The role a leader of a group performs is very important. The actions he performs determines his leadership qualities. There is no particular definition of the term "leadership". According to O'Hair and Wiemann, leadership is an "interpersonal influence, exercised in a situation, and directed, through the communication process, toward the attainment of a specified goal or goals" (Group Communication, 32). There are different types of leadership traits; Authoritarian, consultative, participative, and laissez- faire are the different categories.
An authoritative leader is one who takes in-charge of the decision making process. Since he/ she takes command, the group members are not taken into consideration, which leads to lower interest and satisfaction from the group members.
A consultative leader is quite opposite to an authoritative leader. This type of leader brings into account the decisions and opinions of his group members. Surprisingly, this style does not cheer the group members, because the members would want a decisive decision to occur. Soon, frustration occurs upon the team.
A participative leader is one who is similar to a consulting leader, but a participative leader does not stop at just taking opinions and ideas, he/she takes it and exercises them with his group.
A laissez-faire leader is basically not a leader at all. All the decisions and ideas are taken by the entire group. The satisfaction level is the lowest among all the types of leadership qualities.
I believe that a leader should be able to carry out all these types of leadership qualities. This is because a group does not want a leader with just one particular trait and not be able to handle a situation which would demand a leader with a different trait.
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