TYPE OF LEADERS

According to Mullins L.J (1985) the following have been identified as notable six types of

leaders. These include:

 Charismatic leader: This is a leader who gains influence mainly from strength of personality.

The difficulty with charismatic leadership is that few people possessed the exceptional qualities

required to transform all around them into willing followers. Another issue is that personal

qualities or traits of leadership cannot be acquired by training; they can only be modified by it.

 Traditional leader: This is a leader whose position is assured by birth e.g. kings, queens and

tribal chieftains. This is another category to which few people can aspire. Except in the small

family business, there are few opportunities for traditional leadership at work.

 Situational leader: This is a leader whose influence can only be effective by being in the right

place at the right time. The kind of leadership is temporary in nature to be of much value in a

business. What is looked for is someone who is capable of assuming a leadership role in a variety

of situations over a period of time.

 Appointed leader: This is a leader whose influence arises directly out of his position e.g. most

managers and supervisors. This is the bureaucratic type of leadership where legitimate power

springs from the nature and scope of the position within the hierarchy. The problem here is that,

although the powers of the position may be defined, the jobholder may not be able to implement

them because of weak personality, lack of adequate training or other factors.

 Functional leader: This is a leader who secures their leadership positions by what they are. In

other words, functional leaders adapt their behaviour to meet the competing needs of the

situation.

 Principle-Centered leader: This is a leader, whose approach to leadership is influenced by

moral and ethical principles, involving consideration of equity, justice, integrity, honesty,

fairness and trust.

LEADERSHIP STYLES

There are as many leadership styles as there are leaders. Business people and psychologists have

developed useful shorthand ways of describing the main leadership styles. Whatever capacity

you find yourself, your leadership style is crucial to your success. Consciously or

subconsciously, everyone use some leadership styles features, at least some of the time.

 Autocratic Leadership Style: It is a leadership situation where there is one-way

communication, denial or conflict, an absolute monarch with unlimited authority. It

is also a situation where the enterprise is run in a very autocratic, directive manner

and the entire decision making process center around the entrepreneur under

authoritarian leadership, the leader is the sole determiner of what is done. Autocratic

leadership style calls for high goals and means control. In other words, it implies a job-

centered style. This focuses on the issue of close supervision, legitimate and coercive

power, meeting schedule and evaluating work performance.

-This leader is very much likely to rely on the power of his position, more

punishment centered and more tasks oriented. He gets works done through fear. He
 however, gets short-run and output gains, that is, while he is around. Thus, again in

fear subordinates under this style do what they are told to do, so as not to lose the

means of satisfying their daily needs and wants.

-This leader tells a worker what to do and how to do it. He takes all decisions, issues,

instructions and expects subordinates to follow sheepishly without questions.

-The autocratic leadership is dogmatic, positive and leads by ability to withhold or give

rewards and punishment.

-The hallmark of autocratic leader is that he does not allow subordinates to

participate in decision making process.

-This kind of leadership style instills fear and at times confusion in subordinates.

The focus of attention usually is on work progress, work procedures and road blocks that

are preventing goal attainment.

-In conclusion, the style sees people as commodities to be us up and replaced as

needed.

Manager using this style has complete responsibility for direction and decision making.

Employees are expected only to sheepishly follow orders and loyalty is expected.

 Democratic Leadership Style: This leadership style is characterized by employee

oriented and democratically supportive behaviors. The leader uses general supervision

and is considerate of his subordinates. He is group centered and non-directive.

-Under this form of leadership, the leader consults with subordinates on proposed actions

and decisions and encourages participation from them. He holds final responsibility but
also delegate authority to others, who participate in determining work assignments,

communication is active i.e. upward and downward.

-It also involves the leader including one or more employees in the decision making process.

However, the leader maintains the final authority in decision making. Using this style is not

a sign of weakness; rather it is a sign of strength that employees will respect. It is also a

very open style of running a team.

Ideas move freely amongst the group and the style is needed in dynamic and rapidly

changing environments where very little can be taken as a constant.

-The democratic leadership style means facilitating the conversation, encouraging people to

share their ideas and then synthesizing all the available information into the best possible

decision. When situations changes frequently, democratic leaders offers a great deal of

flexibility to ways of doing things.

-Democratic style can bring the best out of an experienced and professional team. It

capitalizes on their skills and talents by letting them share their views, rather than simply

expecting them to conform.

-The democratic leader welcomes team input and facilitates group discussion in decision

making. This leadership styles share plans with the group and offers multiple options for

group consideration. It also encourages members to work freely with each other and embrace

division of tasks to the group. This leader is objective in praise and criticisms and joins group

activities without over-participating.

-A democratic leadership style allows for multiple view points, inputs and participation while

still maintaining control and the leadership role. A qualified democratic leader recognizes

each member‘s strengths and effectively elicits the best performance from each member, all

the while guiding and leading effectively.

-A challenge for the democratic leader is to recognize that not all tasks need to be handled by

the group, that the leader should appropriately address some issues alone. Also, leader

announces principles and sets forth methods of decision making, permits ideas, questions and

discussion from followers.

 Laissez-faire Leadership Style: This is the type of leadership in which the leader uses

his or her power very little, if at all.

-It involves given subordinates a high degree of independence in their operations. Under

this type of leadership, leaders depend largely on subordinates to set their own goals and

the means of achieving them.

-Leaders perceive their role as one of facilitating the operations of followers by

furnishing them information and acting primarily as a contact with the group‘s external

environment. It should be noted that there is no best form of leadership as the situation

will determine the most appropriate form at a point in time.

-Generally, the style of leadership adopted will depend on the forces operating in the

manager‘s personality including his or her value system, confidence in subordinates,

inclination toward leadership style and feelings of security in uncertain situations.

-Forces in the subordinates that will affect the manager‘s behavior and forces in the

situation such as organization values and traditions, how effectively subordinates works

as a unit, the nature of a problem and whether authority to handle it can be safely
delegated and the pressure of time. In this style, the dealer allows the employees to make

decisions.

However, the leader is still responsible for the decisions that are made. This is used when

employees are able to analyze the situation and determine what needs to be done and how

to do it. This is used when employees are able to analyze the situation and determine

what needs to be done and how to do it. This is not a style to use so that you can blame

others when things go wrong, rather this is a style to be used when you fully trust

and have confidence in the people below you.

-A laissez-faire leadership style works best when group members are highly skilled

and motivated with a proven track record of excellence. This hands-off approach can

allow these capable members to be productive and effective.

-The laissez-faire style is interpreted by the members as a sign of confidence and

trust in their abilities and further empowers them to be successful and motivated.

The laissez-faire leader allows the group complete freedom for decision-making without

participating himself. The leader type provides materials and offers to assist only by

request.

The laissez-faire leader does not participate in work discussions or group tasks. This

leader does not offer commentary on members‘ performance unless asked directly and

does not participate or intervene in activities. Also, it is the use of work-centered

behavior coupled with a protective employee centered concern.

-This leadership style expects everyone to work hard and the employees will be

guaranteed employment and given security benefits such as medical and retirement

programs.
 -Leader allows followers as much freedom as leader has to define the problems and

make decisions. It involves non-interference policy, allows complete freedom to all

workers and has no particular way of attaining goals.

OTHER TYPES OF LEADERSHIP STYLES

Other types of leadership styles have emerged from these three main types among which

included:

1. Benevolent Leadership style

2. Charismatic leadership.

3. People-oriented leadership/relations-oriented leadership.

4. Servant leadership.

5. Task-oriented leadership.

6. Transactional leadership.

7. Transformational leadership

 Benevolent leadership style: They ensure that their staff follows procedures exactly.

This is a very appropriate style for work involving serious safety risks or where large

sums of money are involved.

 Charismatic Leadership Style: This can appear similar to a transformational leadership

style, In that the leaders injects huge doses of enthusiasm into his or her team and is very

energetic in driving others forward. However, a charismatic leader can tend to believe

more in him or her than in their team. This can create a risk that a project or even an
 entire organization might collapse if the leader were to leave. As such, charismatic

leadership carries great responsibility and needs long-term commitment from the leader.

 People-Oriented Leadership Style: This style of leadership is when the leader totally

focuses on organizing, supporting and developing the people in the leader‘s time.

 Servant-Leadership Style: This occurs when someone at any level within an

organization, leads simply by virtue of meeting the needs of his or her team. In many

ways, servant leadership is a form of democratic leadership as the whole team tends to be

involved in decision making. Supporters of the servant leadership model suggest it is an

important way ahead in a world where values are increasingly important, in which

servant leaders achieve power on the basis of their values and deals. Others believe that

in competitive leadership situations, people practicing servant leadership will often find

themselves left behind by leaders using other leadership styles.

 Task-Oriented Leadership Style: A highly task-oriented leader focuses only on getting

the job done, and can be quite autocratic. However, the task-oriented leaders spare little

thought for the well-being of their teams, this approach can suffer many of the flaws of

autocratic leadership with difficulties in motivating and retaining staffs.

 Transactional Leadership Style: This style of leadership starts that team members agree

to obey their leader totally when they take a job on: the transaction is that the

organization pays the team members, in return for their effort and compliance. As such,

the leader has the right to punish team members if their work doesn‘t meet the pre-set

standard. Team members can do little to improve their job satisfaction under transactional
 leadership the leader could give the team members some control of their income/reward

by using incentives that encourages even higher standards or greater productivity.

 Transformational Leadership Style: A person with this leadership style is a true leader

who inspires his or her team with a shared vision of the future. Transformational leaders

are highly visible and spend a lot of time communicating. They don‘t necessarily lead

from the front and they tend to delegate responsibility amongst their team.

 Situational Leadership Style: While the transformational leadership approach is often

highly effective, there is no right way to leadership or management style that suits all

situations. To choose the most effective approach, the following must be considered.

(a) The skill levels and experience of the members of the team.

(b) The work involved.

(c) The organizational environment

(d) The preferred or natural style by individual.

A leader who will find himself or herself switching instinctively between styles according

to the people and work they are dealing with. This is often referred to as situational

leadership.