Leadership Style : Lessons from the Past

 Democratic Leadership Style or Participative leadership

Emergence of democracy as the accepted form of administration in many countries has led to an adaptation of this leadership style even in organizations and corporate environment. Although a democratic leader will make the final decision, he invites other members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process.

Most of the organizations at the junior management levels, NGOs and voluntary organizations thrive on democratic style of leadership. This type is mostly non aggressive and gets to benefit from the collective intelligence and perspective of the entire team. Empowerment was the buzzword as people were encouraged to take responsibility and become accountable.

Democratic leadership style has often been looked upon as a rebellious response to the overly autocratic leadership style of the 60s and 70s. Democratic style took hold in the 80s and the 90s and now is quite widely accepted.
 

When we are talking about democratic leadership, we're really not referring to a democratic leader that holds political office such as a President. We're talking about a leadership style that exhibits the characteristics of being democratic. That being said, the democratic style is one that we see everyone getting an equal vote - both the leader and the followers.

Servant leadership style

Servant leadership is an approach to leadership development, coined and defined by Robert Greenleaf. However, the concept is thousands of years older than this. Chanakya or Kautilya, the famous strategic thinker from ancient India, wrote about servant leadership in his 4th century book Arthashastra.
 

He clearly stated that "the king [leader] shall consider as good, not what pleases himself but what pleases his subjects [followers]". He argued that "the king [leader] is a paid servant and enjoys the resources of the state together with the people".

Many authors such as Stephen Covey, Peter Block, Peter Senge, Max De Pree, Margaret Wheatley, Ken Blanchard etc. have advanced and advocated this type of leadership. One person practiced this philosophy that led to the formation of the biggest democracy of the world.
 

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a fragile old man from the British India led the country to freedom based on the principle of servant leadership and self sacrifice.

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. He or she is sharply different from the person who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions.
For such it will be a later choice to serve – after leadership is established. The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.”                                     Robert Greenleaf

 

Transactional Leadership style

The transactional leader works through creating clear structures whereby it is clear what is required of their subordinates, and the rewards that they get for following orders. Punishments are not always mentioned, but they are also well-understood and formal systems of discipline are usually in place.
 

The early stage of Transactional Leadership is in negotiating the contract whereby the subordinate is given a salary and other benefits, and the company (and by implication the subordinate's manager) gets authority over the subordinate.

"Do as I say and you will get a raise."
"Meet this quota or you will get fired."
 

These are the typical words used by a person using the transactional leadership style. There are two ways of behavior in transactional leadership.

Contingent Reward

Here the leader provides rewards if, and only if, subordinates perform adequately and/or tries hard enough. It contracts exchange of rewards for effort, promises rewards for good performance, recognizes accomplishments

Management by Exception

In this case the leader does not seek to change the existing working methods or subordinates so long as performance goals are met. He only intervenes if something is wrong. This can be "active," where the leader monitors the situation to anticipate problems, or "passive," where the leader does nothing until a problem or mistake has actually occurred.
 

Typically Transactional leadership is displayed in smaller goal oriented teams or during a hiring process. This kind of leadership is not ideal for large and diverse organizations. Transactional leaders are more suitable for focus groups.

In the Leadership vs. Management spectrum, transactional leadership is considered to be towards the management end of the scale. This style of leadership is suitable only for short term goals and groups only. Need examples? just look around in your office, you will find many:-)

Transformational Leadership style

The terms Transformational leadership and Transformational leader were first coined by J.V. Downton in 1973 in Rebel Leadership: Commitment and charisma in a revolutionary process.
The difference between transformational and transactional leadership is what leaders and followers offer one another.

Transformational leaders offer a purpose that transcends short-term goals and focuses on higher order intrinsic needs. This results in followers identifying with the needs of the leader.
In many organizations, both transactional and transformational leadership are needed. The transactional leaders (or managers) ensure that routine work is done reliably, while the transformational leaders look after initiatives that add value.

Transformational Leader's Characteristics can be classified are as follows:

Charisma or Idealized influence: the degree to which the leader behaves in admirable ways that cause followers to identify with the leader. Now Having said that, I need to present the opposite opinion too. Some thinkers believe that presence of charisma need not necessarily mean presence of Leadership. Here is one View. Worth the wait for the loading time.
 

 

Inspirational motivation: The degree to which the leader articulates a vision that is appealing and inspiring to followers. A leader with inspirational motivation challenges his followers to higher standards, communicates optimism about future goals, and provides a meaning for the task at hand.
 

Intellectual stimulation: The degree, to which the leader challenges assumptions, takes risks and solicits followers' ideas. Leaders with this trait stimulate and encourage creativity in their followers. Many start up companies where the founder is the core ideologist/planner tens to display these traits.

Individualized consideration or Individualized attention: The degree, to which the leader attends to each follower's needs, acts as a mentor or coach to the follower and listens to the follower's concerns and needs.
I personally think Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is one of the foremost Transformational leaders of today. I also tend to include Lee Iaccoca in the list as well as Jack Welsh due to the degree of transformation/change/development they brought to their work places.

Situational Leadership Style

Situational leadership theories in organizational studies are a type of leadership theory, leadership style, and a leadership model that presumes that different leadership styles are better in different situations, and that leaders must be flexible enough to adapt their style to the situation in hand.
As a leadership model, the best known example was developed by Ken Blanchard, the management guru who later became famous for his "One Minute Manager" series, and Paul Hersey.

A good leader will find himself switching instinctively between styles according to the people and work they are dealing with. This is often referred to as “situational leadership”. For example, a manager of a small factory trains new machine operatives using a bureaucratic style to ensure operatives know the procedures that achieve the right standards of product quality and workplace safety.

The same manager may adopt a more participative style of leadership when working on production line improvement with his or her team of supervisors.
 

Soon, I will be adding more pages on leadership styles along with example and descriptions of each style. Until then enjoy other articles on leadership.

 Leadership style  Characteristic of Leadership  Definition of Leadership  Leadership Skills  Leadership Quality  Leadership Quotes  Leadership Traits

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