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Abstract
The study of leadership has become a prominent scholarly and professional focus in an ever-changing, multi-dimensional globalized world. Despite abundant scientific and anecdotal work on the effectiveness and potency of "good" leadership, several leadershiprelated questions have remained unanswered. For instance, what does good, effective leadership look like? What is a leadership 'style' at its most basic? What leadership styles are at a leader's disposal? While leadership may be seen as one of the most overresearched topics, it remains one of the most misunderstood phenomena of our time (Gandolfi & Stone, 2016). This conceptual paper addresses the notion of a leadership style and purports to categorize the ever-increasing pool of leadership styles that emerge both in scholarly and professional circles. The paper culminates in a graphic depiction of the categorization of leadership styles based on the scientific work of Lewin, Lippit, and White (1939).
Keywords: leadership, leadership styles, leadership categories, categorization
JEL classification: M12, M14
Introduction
The world is in the midst of a leadership crisis. Despite the fact that there is a vast body of literature on leadership, it has remained one of the most misunderstood business phenomena (Gandolfi & Stone, 2016). Thus, it becomes of paramount importance to understand the consequences, both positive and negative, that emerge from the various known and validated leadership styles found in modern-day organizations. Further, it is critical to have metrics in the form of known attributes of effective leadership to serve as a benchmark for the effectiveness of each leadership style. A thorough understanding of both the potency and effectiveness of recognized leadership styles will benefit the academic and professional communities alike.
Therefore, the purpose of this article is to showcase the different leadership styles in practice in organizations today and to provide a categorization of existing leadership styles. A key objective of this research is to compare leadership styles to a functional and comprehensive working definition of leadership. With this in mind, this work begins with a brief review of a working definition of leadership and the key empirically researched attributes of effective leaders. The article then provides a deeper analysis of the various leadership styles by juxtaposing them against the authors' working definition of leaders and the attributes of effective leaders, thereby providing insights...