According to chapter 3 of the small group communication book, there are four styles of leadership. These four styles of leadership depends on the decision making of the leaders of the groups. All of these types are different from each other in its own way.
The first styles of leadership is known as authoritarian leadership. In this type of leadership the leader would provide his or her opinion and communicate with the group. Instead of having a discussion the leader would explain his/her decision. This way it helps the group to move in a faster pace. The group is more like following the leader by his/her every decision. The group meeting for this type of group would be fast because there not going to be that much discussion between each other. I believe that this type of style of leadership is perfect for members that don’t like to share their thoughts or discuss and okay with following directions.
Consultative leadership uses the opinions and ideas of the members of the group. Unlike the Authoritarian style, this type of leadership involves more discussion between the leader and group members. Leaders that uses this method often ask the member for their opinion and decisions. This style is sometimes difficult for group members because the leaders will be asking the group for their every opinion. Leaders that uses this style are the ones that does not have enough information and great ideals on the assignment. This type of leadership is even worst for group members are shy, not that talkative, or does not have great ideas.
Participative leadership is a style that the leader works with the group member. It involves the the leader and the group members in solving problems and coming up with a decision together. This type of style often has great result because everyone cooperate with each other. Finally, laissez-faire leadership is when a leader is not there for the group majority of the time. It will hard for group members to contact the leader when they help. The leader would probably expect the group to do the assignment on their own without giving much help.
From my experiences with group assignments, the styles that the leaders I had in my groups mostly use were authoritarian and laissez-faire leaderships.
Throughout my academics, I have had a lot of experience with leaders such as these during group projects. I have to say the most common styles of leadership I have dealt with were authoritarian leadership and participative leadership. As you said, authoritarian leadership has the benefits of moving at a faster pace because shy members are not forced to voice their opinions and one person can move the process along at a faster pace. However, I find that this can cause flaws because not everyone’s voice is heard. I favor the participative leadership style because everyone gets a chance to speak their mind, no matter how quiet or shy they are. As a result, the project contains the views and opinions of each team member instead of just one person. You did a great job explaining these types of leadership.
ReplyDeleteIn high school, I have dealt with authoritarian leadership and participative leadership. I agree that authoritarian leadership is a great way to get things done faster since the leader does not let his members voice their opinions. However, it is not fair for the leader to not give them a chance. I understand that there are members who are shy and this works for them since they do not care if there was a leader who is in full control. This was an experience in high school that I did not like because it was not fun to work with a leader like this even though we finished projects and assignments quickly. Participative leadership was something I did enjoy since everyone was involved in projects and assignments. Everyone was able to speak there minds.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your descriptions of the different types of leadership you discussed. I myself have experienced all types of leadership styles. However, not all of the leadership styles worked well with what I work best with. I find that I work pretty well with authoritarian leaders. I have no problem following what someone else wants to do. However, at times, if what they believe is right and I do not I will say something about it. I also really enjoy working with participative leaders. I believe that it is good for a leader to work with the people they are leading. In order to be successful, people must realize they have to work together in order to have success.
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