This document discusses three main styles of leadership: autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. Autocratic leaders make all decisions individually with little input from others. Democratic leaders participate in decision-making and allow group member input, while retaining the final say. Laissez-faire leaders offer no guidance and leave decisions entirely up to group members. Each style has positive and negative effects on teams. The document also provides examples of when each style may be more or less effective and the differences between leadership and management.

1. Styles of
leadership
By
Kumar.A

2. Who is a Leader?
 The person who leads or
commands a group,
organization or country
 Has a vision and leads
the group towards a
common goal that
needs to be achieved
(Cherry)

3. Styles of Leadership
Autocratic Democratic Laissez-faire

4. Autocratic Leaders
 Characterized by individual
control over all decisions and little
input from group members
 Provide clear expectations for
what needs to be done, when it
should be done, and how it should
be done.
 Best applied to situations where
there is little time for group
decision-making or where the
leader is the most knowledgeable
member of the group (Cherry)
 Example: Steve jobs
Steve jobs
leadership is the
perfect example
of the impact of
autocratic
leadership style
on the
organization.

5. Autocratic Leaders: Effects on
Teams
Positive Negative
-Helps New Members by
teaching them how to
perform a task so they have
a set of clear expectations
-allows knowledgeable
members to direct new
members in terms of
appropriate behavior until
the new members are
capable of making
decisions on their own
-decision making is less
creative
-doesn’t develop good
relationships between group
members
-lessened commitment: the
leader takes credit for all the
success
-high stress: members feel
stressed due to high
expectations and a low
feeling of worth

6. Managing: Autocratic
Effective Not Effective
-In businesses/companies
where the tasks are more
independent (ex.
Construction Companies)
-Certain decisions, such as
those that affect worker
safety, should be handled
by experts and should not
be open to discussion
-In work places where work
involves everyone’s input
and decisions are
influenced by the whole
group (ex. Magazine
company)

7. Democratic Leaders
 Generally the most effective leadership
style
 Offer guidance to group members, but
they also participate in the group and
allow input from other group members
 Encourage group members to
participate, but retain the final say over
the decision-making process.
 Members in this group were less
productive than the members of the
authoritarian group, but their
contributions were of a much higher
quality.
 Example: Ratan Tata
Ratan Tata is a
democratic
leader because
decision come
from the
collective mind of
the group.

8. Democratic Leaders: Effects
on Teams
Positive Negative
-inspires better creativity, cooperation, motivation and
communication among employees.
-invites workers to discuss the factors that will influence a
particular decision, workers have a better understanding
of the reasoning behind the decisions that are made.
-Workers are more committed to their group’s goal
because they feel that their input has importance
-Democratic leaders often work with their employees to
set workable goals rather than dictating what might be
unobtainable goals.
-not a lot of work may
be accomplished due
to the amount of time
spent on discussion

9. Managing: Democratic
Effective Not Effective
-In work places where work
involves everyone’s input
and decisions are
influenced by the whole
group (ex. Magazine
company)
-Where the leader is the
expert in that field and they
don’t need the input of their
co-workers

10. Laissez-faire or Free-rein leadership
 Least productive of all three
groups
 Offer little or no guidance to
group members and leave
decision-making up to group
members.

11. Laissez-faire: Effects on Teams
Positive Negative
-While this style can be
effective in situations where
group members are highly
qualified in an area of
expertise (Cherry)
-It often leads to poorly
defined roles and a lack of
motivation.
-More demands on the
leader
-Little cooperation and were
unable to work
independently (Cherry)

12. Managing: Laissez-faire
Effective Not Effective
-If the leader monitors what
is being achieved and
communicates this back to
the team regularly
-When individual team
members are very
experienced and skilled self-
starters
-When time is limited and
there are urgent deadlines
to meet
-Need someone to take
charge and the workplace
requires direction

13. Scenarios
You’re in a company meeting and the
leader is talking about ways to achieve their
goals.
1) What would an autocratic leader do?
2) What would a democratic leader do?
3) What would a laissez-faire leader do?

14. Scenarios: Autocratic
 The autocratic would
not consult the rest of
the team and set their
own goals and
assume that the group
members would
achieve them up to
their expectations

15. Scenarios: Democratic
 A democratic leader
would discuss with the
group members, goals
that would be
obtainable. An example
of these are the SMART
goals - specific,
measurable,
achievable, relevant
and timely.

16. Scenarios: Laissez-faire
 Would not set long
term goals for the
group to achieve
and allow members
to work at their own
pace and
independently

17. Leadership vs. Management
Leadership Similar Management
• an original.
• a leader innovates
and develops.
• a leader has a long-
range perspective.
• a leader challenges
the status.
• Leadership is setting
a new direction or
vision for a group
that they work with.
• involve influence,
working with
people, concern
about effective
goal
accomplishment.
• a copy
• a manager
maintains.
• a manager has a
short range view.
• accepts the status.
• controls or directs
people/resources in
a group according
to principle or values
that have already
been established.

18. THANK YOU