Leadership Style

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Leadership could be defined as the act of providing direction and guidance for a particular group of people who have a common interest or goal to achieve their targets. Any group has a leader with a set of leadership and personality skills that would make other interested parties follow them. The approach and manner in which a leader provides direction and guidance to implement plans and motivate people under his guidance are the leadership styles. There are different leadership styles in the world today but according to Kurt Lewin study in 1939 they established three major styles of leadership (Cherry,2006) which are;

Autocratic leadership is a practice whereby the leader has absolute power to direct his people without getting feedback or advice. This kind of leadership is also known as authoritarian and most people view this kind of leadership as a path to fueling yelling and a way to lead using threats as the leaders do not expect feedback from the people. This style is often associated with demeaning and abusive as most people call this kind of leadership ‘Bossing around’. It is although a convenient form of leadership when the leader in most circumstances has all he needs to complete and accomplish the target or even solve a problem. It is time-saving and also not involving thus does not give people motivation reducing their flexibility and dedication to the course (Cherry,2006).

Democratic leadership is a style of leadership that often include other players in the process of decision making (Cherry,2006). This allows the employees or people involved to freely air their opinions although the final decision making relies on the leader. This type of leadership develops people’s skills as there is often a lot of flexibility offered encouraging creativity hence improved productivity. This form of leadership is often concerned with the welfare of the people. Although being viewed as the best form of leadership, democratic otherwise known as participative leadership is time-consuming leading to delays in the making of decisions

Laissez-fair leadership style is also known as delegative style which involves the passing of authority to other people to make decisions on behalf of the leader. It is often applied in instances where the people can analyze interpret and be able to make decisions on what ought to be done. In this kind of leadership, the leader is held accountable for the decisions made on his behalf (Cherry,2006). It is practiced when the leader full trusts his people rather than having a blame game when things go wrong.

Paternalistic leadership style, based on authority is a form of leadership whereby the leader guide, help, protect and keep the followers working happily as a big family where the leader is considered the head of the family. Out of gratitude in this form of leadership the followers work harder to provide results. It is applied in Japan due to the cultural background in the region.

Charismatic leadership style is a leadership style whereby the leader can inspire others to follow him/her through the power of influence to reflect the goals of the institution to reflect the individual’s vision. In this type of leadership, the leader is able to transform the attitudes and beliefs of their followers.

From an assessment of personality traits, Donald Trump is said to be an ambiguous man who is often seen to be self-assured, bold and competitive. He is able to direct the public, engage them and even arouse them with his character. He has been considered as an active and yet positive present thus his leadership style can be described as a charismatic leadership style whereby, he has a high dominance and great foreign policy influence (Immelman,2017).

Nancy Pelosi on the other hand with her efforts to keep build consensus in her party has demonstrated democracy style of leadership by building consensus. Despite being called upon by the party to call for impeachment motion she chose not to until new evidence was produced showing the president acting on how own partisan interests (Immelman,2017). She was not influenced easily give in to pressure of her party but rather to have fair and just processes in the house. She is a good leader with strong instincts measure with confidence in her decision-making processes that often include the input of others. Hence the demonstration of the democratic type of leadership by House of Representatives’ Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Depending on the situation, a good leader would apply the use of all leadership styles.

References

Cherry, K. (2006). Leadership styles. Retrieved from.

Immelman, A. (2017). The Leadership Style of US President Donald J. Trump.