Different types of leadership styles

Transactional leadership
This type of leadership is a bit similar to the autocratic leadership but is not exactly the same. Transactional leaders are mostly found in businesses where pupils are rewarded for their hard work and good performance towards their work. In order to achieve or obtain the support of the team the leader of the team would use conventional rewards and punishments in order to obtain the support and attention from the team. The team leader would create a clear plan that informs the team members what is required of them and what is incentives they will obtain rewards if they follow the orders so this mean that they may get a bonus salary or promotion in the business. Those that do not perform well in the team will be punished by the leader of the team through the management by exception principle, so this means that they will take corrective action against the people that do not work to the standard that is expected in the team.

Laissez-Faire
this type of leadership style can be described as the hands-off, freereign or delegative form of leadership style. This type of leadership can be described as when the leader of the team does not take control of the team that much and lets them to establish their own roles and responsibilities in the team themselves. In this form of leadership there is very direction given by the team leader to the team members and so in this leadership form the team members are given a lot of freedom and power to make their own decision without having the team member dictating them. This type of leadership would be effective and useful if the members of a team are motivated, experienced and well trained but otherwise this type of leadership wont be very effective.

Authoritarian
This type of leadership can be sometimes described as dictatorial because it is a classic form of leadership style. This type of leadership can described as the leader of the team having full control of the decision making process in the team and it is a form of leadership where the leader just dictates to the team members what they should do and what they should not be doing without even consulting or discussing with any of the team members. The team members have to follow the orders of the team leader without getting any explanation of the task they have to carry out set by the team member. The authoritarian leadership style sometimes is not the best leadership style but in times were there is an urge or pressure to achieve a certain goal such as the Armed Forces then this type of leadership style can be used.

Democratic Leadership
This type of leadership allows the team members to take part in decision making, whilst the team leader is still in control of the team and the leader of the team takes the final decision. The team leader may explain to the team about the factors that may have an negative impact on the team and the team activity they may be carrying out. This type of leadership encourages responsibility within the team members and they may begin to feel that they have showed an interest in the success if the team activity and also it helps to progress the skills of individuals within the team.

Transformational Leadership
In order for a team to encourage their self-awareness and in order to for the team to see the bigger picture, the team leader in this form of leadership mainly aims to encourage the people in the team so that their self-awareness and the motivation of the team can be built. This is because the team leader wants team members to overcome self-centredness and move ahead obtaining the common goals and purposes that are shared within the group members. These types of leaders are normally charismatic because they have clear view of what they want to achieve in the team. In this type of leadership the leader will look at the long term goals rather than the short term goals. They are always noticeable and will account for the actions that they take and will not hide behind their team members. These type of team members listen to the views of their team members and often give responsibility and are able to trust their team members and allow them to solve their own problems with their own decisions.

Bureaucratic Leadership style

A bureaucratic form of leadership is where the authority is subtle among many of departments or team members within the team and there is a lot strictness in the team. This type of leadership style is often known as the classic leadership style and it is normally used in institutes or organisations where very little encouragement of innovation is used by the team leader. Individual that use this type of leadership are normally familiar with the policies, guidelines and working pattern that are used by the organisation. This type of leadership style is often found in the uniform and ununiformed services. The public services are very huge and very bureaucratic. In addition if this type of leadership style is not used appropriately then there will be negative impacts and so this means that this could lead to a lack flexibility, an uninspired working environment in the service.

People-orientated
This type of leadership mainly aims on the organising, supporting and developing of the team. The leaders of this form of leadership are competent in the roles that they work in and inspire others and so they help others in the team to unlock their own potentials. good teamwork, loyalty and creative collaboration in the team is encouraged by the team leader in this type of leadership. This type of leadership style enable team members to develop their person skills and allows the team members to gain new person skills through out wit continues and regular training.

Task-Oriented
This form of leadership style mainly aims at the tasks being completed. The work for the task and roles of the work will be defined by the leader. This type of leadership form may consist of many faults, this could be that the leader will have difficulties in motivating and retaining the team members. Task-oriented leadership style could be considered as the apposite of people-orientated leadership style. In some public service both the taskorientated and people-orientated forms of leadership style may be used. For example, a police officer that is organising crowd control at a football match may also use task-centred leadership approach as well.