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Lewin's Leadership Styles

June 22, 2012

In 1939, a group of researchers led by psychologist Kurt Lewin set out to identify different styles of leadership. While further research has identified more specific types of leadership, this early study was very influential and established three major leadership styles. In the study, schoolchildren were assigned to one of three groups with an authoritarian, democratic or laissez-fair leader. The children were then led in an arts and crafts project while researchers observed the behavior of children in response to the different styles of leadership.

Authoritarian Leadership (Autocratic)

Authoritarian leaders, also known as autocratic leaders, provide clear expectations for what needs to be done, when it should be done, and how it should be done. There is also a clear division between the leader and the followers. Authoritarian leaders make decisions independently with little or no input from the rest of the group.

Researchers found that decision-making was less creative under authoritarian leadership. Lewin also found that it is more difficult to move from an authoritarian style to a democratic style than vice versa. Abuse of this style is usually viewed as controlling, bossy, and dictatorial.

Authoritarian leadership is best applied to situations where there is little time for group decision-making or where the leader is the most knowledgeable member of the group.

Participative Leadership (Democratic)

Lewin’s study found that participative leadership, also known as democratic leadership, is generally the most effective leadership style. Democratic leaders offer guidance to group members, but they also participate in the group and allow input from other group members. In Lewin’s study, children in this group were less productive than the members of the authoritarian group, but their contributions were of a much higher quality.

Participative leaders encourage group members to participate, but retain the final say over the decision-making process. Group members feel engaged in the process and are more motivated and creative.

Delegative (Laissez-Faire) Leadership

Researchers found that children under delegative leadership, also known as laissez-fair leadership, were the least productive of all three groups. The children in this group also made more demands on the leader, showed little cooperation and were unable to work independently.

Delegative leaders offer little or no guidance to group members and leave decision-making up to group members. While this style can be effective in situations where group members are highly qualified in an area of expertise, it often leads to poorly defined roles and a lack of motivation.

Posted by Bobby Enoch Edegbo. Posted In : LEADERSHIP STYLES

What is the Difference Between Management and Leadership?

June 22, 2012

Adapted from “The Wall Street Journal Guide to Management” by Alan Murray, published by Harper Business.

Leadership and management must go hand in hand. They are not the same thing. But they are necessarily linked, and complementary. Any effort to separate the two is likely to cause more problems than it solves.

Still, much ink has been spent delineating the differences. The manager’s job is to plan, organize and coordinate. The leader’s job is to inspire and motivate. In his 1989...

Posted by Bobby Enoch Edegbo. Posted In : MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

Learning to Be the Boss

June 22, 2012

By ERIN WHITE | Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Last November, veteran nurse Dianne Baker was named acting supervisor for the outpatient cardiac rehabilitation center at a hospital near Philadelphia.

Ms. Baker, whose new duties included managing three other employees, quickly found herself at sea. She wasn't sure how to oversee former peers and stumbled over the paperwork and finances. Monthly financial reports were "like reading gibberish to me," she says. After operations m...

Posted by Bobby Enoch Edegbo. Posted In : LEADERSHIP CONCEPTS

Advice for Women on Developing a Leadership Style

June 22, 2012

By ERIN WHITE

When working at a Washington, D.C., foundation a few years ago, Jennifer Christian Murtie was promoted to oversee three staffers. She worried about how to project authority without seeming mean.

"How am I going to get these people to listen to me?" Ms. Christian Murtie, now 31 years old, recalls thinking.

Lessons in Leadership

A leadership guide featuring step-by-step how-tos, Wall Street Journal stories and video interviews with CEOs.

Developing a leadership style is a challe...

Posted by Bobby Enoch Edegbo. Posted In : LEADERSHIP STYLES

LEADERSHIP STYLES

June 22, 2012

Leadership is less about your needs, and more about the needs of the people and the organization you are leading. Leadership styles are not something to be tried on like so many suits, to see which fits. Rather, they should be adapted to the particular demands of the situation, the particular requirements of the people involved and the particular challenges facing the organization.

In the book “Primal Leadership,” Daniel Goleman, who popularized the notion of “Emotional Intelligen...

Posted by Bobby Enoch Edegbo. Posted In : LEADERSHIP STYLES

Time Management for Leaders

February 27, 2012

Time in the organization is constant and irreversible. Nothing can be substituted for time. Worse, once wasted, it can never be regained. Leaders have numerous demands on their limited time. Time keeps getting away and they have trouble controlling it. No matter what their position, they cannot stop time, they cannot slow it down, nor can they speed it up. Thus, time needs to be effectively managed to be effective.

On the other hand, you can become such a time fanatic convert by buildi...

Posted by Bobby Enoch Edegbo. Posted In : TIME MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

Growing a Team

February 27, 2012

I think the Army would make a serious mistake if we made a distinction and said, “You are a manager, and you are a leader.” So my philosophy is that we are all leaders! We also must be responsible managers or stewards of resources entrusted to us. We would make a serious mistake to think that we could be one and not the other. — General John Wickham.

Leaders should not think of themselves as simply managers, supervisors, etc.; but rather as “team leaders.” Thinking o...

Posted by Bobby Enoch Edegbo. Posted In : GROWING A TEAM

Leadership Styles

February 27, 2012

Leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. Kurt Lewin (1939) led a group of researchers to identify different styles of leadership. This early study has been very influential and established three major leadership styles. The three major styles of leadership are (U.S. Army Handbook, 1973):

Authoritarian or autocratic
Participative or democratic
Delegative or Free Reign

Although good leaders use all three styles, with on...

Posted by Bobby Enoch Edegbo. Posted In : LEADERSHIP STYLES