I want to concentrate on the text from the book Group Communication, Chapter 3. The reason why is because I like the way they approached the topic of leadership. Before reading this text when I would think of a leader I always assumed that he had to have 3 things. Those things that I thought made a leader were a strong voice, strong critical thinking, and strong authority. After reading the text however, I have come to find out that there are different types of leaders that approach leading differently. This has helped me asses what type of leader I was. The text broke down leaders as having one out four types of decision making styles. These four types were authoritarian, consultant, participative, and laissez-faire. I wil go one by one and trying to interpret them as I took them. Lets take a look at an Authoritarian leader, which makes decisions on his own with out the helps of his group. This in one hand is effective because it does not allow for excessive discussion on a given topic. Since the leader is ultimately deciding for the group. Along with positive of an authoritarian leader there are some drawback, which includes less input from the group and unhappy members. Next we move to a Consultive leader, which is a leader that takes his/her members opinion into consideration and decides a final decision based on the given opinions. This decision is once again up to the leader but it at least gives member a chance to speak. Nevertheless group members still do not like this style because some feel that their opinions did not even get consideration in the matter. In my opinion this is no better then an authoritarian leader. The third style of leader is one called Participative leadership, which is one where the leader works along side group members to reach a goal. Meaning that instead of just choosing or collecting opinions, which the two other styles do, in this style of leadership everyone works together to come to a certain goal. The drawback is that this requires time in order to work properly. The last style of leadership is called Laissez-Faire, which is a style where the leader has little to no input. Pretty much he does nothing and tells a group to solve a problem with no guidance nor input. This one is the most unsuccessful form of leadership. Now after reading this I have come to realize what kind of leadership my group will need to be successful for this upcoming group project.
Heisenberg.
Hello Heisenberg! Great post! Thank you for outlining all those different types of leadership styles. I think that you are right, that knowing the type of leader you yourself might be helps you become an even better leader in the end. It is best to be able to see your own strengths and weaknesses so that you can better your leadership style. I think it is important also to know how other people might act in leadership positions as well. Having the information about leadership styles makes communication within a group flow better and then you’ll be able to be more productive! Thanks for the information!
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