How Many Leadership Styles Which Can Match HR Practitioners’ Development?

It is important to understand various leadership styles and that HR practitioners may apply them to enhance the efficiency of the organization or the level of satisfaction of employees in the work environment.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leaders are those who can see the big picture and inspire and motivate employees to achieve a certain goal. In HR, transformational leaders aim at actively encourage employees to accept transformation and be more creative in thinking which results in a culture of evolution in the organization.

Transactional Leadership

Transactional leaders find it appropriate to employ well-established policies and the use of reward and punishment systems to manage employees. This style works best when trying to achieve short-term tasks and objectives. For Human Resources, transactional leadership could come in handy when describing what needs to be done and the time frames allocated.

Servant Leadership

Servant leaders understand and attend to the needs of their employees, making sure they have what they need to be successful. In the case of human resources, this style of leadership quite noticeably solves issues of employee satisfaction and promotes their sense of inclusion in the company, because employees are respected and honored.

Autocratic Leadership

Autocratic leaders are able to make unilateral decisions without any contributions from subordinates and they are very prescriptive. Even though this approach is mostly criticized for its inflexibility, it can be useful in situations where timeliness is critical. In human resources, autocratic leadership may be applicable in the context of compliance-related situations or dealing with internal crises.

Democratic Leadership

Democratic leaders seek ideas and suggestions from employees, thus soliciting employee participation in decision-making processes. This practice promotes artistic abilities and other innovative things and enhances satisfaction in one’s work as the employees feel useful. Within HR it may be suitable to use democratic leadership for instance in idea generation processes or in the implementation of new HR policies.

Laissez-Faire Leadership

Laissez-faire leadership, also described as a ‘hands-off’ leadership style, allows employees the liberty to work autonomously and make their own judgments. Such an approach is most suitable for cases when team members are well-trained, self-driven and ready to perform a given assignment with minimum supervision and control over them. In HR, a laissez-faire attitude can prove beneficial for seasoned workers who can step up and find ways to solve problems independently.