The psychology of leadership and leadership has long attracted people's attention. What makes a person a leader? How to become one? These questions are not the first century that scientists are interested in. There is a theory of great people, which is that a person who has a certain set of characteristics will be an excellent leader, regardless of the situation in which a person is.
Leadership styles
In addition, traditional social psychology raises the question about the style of leadership. In the twentieth century, scientist K. Levin conducted a classic experiment, which later allowed to distinguish three main styles of leadership.
We bring to your attention each of them:
- Directive, he is an authoritarian style. It includes short orders of a business nature, limited, lack of indulgence. Clear language and instructions, exactingness. Lack of emotion in working moments. The work plan is predetermined in full, but the position of the leader is not discussed and is outside the group. When drawing up a work plan, only immediate specific goals are set. In any case, the voice of the leader will be decisive.
- Collegiate (democratic) style. It is fundamentally different from authoritarian style. Instructions come in the form of sentences, communication is mostly comradely. The use of the "carrot and stick" method is praise and censure with advice. The leader presents his position within the group. All activities are also planned within the group, and all participants are responsible for the implementation of projects, all aspects of the work are submitted for general discussion.
- And, finally, the style is conniving. Speaking the language of the man in the street - permissive, liberal. The position of the leader is imperceptibly removed from the whole group, things are going on as if by themselves. From the leader, the members of the group do not receive assignments and instructions, the entire work process consists of the interests of individual members of the group.
Democratic style of work is considered the most effective of these ways of leadership. This position is occupied by many specialists working in the field of management. The task of the leader when using a democratic style of leadership is to improve one's own management style in order to make it as collegial as possible.
The Problem of Leadership in Psychology
Interesting to study is the problem of leadership in psychology. In any collective, regardless of the desire of leadership, informal small groups appear. If suddenly such a "collective in a team" begins to influence the public opinion of the rest of the collective, then this group will be called the reference one.
The need for the emergence of a goal and the organization of labor activity, ultimately leads to the emergence of a leader. This is typical of all groups that consist of three or more people. In psychology, there are three types of leaders: a leader in the narrow sense, a leader and a situational leader.
- Leader. This is a member of the group, who has the greatest authority, who is able to convince and inspire. On the other members of his group, he can easily affect the look, gesture or word. The leader must have the following qualities: physical activity, energy and good health.
Confidence in yourself and your abilities, authority, the desire to succeed in any endeavor. The leader must be intelligent, have good intuition and have a creative beginning. It is also important to have communication skills , the ability to find a common language with people and make contact. - A leader in a narrow sense. He is much less authoritative than the leader. He often sets himself up as an example, encourages "to do as I do." It affects only part of the group.
- Well, finally, the situational leader . Such a person has certain personal qualities that can be useful in a specific, specific situation - for example, the organization of an event.