Public Service Leadership Styles

Adam Andrukajtis

UNIT 2 LEADERSHIP AND TEAM WORK

P1
Describe the different leadership styles used in the public services.

There are eight main leadership styles that have their own advantages and disadvantages used in certain Public Service sector. Those leadership styles are; Authoritarian, Democratic, Laissez faire, Transactional, Transformational, Bureaucratic, and Task orientated and People orientated.

The first one is Authoritarian leadership style which is very harsh, because it’s based on discipline and fear among the employees.
It’s usually used in the army, because it allows large-scale coordination with other shifts or units.
It also allows young and unexperienced recruits to know what to do and when to do it. It has very

Their job relies on laws and human rights, they can’t stop and search or arrest anyone they want, because they need specific information or suspicion to do so, otherwise it would be unlawful.
An advantage of Bureaucratic leadership style is that it is clear and easy to understand, because employees get specific rules and all they have to do is follow them. You could also say that Bureaucratic leadership style is fair, because those rules and regulations are set out by people who are high educated like MPs. However the disadvantage would be that some laws can be unclear or ridiculous which would result in absurd decision.

There are not any leadership styles that are similar to Bureaucratic, but there are many that are opposite like Authoritarian leadership style or Task orientated. Both of those styles focus on getting the job done without following any specific rules or regulations.

People orientated leadership style promotes peoples skills. Its main aim is to improve team work, communication and developing the individual. The leader’s role is to organise and develop the team, by unlocking their potential. They need to allocate roles based on a person’s strength and individual