In a business, there are two main ways a business is run: by management or leadership. With leadership, there are four types being laissez-faire, democratic, paternalistic and authoritarian. This article will go over what management, leadership, laissez-faire, democratic, paternalistic and authoritarian are.
Leadership is a relationship through which one person influences the behaviour and actions of others.
Management is a person who follows a plan and uses their authority to tell their workers what they need to do.
There are four main leadership styles as I have already mentioned:
- Laissez-faire.
- Democratic.
- Paternalistic.
- Authoritarian.
Laissez-faire
- This is where the person has a conscious decision to delegate.
- Managers and employees are free to do what they think is best (links in with a soft HR approach).
- Staff must be willing to take responsibility.
Democratic
- This is when power is with the group as a whole.
- Leadership is shared.
- Employees aid decision making.
- There is delegation and consultation.
Paternalistic
- This is where the leader decides what is best.
- Addresses the employee’s needs.
- Little arguing: what says goes.
- There is little delegation.
- Less chance for promotion, power for employees, initiative, and motivation.
Authoritarian
- This is focused on the manager.
- It uses top down communication.
- There are reward and penalties.
- There is little delegation.
