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Styles of
Organizational Leadership
Every business leader has a style all his or her own. So you
may think that there are an unlimited number of organizational
leadership styles. If so, you’d be wrong. According to the
experts in leadership, the U.S. Army, there are only three: the
authoritarian, the participative and the free reign. Which do
you think is the best? If you said any one of them, you’d be
wrong again. The best style of organizational leadership is a
wise mixture of all three.
The Authoritive Style
I’ll bet you thought this was the wrong style of organizational
leadership. Actually, although this style is just what you
think it is, it is appropriate to use in some cases. A leader
should be able to tell his or her followers just what to do and
how to do it without asking for input. If there’s no need for
input, if there’s no time for input and if the leader has
established a relationship of trust, then the authoritative
style is fine.
Of course there’s no place for abusive or demanding practices
in good organizational leadership. Threatening, demeaning
language is never part of a good leader’s style. However, a
leader can be authoritative with new, inexperienced hires while
still being able to build a trusting relationship. Even when
employees trust their leader enough to follow authoritative
leadership, a good leader must be open to input when the
employees think it is necessary.
The Participative Style
In this style of organizational leadership, the leader retains
the final say in all decision-making but invites some employees
to participate in the process. This style should be used more
often than the first. No boss is expected to know everything
and this style allows for skilled and knowledgeable employees
to contribute their training and experience.
The participative style of organizational leadership helps to
build teams and establish two-way trust in a department. This
is the style to use with employees who really know their
jobs.
The Free Reign Style
This style of organizational leadership, also called
delegative, allows knowledgeable employees to make decisions on
their own. The leader still retains all responsibility for the
outcome. This style is good for tasks that have been done
successfully before. Groups can even be led by employees to
complete an undertaking with little or no input from the
leader.
The free reign style is best used with employees who know more
than the leader.
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