Name the four main leadership styles, and give a brief description of each.

The 4 main leaderships styles include; autocratic, bureaucratic, democratic, and laissez-faire.

The autocratic leadership style may be seen as the more classical approach, wherein the manager retains as much power and decision-making authority as possible. Members of staff are not consulted, nor do they have an input in decision-making, they are simply there to fulfill orders. Rewards and punishments are clearly detailed and outlined, with the leader usually seeing staff falling under McGregor's Theory - X.

The bureaucratic leadership style follows a clearly structures set of policies and procedures. This follows a very hierarchical order, with policies flowing from top to bottom in a very regulated manner, leaving leaders no space for change/ adaptation within their 'segment'. This is ususally the case when tasks are routine and standardised.

The democratic leadership style is much more participative in nature, wherein members of staff are encouraged to take part in decision-making, with the idea of more perspectives allowing for more ideas and innovation. There is little to no barrier of information, with two-way communication being predominent in cross-segment information sharing. The final say, and power are still instilled in the leader.

The laissez-faire leadership style almost completely retracts the authority/ coercive power from the manager. Staff is given great freedom within the workplace, and are allowed to almost dictate their form of governing and procedural limitations as they determine goals, make decisions and solve problems on their own.

There are pro's and con's to each of these eladership styles, and you will probably be required to understand these. I will cover the problems, benefits and most appropriate scenarios for implementation in the upcoming lesson.