In the past couple of years, specialists in the field of management have undergone a remarkable attitudinal change in how they identify and define leadership. They have moved from an extremely classical autocratic approach to innovative, participative leadership styles. Somewhere along the line, it has become evident that not everything old is bad and not everything new is good. Rather, diverse styles are needed for diverse situations and leaders must be aware when to exhibit a particular approach. Having stated upfront that there is no best or ideal leadership style and there are so many leadership styles and theories on it that it more or less seems like a "flavor of the month" type of thing, let’s first get started by introducing the six most distinctive styles of leadership, commonly known and accepted.

6 Classic Leadership Styles

There is no doubt that the climate within an organization is dictated by its leadership style—in the manner in which managers encourage direct reports, collect and utilize information, make decisions, control change initiative, and take care of crisis situations. It has been commonly accepted that there are six basic leadership styles, each of which have unique impact on the working atmosphere of an organization, its overall performance and success. Each style, is drawn from diverse emotional intelligence competencies, works finest in particular situations, and affects organizational climate in numerous ways.
i. Coercive style. This “Do what I say” approach is extremely helpful in a situation that needs rapid turnaround, say a natural calamity, or when functioning with a problematic workforce. But in most circumstances, coercive leadership curtails an organization’s flexibility and dampens employees’ enthusiasm.
ii. Authoritative style. An authoritative leader uses a “Come with me” approach. It is great for carrying out process oriented responsibilities. Manager put forward the overall goal but gives employees the liberty to pick their own ways of achieving it. This style works particularly well when a business is adrift. It is least successful when a leader is functioning with a team of experts who are more knowledgeable than he is.
iii. Affiliative style. The trademark of the affiliative leader is a “People come first” outlook. This style is especially helpful in developing team harmony or increasing morale. But its limited focus on praise can permit poor performance to go uncorrected. Also, affiliative leaders seldom offer guidance, which frequently leaves employees in a sticky situation.

iv. Democratic style. By giving employees a say in decision making, democratic leaders develop organizational flexibility and accountability and help introduce fresh ideas. But occasionally the penalty is never-ending meetings and perplexed employees that feel leaderless.