In chapter 3 of the book, "The Essential Guide to Group Communication," written by Dan O' Hair and Mary O. Wiemann, the subject of leadership is brought up. Moreover, the authors developed four different types of it: authoritarian, consultative, participative, or laissez-faire.
An authoritarian leader is a leader who does everything in his own way and does not consult with the other group members. An advantage of such leaders is that decisions are made faster, however most group members tend to not be satisfied.
On the other hand, a consultative leader asks for other's opinions. This kind of leader will ask other group members for ideas and will check in with them in order to make sure his/her final decision is educated and well thought-through. In this type of leadership however, the leader still makes his decision alone.
A participative leader is a leader who consults with his/her group members and does not make a decision on his/her own. This kind of leader does not have any more power then any of the other group members but does facilitate communication between his/her group members. In these kind of groups, the outcome tends to be greater and of better quality since everyone is working together.
A laissez-faire leader is a leader who will not get involved in anything and will not facilitate any type of communication. The leader will let everything pass by and will not take action towards anything. This is said to be the least effective leadership of them all.
This topic also called my attention because I thought it was necessary for any group work of any kind whether for school or at a job. By simplifying the points you were able to capture the main points and differences of the different leadership styles. I also like how you mentioned the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of leadership, and through this when I read your post I was able to differentiate quickly what is what from the others. I personally like the participative leadership since it seems fair and tends to have a better result in work and member satisfaction among the other types mentioned. Keep up the good work! :)
ReplyDeleteI found your post helpful because many of my classes have required group projects. Everybody of course has worked in a group at some point and notice who takes charge and who sits back and relaxes. While a lot of times most people see a leader as somebody who takes complete charge like an authoritarian leader, but as you wrote there are different types of leadership. I personally think of myself as a consultative leader. I try to make sure each group member has their input while I state my own ideas as well. I think this type of leadership works best in group work because it gives everybody a chance to say and hear all ideas and come up with an idea that the majority of the group can be happy with.
ReplyDelete