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Leadership Values and Loyalty

No matter it is religion, sports, or politics, a leader has an inseparable role in any arena. Hence, it is not an exception in the case of a business environment. A leader plays an inevitable role in the success of a business. A leader is simply a person who would help others in a working environment to enhance the work of other employees in an organization.

In other words, a leader's primary role is to set up the behavioral realities of an office or working place. However, leaders may prove beneficial for a business firm only if they are collaborative as well as courageous. Depending upon the nature and type of a business, there are different types of leaders.

Some of the most popular among the leadership styles are autocratic leadership style, Laissez Faire leadership style, democratic style, bureaucratic leadership style, and delegative leadership style. Autocratic is a type of leadership in which a single individual makes the whole decisions in connection with a business environment.

Although this type of leadership is now seldom in practice, it is beneficial in certain circumstances when an important task or a function must be completed within a stipulated time period. This leadership is also beneficial when a group of employees are not creative and require help in completing a task. Above all, it is highly beneficial in an environment here obedience is must.

In contrast to autocratic style, in Laissez-Faire Leadership Style, also known as the 'hands-off' style, a leader provides maximum freedom to his subordinates. However, this style of leadership would be effective only if the employees or subordinates are highly educated, skilled, and experienced.

Further, this style should not be practiced when subordinates feel insecure or if employees are irresponsible. Otherwise known as participative leadership style, democratic leadership, as the name suggests, encourages subordinates to participate in key decision making procedures. Among the roles of a democratic leader is development of plans in order to assist subordinates to assess their own performances, allowing subordinates to establish goals, and motivating employees. However, this style of leadership should not be practiced when business is not in a condition to afford any kind of mistakes or safety of employee is of a critical concern.

When comes to the bureaucratic style leadership, this is mostly on the basis of procedures as well as policies. This type of leadership is highly effective when employees are working on a hazardous situation or when a definite set of instructions is required to handle a particular item or equipment.

In the case of delegative leadership, a leader must be adept in organizing his priorities as well as to delegate tasks to his subordinates effectively. Different types of leaders also include crisis leaders, who would be superb handling a particular situation; evolutionary leaders, who would be good planners; background leaders, who are akin to hands-off or laissez faire leaders, transformational leaders, whose prime role is to create new organizational capabilities as well as to motivate their subordinates, and situational leadership.

Let it of any type, a leader in an organization should necessarily possess certain important qualities such as

Excellent Communication Skill - This is perhaps the greatest of all qualities that a leader should possess. In other words, a person could never become an excellent leader if he fails to communicate well, even if he has all other qualities that a leader should have.

Capability to Select a Good Team - Even though a leader possesses excellent technical skills, he could not undertake a project successfully if he fails to select right employees to complete a task or project.

Honesty and Integrity - A leader could be successful only if he is honest, ie he should be honest not only with employees but also with the management committee. Likewise, he must also possess features such as integrity.

Consistency - A leader would be ineffective if he is not consistent.

Other necessary qualities that a leader should possess cover

- Capability to motivate employees within an organization
- Creative as well as innovative thinking
- Courage to take risks
- Influencing skills
- Adept enough to network
- Capability to stand against critics
- Visionary outlook
- Above all, global exposure

To sum it up, a leader is unavoidable for the success of a business.

Article Source: http://www.dummiesguideto.com

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