Understanding the Four Leadership Styles

By Eddie Merla, PMP®

Four Leadership Styles

There are generally four leadership styles:

• Autocratic – high emphasis on tasks and performance, low emphasis on people
• Laissez-Faire – low emphasis on both performance and people
• Human Relations – high emphasis on people and low emphasis on performance
• High Performance – high emphasis on both people and performance

Of course, the desired leadership style is high performance.  This is the leadership style that all project managers should strive to achieve.

Each of these styles is described in more detail below:

Autocratic

An autocratic style leader is a “Theory X” type leader.  This type of leader is usually task focused and concerned with performance.  This style of leader usually dominates the team and is usually at the center of team or project activity.  This type of leader is usually considered a “micromanager” as he or she tends to closely supervise team activity.

An autocratic leadership style can diminish the team’s performance. This style often breeds antagonism and stifles ideas.  The members of the team often feel they do not have a voice and do not take responsibility.  This style can lead to a hostile team.  This type of leadership leads to a preoccupation with rules and red tape.

Can an autocratic style ever be useful?  Actually, in certain situations, yes.  A crisis or an emergency situation may require the leader to be autocratic in order to respond quickly to the situation. 

Laissez-Faire

I like to call this style of leadership “lazy fare.”  The laissez-faire leader does not focus on team performance or on the team members.  Providing little or no guidance to the team, with a lack of emphasis on team members’ needs, and usually demonstrating poor or no communications to the team, this leadership style has the lowest success rate and and leader satisfaction among the four styles.

Human Relations

The human relations style is warm and caring and very attentive to people’s needs.  A leader using this style of leadership is reuctant to hold people accountable or to push for results.  This style of leadership tends to create a permissive environment.  As you can imagine, the type of team environment created by this leadership style does not lend itself to project performance.  This type of environment puts a lower emphasis on project deliverables, glosses over performance problems and usually results in missed milestones.  This type of environment can also cause frustration among goal oriented team members.

High Performance

The high performance leadership style leads to results while also placing value on the team members.  This type of leadership style creates well organized teams and challenging yet rewarding work environments.  A high performance leader sets clear goals and resposibilities.  The team under this environment tends to be self-performing with very open communications.  As the team is self-controlling, there is little or no need for controls.  Productivity, satisfaction, cooperation and commitment are highest on a high performance team.   

Stages of Team Development

Teams always go through a maturity cycle.  The team development model originally conceived by Bruce Tuckman suggests that teams grow through five stages of development:

Forming – this is the intial stage of team formation.  The team goes through a learning cycle as the team members get to know each other and adapt to the leadership and project environment.  Team members tend to be independent of each other.

Storming – this is the stage where team members begin to learn the project environment, the project work, each other’s work styles, the project approach and perhaps new methods of working together.  This stage is called storming because this is where conflict in working styles can occur.  Members may also resist conforming to the group structure.

Norming – during this stage, team members begin to acknowledge the team structure and begin to work together as a team.  There is a stronger identification among the team members as a team and a team personality begins to appear.

Performing -  this is the stage where the team comes together and performs better as a team than a group of individuals.  Members of the team support and recognize each other.  Because of the supportive environment and open communications, the team becomes highly effective in delivering results and solving problems.  

Adjoining – this is the stage where the team disbands.  The project is over and it is time for the team members to move on to another project or assignment.  Team members at this stage are faced with the mixed emotions of a sense of accomplishment and feelings of loss.  If the project has been a long engagement, there may be concerns over career impacts or even fears of a job loss.

Tips for this week’s lessons

·       Understand and memorize the four leadership styles

·       Understand how the leadership styles could affect team performance.

·       Know the preferred leadership style and the least desired style.

·       Memorize the 5 stages of team development – this is easy because they rhyme!

·       If you are the project manager, understand the needs of the members of the team through each stage.

True or False?

1.      The autocratic leadership style is the preferred leadership style.

2.      A team personality begins to appear during the storming stage.

3.      The laissez-faire leader does not focus on team performance or on the team members.

4.      The autocratic leadership style most closely resembles a Theory Y manager style.

5.      A human relations style manager prioritizes individual team members’ preferences over project goals.

6.      A high performance leader sets clear goals and responsibilities

7.      An autocratic leader would perform best during the Adjourning stage of team development.

8.      Members on a high performance team would normally feel they have a voice in the process of decision making.

9.      Performing is the third stage of team development.

10.  The laissez-faire leader is best suited for a short term high impact project.

Answers  

1.      False

2.      False

3.      False

4.      False

5.      True

6.      True

7.      False

8.      True

9.      False

10.  False

© 2010 Eddie Merla, PMP®

Article provided by:

Duende Project Management Services, a provider of Project Management Training and PMP® preparation products.  http://www.pmstudyproducts.com