Management is fundamentally about creating results through other people. But what different leadership styles are there, and do some work better than others? Are there, for example, certain types of management styles that a good manager should avoid?
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Kurt Lewin’s three leadership styles
One of the most well-known and traditional theories comes from Kurt Lewin, who was an organizational theorist in the 1930s. Lewin identified three different leadership types or leadership styles: the authoritarian leadership, the democratic leadership and the laissez-fair leadership.
- Authoritarian leadership style: The leader tells his employees what to do and how to do it.
- Democratic leadership style: The leader democratically tries to include all employees in decision-making.
- Laissez-faire (delegating) management style: The manager takes a “laid-back” role, and it is the employees who make the decisions themselves.
In order to be a good manager, it is required that you know which type of management fits best in a given situation. According to Lewin, however, none of the three management styles can be described as “superior” to the others – however, the democratic management style is often considered the most effective.
Modern theory of leadership styles
In retrospect, Lewin’s theory has had a great influence on a large number of modern theories. Among other things, Daniel Goleman, who is an American management researcher, has recently reinterpreted the theory of management styles. In an article in the Harvard Business Review in the year 2000, he identified the following six leadership styles:
- The commanding management style – “Do as I say!”
- The visionary management style – “We are going this way”
- The affiliating management style – “People first”
- The democratic management style – “What do you think?”
- The pace-setting management style – “Do as I do”
- The coaching management style – “What do you think?”
– The newer theories about management styles, for example the one presented by Goleman and which is one of the most recognized, do not start from how certain people are as leaders. The purpose of the “new” theory is to a much greater extent to help managers develop different skills that suit a given situation. That leadership styles are not person-specific, but situation-specific tools, is probably the most important message in this context, says Steen Buchreitz Jensen, CEO of the Scandinavian Executive Institute.
Positive and negative work climate
Based on Goleman’s terminology, both the visionary, the coaching, the affiliative and the democratic management style contribute to a positive working climate, whereas the pace-setting and commanding style generally helps to create a negative working climate.
– There is broad agreement that good leaders are able to “change style” depending on the situation they have to deal with. Take, for example, a crisis-like situation where you need to make quick decisions. Here, a commanding leadership style will be preferable. The opposite is the case if a team has to develop products for a new service – here a commanding management style would be extremely problematic, whereas a democratic management style would work well. Recent research also shows that leaders who have a high degree of emotional intelligence are the ones who perform best. These managers manage to “switch” between many different management styles when the need arises, says Steen Buchreitz Jensen, before concluding:
– On the other hand, this does not mean that managers do not often have a “basic” or “inherent” leadership style in them. But if they have a high degree of emotional intelligence, they will be able to develop themselves and “learn” to use the diverse management styles in a constructive way.
