers.In the democratic style of leadership, it is also acknowledged that employees who are positive and happy with their leader will perform their tasks satisfactorily than their colleagues who are bitter with their leader thus it is important that leaders cultivate this very useful rapport with their subjects to avoid missing out on the benefits that come with it. Researchers found out that moods are contagious hence if employees are in bad mood in the organization due to its leadership, the organization is bound to meet major obstacles in championing for their causes. Good leaders are able to influence their subjects thus always having their way whenever they want something done. This is because they already have the trust of the employees in an organization, that of mutual respect and fairness.A leader in an organization is not heaven-sent, he grows out of the structure of the organization therefore how he will interact with the employees depends largely on his previous encounter with the leaders on the same organization or elsewhere. This is well catered for in the delegative style of leadership. Therefore whenever a leader is carrying out his work in an organization, he should always have in mind that he is nurturing potential leaders for the organization thus treating them well and accordingly to ensure that the product is perfect blend of responsible and self-driven leader with not only the goals of the organization at heart, but also the interests of the employees, such as motivation, and promotions. A good leader has the main function of leading the people together towards a certain goal. Bad leaders do what it takes to achieve this while good leaders take from the previous experiences of what has been done and use them for improvement in the management of an organization both during the smooth running of things and most importantly to solve conflict among employees, and also between employees and the organization.