Distinguishing Leadership Styles

This activity is important because most leaders adopt different types of leadership styles. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of these leadership styles will help you work better with your leaders as well as help you develop your own distinctive leadership style.

The goal of this activity is to demonstrate your understanding of the following three leadership styles: democratic, autocratic, and laissez$-$faire.

Read the case and answer the questions that follow.

Each year, a pizza company holds retreats with store managers to help them develop their leadership skills.

The trainer started off the session with a question. $$The first thing I$$d like to do is have each of you share your approach to managing employees. How do you make sure you and your employees make good situations?$$

Juanita was first to respond. $$I feel like my job is to make sure we get pizzas to our customers quickly and deliciously! It$$s chaotic at our store, especially during big events like football games. I don$$t have time to ask for opinions when we have a problem. I make a decision and delegate tasks immediately. My employees trust my judgment about how to make the store run efficiently.$$

Next, Kory explained, $$I try to create one innovation each month. We have a blog where every employee can post a new idea, and then we debate the strengths of each idea. By the end of the month, we always have one new idea to implement.$$

Afterward, Herman said, $$Hey$,$ my employees know what to do$.$ I give them really intensive training during their first week, then I let them figure out how to make things happen. In my experience, we get great results this way because the employees feel like they really own the process.$$

Kory explained, $$I try to create one innovation each month. We have a blog where every employee can post a new idea, and then we debate the strengths of each idea. By the end of the month, we always have one new idea to implement.$$ Which leadership style does Kory most likely adopt?