What are the different types of leadership styles? Which one is best? (2023)

If you are looking for the secret to running a successful business, management styles are one of the keys. Learn about the different types of leadership styles, when to use them, and how to improve your skills.

Good management makes good business. Leaders are essential in establishing and maintaining a vision for an organization and in showing leaders and employees how to bring that vision to life.

Some people are natural leaders. Others need to learn leadership skills. Most people are stronger in some areas of management than others.

If you want to become a better leader, this article is for you. It will help you understand some of the different types of leadership styles and frameworks. You will also learn when to use them and how to improve your leadership styles and skills.

defined leadership styles

When we talk about leadership styles, we mean how leaders act when leading and motivating their team members, employees or co-workers. This includes how managers behave by leading plans, developing strategies and executing them.

The importance of leadership styles

Your leadership style plays an important role in how successfully you can influence the behavior of others in your organization. As an employee motivation tool, your leadership style can help you improve your team's communication, collaboration and performance. This in turn makes it easier to position your company for business success, growth and innovation.

As CEO of General MotorsMaria Barramention that:

"If we win the hearts and minds of employees, we will have more business success."

That's why it's so important to understand the different types of leadership styles, identify your own style, and know which leadership style is appropriate and when.

9 main types of management styles and frameworks

Now let's look at some of the different leadership styles.

1. Lewin Leadership styles

A common way of thinking about leadership styles is thatKurt Lewini 1939. Lewin discovered that there are three types of leadership styles:

• Authoritarian(autocratic). In this style, managers direct the work without much input from the team. An autocratic leader takes full control and takes charge.
• Participating(democratic). As the name suggests, the participative leadership style is about leaders who direct the work of the group, but also help. Democratic leaders encourage the involvement and contribution of team members. However, the ultimate responsibility for decision-making rests with the managers.
• delegate(laissez faire). Delegating leaders do not direct their team members and leave decisions to the group.

2. Blake-Mouton-Managerraster

Developed by R.R. Blake and J.S. MoutonBlake-Mouton-Managerrasterconsists of two axes: care for people and care for production. Depending on whether you score high or low in each area, you have one of the following leadership styles:

• Manager of a country club(a lot of attention to people, little attention to production)
• impoverished governance(little attention to people, little concern for production)
• Team management(great care for people, great care for production)
• Compliance Management Authority(little attention to people, much concern for production)
• In the middle of the road control

The Blake-Mouton grid has been criticized for focusing on only two aspects of team performance.

3. Path Goal Theory

Developed by Robert J. House,road target theoryindicates that managers choose a leadership style (path) depending on the goal (goal) they want to achieve. The leader's behavior is influenced by the characteristics of the team and the environment. There are four main leadership styles within path-goal theory:

• politics, where leaders know what needs to be done and guide team members in a way that helps them achieve that goal. This works well for employees and teams that still need experience.
• supportive, where leaders empathize with their colleagues and care about their well-being. This can increase job satisfaction and boost morale.
• Result oriented, which is focused on goals and achieving excellence while having confidence in people's abilities.
• Participating, which is collaborative and involves team members in decisions.

4. Leadership style matrix

Ofmatrix of leadership styleswas created by Eric Flamholtz and Yvonne Randle. Like the Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid, this management style tool consists of a grid with four quadrants. There are two axes: programmability and autonomy. This results in the following leadership styles:

• Interactive(high programmability and autonomy AND low programmability and autonomy). Both are consultative and participative management styles.
• politics(high programmability and low autonomy), resulting in autocratic or benevolent autocratic leadership.
• non-directive(low programmability and high autonomy), leading to consensus or laissez-faire management

5. Transformational management

Although there are many different management styles,transformative leadershipis popular. Bernard M. Bass built on previous work in developing methods to measure transformational leadership, which Bass describes as follows:

"Transformational leaders help their followers become leaders by addressing the needs of individual followers, empowering them, and aligning the goals of the individual follower, the leader, the group, and the larger organization."

Bass suggests that transformational leadership consists of four points:

1. Iindividual consideration
2. Imental stimulation
3. Iinspiring motivation,
4. Iidealized influence

Transformational leaders have a high level of emotional intelligence and are good at itmanagementOpportunities.

6. Transaction management

Bass is also responsible for transactional management theory, where there are clearly defined roles and a chain of command. In this scenario, managers set the direction and employees or team members follow.

7. Situational management

Ofsituational leadershipThe model was developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. Situational leaders are flexible and adaptable and encourage team members to remain the same. Like other leadership styles, situational leadership works on a grid, creating different approaches depending on how supportive or directive you want to be:

• lede(very directive, slightly supportive)
• Coaching(high guideline, high support)
• supportive(low directive, high supportive)
• Delegate(a little directive, a little supportive)

8. Bureaucratic management

bureaucratic managementIt's about having a chain of command. In contrast to autocratic leadership, where the leader controls everything. Everyone within a bureaucratic chain of command has clear roles and responsibilities. Weber's theory of bureaucratic leadership has six components:

1. hierarchy
2. division of labour
3. formal selection
4. career orientation
5. rules and regulations
6. impersonality

9. Servant Management

The conditionservant leadershipwas created by Robert K. Greenleaf. Unlike other leadership styles, servant leadership focuses on empowering those who work for them and meeting their needs. As a result, they can unlock the potential of each employee and help employees act in accordance with the company's goals.

Advantages and disadvantages of different management styles

How are the different management styles related? Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of the leadership styles discussed above.

Lewin's management style - advantages and disadvantages

Autocratic leadership can be useful for making quick decisions and lead to higher productivity. But autocratic leaders are often seen as dictatorial. This can create a toxic work environment as employees may feel that they are against their manager. Autocratic leadership can also reduce team creativity.

Participative leadership can lead to more involvement, motivation and creativity when team members feel that their role in the team matters. However, the participative management style can lead to reduced productivity. When roles in the team are not clearly defined, it can lead to poor communication and bad decisions.

According to Lewin, delegated management leads to the lowest productivity. Unless you are dealing with highly qualified and motivated experts, the roles within the group are often unclear. Team members lack motivation. This management style can often lead to a culture of blame in the team, where employees do not take responsibility for their actions.

Blake-Mouton-Managerraster- Pros and cons

Here are the pros and cons of Blake Mouton's leadership styles:

• Running a country club can create a good atmosphere for the staff.Teams managed this way can be disorganized and unproductive.
• impoverished governance. In this management style, employees are often left to fend for themselves after tasks have been assigned. Achieving productivity targets is also not very important to the manager. This can lead to a high degree of disorganization in a team.
• Team management. The management style of team management leads to well-organized and highly motivated teams.
• Compliance Management Authority. Like Lewin's autocratic leadership, this style typically results in high productivity but low employee motivation.
• In the middle of the road control. With this management style, managers strive to reconcile the needs of employees and the company. But this approach may not be successful and results in reduced productivity without high employee satisfaction.

road target theory- Pros and cons

One of the great advantages of the path-goal theory is that it is flexible and allows managers to change their style according to the situation. This theory prioritizes employee satisfaction next to productivity. This only works if leaders are already effective and can adapt their style.

Leadership style matrix- Pros and cons

When used correctly, the leadership style matrix can empower leaders to bring out the best in their team. Therefore, it is imperative that they know their team members and goals so they can decide when to be directive, non-directive or interactive depending on the situation.

Transformational leadership- Pros and cons

Transformational leaders inspire and motivate their teams through their own integrity, self-awareness, empathy and authenticity, by recognizing all the skills individuals bring to teams and by coaching and empowering them to grow.

This type of leadership works when employees respect the leader. But this type of management can also lead to high work pressure and even burnout in some employees.

transaction management- Pros and cons

Transactional management has the advantage of clarity: people usually know what is expected of them. This type of management is also suitable for crisis situations. However, this type of management has been criticized for ignoring the emotional needs of employees and stifling creativity.

Situational leadership- Pros and cons

An advantage of situational leadership is the focus on developing and supporting team members. Another advantage is the flexibility of the system to handle different situations. This can also lead to high productivity.

This management style has been criticized for leaving most of the responsibility to the manager. Another disadvantage is the focus on short-term goals. It can also create confusion as the leadership style changes depending on the situation.

bureaucratic management- Pros and cons

One of the benefits of bureaucratic management is clarity around roles, responsibilities, policies and processes. But running everything through a chain of command can stifle creativity, innovation and personal growth.

servant leadership- Pros and cons

servant leadershipcan result in motivated and involved employees and also lead to high productivity and creativity. However, this can lead to slower decision-making and less authority for managers.

Find your management style

Do you want to know what your own leadership style is? Try one of the following tools:

• What is your natural leadership style? quiz

• What's Your Leadership Style Quiz?

• management style assessment

What management style do you use when?

How do you know which one to choose when there are so many different leadership styles to choose from? Here are a few tips:

• as you have seenSome leadership styles work well in crisis situations.Others work for day-to-day operations. Still others focus on developing and inspiring employees and future managers. Choose your management style depending on the situation and the goal.
• You can also think about itwho is involved in a situation and who is affected by it. This can lead you to the right leadership style.
• Think about the implementation. Sometimes it's a question ofWhat you can do now. Telling people what to do can be a good short-term approach to solving an immediate need. In the long term, you may want to develop leadership styles that require more emotional intelligence.

• The 12 Greatest TED Talks of All Time (For Business Leaders in 2022) Laura Spencer27. August 2021

How to improve your management style

If you wantImprove your leadership skillsUse the above tools to determine your leadership style. You can also think about the keyleadership qualitiessuch as communication, assertiveness, empowerment, empathy, and more, and figure out which ones to work on. Besides, practice makes perfect. Look for opportunities to take the lead and develop your leadership skills.

Learn more about leadership

Do you want to know more about management? We have several interesting tutorials you might want to read:

• What is ethical leadership? How to become a more ethical leader Andrew Blackman14. October 2021
• Top 10 Leadership Skills for Entrepreneurs, Managers and Other Business Leaders Sharon Hurley Hall08. July 2020
• 7 Key Tools to Coach Your Management Team in 2022Lisa Jo Rudy24. September 2021

Get management presentation templates from Envato Elements

One thing you must do as a manager ismake presentationsto your team. To help you with that, Envato Elements has a great deal you won't want to miss.

Download so muchPresentation templatesas you want, all at a low price.

Improve your leadership style today!

You have learned about the different types of leadership styles. You have discovered how you can use them effectively in different work situations. You also know how to find and improve your own management style. Now it's up to you to put what you've learned into practice and become a great leader!

Editor's note: This content was originally published in January 2022. We are re-sharing it because our editors have determined that this information remains accurate and relevant.