Please respond to Leslies post with one scholarly source…
After reading the assigned readings for this week and going over the lesson, I have concluded that in my opinion, the most effective leadership style is the Leadership Behavior theory. I think that being an effective leader is based on your behavior. How well you can lead a group, make them become successful and keep them on the right track. In the textbook within the leadership behavior theory portion, it breaks leadership down into three categories. Autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. The democratic style emphasizes the group and majority rule. (Manning 2018). In this type of leadership, the opinion of the group matters, and the decisions are made based on what is best for everyone not just the leader, which I also think is an effective quality for a leader. Democratic style leaderships are very effective because the group and leader are involved in everything together. The leader always considers the group when making the decisions and always allows the group to voice their opinions. You can’t always make everyone in the group happy, but they try and keep the majority of the group happy. Kurt Lewin conducted a study that indicated that democratic leadership style was more beneficial for group performance than others. (Manning 2018).
The Leadership Contingency Theory holds that the most appropriate leader qualities differ from situation to situation. (Manning 2018). There is no specific theory that is better than the other, it is just what it best for the situation and I also agree with that. Leaders must learn to adapt to the situations that lie Infront of them and do what is best for their team or organization.
The democratic leadership style is most effective in most cases because it keeps everyone, for the most part, happy. The leader always has its members in mind. John Gastill says that democratic leadership is distinct from positions of authority, rather it is defined as responsibility throughout the group, empowering group members, and aiding their decision-making process. Agreeing that it is one of the most effective styles of leadership. Not just one person is in charge and making all the decisions based off what is best for them.
References
Manning, George. The Art of Leadership. McGraw-Hill Higher Education (US), 2018. [VitalSource Bookshelf].
Gastil J. A Definition and Illustration of Democratic Leadership. Human Relations. 1994;47(8):953-975. doi:
