Leadership and Teamwork in the Public Services

349 Words2 Pages
What is a leader? A leader is somebody that is in charge of or responsible for a group or team. Qualities of a leader could include being confident, organised, assertive, motivational, disciplined, punctual, a good listener and positive. People may use different styles of leadership, in each style leaders all need different qualities, all focusing on different aspects of leadership. Authoritarian - A leadership style in which the leader dictates policies and procedures, decides what goals are to be achieved, and directs and controls all activities without any input from team members. Democratic – A leadership style in which the leader in a sense is like an authoritarian, leading a team with authority, but allows team members input and considers others thoughts before making a final decision. Laissez faire - Laissez faire leaders try to give the least possible guidance to team members. They believe that team members work best when they are left alone to respond to their responsibilities and obligations in their own ways. Transactional – Transactional leadership, focuses on the role of supervision, organization and group performance, gives out rewards and punishments in order to motivate team members Transformational - Transformational leadership focuses on and identified the needed change, and executes it through members of the team. The advantages of taking a transformational approach could be that team members are always motivated, and have high commitment because of the leadership style. Bureaucratic - Bureaucratic leadership focuses on roles and ensures team members follow procedures precisely. A bureaucratic approach would be good for this role because in the prison service you need to be direct and to the point about things, especially in dangerous situations, not following all rules could cause danger of harm to themselves
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