Three Types of Leadership Styles

According to Goldhamer (1939, p. 171), compulsion refers to the ability to force employees to follow orders through punishment of threats. Reward power is the right to raise employees through salary, promotion, or any value that may be worth to employees (Robbins 2011, p. 131). According to Van (2004, pp.1 - 13), due to legal authority, high level workers can delegate other workers who do not have the same high rank. With Expert Power, employees can influence other employees through experience and knowledge in specific business areas (Farmer 2000, pages 15-16).

There are three styles of leadership. The first style of leadership is an authoritarian style. According to Awan (2010, pp. 253 - 266), authoritarian leaders made independent decisions to rule over other team members "to achieve a single goal". The second style is democratic. This style of leadership encourages and enables team members to apply based on what is relevant to work, but team leaders always make final decisions (Robbins 2011, pp. 297-299). The third style of leadership is Laissez-Faire style. According to Van (2004, pp. 1-13), the leader of Laissez-Faire Style can not manage the members of the organization, so the organization can decide completely and freely.

The earliest work on leadership style was done by Kurt Lewin. He identified three basic styles of leadership: dictatorship, democracy, and laissez-faire (Nelson & Quick, 2006). These three basic leadership styles can be used by the team and can be changed as needed. Dictatorship leaders are usually governed by strong discipline and natural control. This type of leader usually dominates the group, and if the group is new and still non-directional, that group is appropriate. On the other hand, democratic leaders are more sensitive and take into account their mentality. Democratic leaders will encourage group members to actively participate in their comments and help to determine the direction of the group. This leadership will help build a strong relationship among all members.

There are basically three types of leadership styles - dictatorship, bureaucracy, participation, situation, and transformational leadership. Autocratic leaders are those who set targets and do not allow others to make decisions. If one strictly adheres to policies, rules and regulations, it is called bureaucratic leadership style and participatory leaders allow other people to participate in the decision-making process. The style of participatory leadership makes others recognize the importance of achieving goals. When a leader combines the above three teaching styles, it is called a situation guidance style. There is no style of leadership in the world. Those people can become a successful leader to accept or change the quality of decisions based on the needs of the situation. This is called "Situational Leadership." (Hersey & Blanchard, 1982)