Traditional Styles of Leadership

Figure 1.1 illustrates that the more control and decision-making power leaders exhibit, the less competent and empowered their followers are expected to be. Employee competence may include various related attributes from technical skills to experience to creativity. Empowerment, on the other hand, mainly demonstrates to what extent people are ready or fit to assume responsibility and feel determined and motivated to carry out the tasks assigned to them. The figure also suggests that as the employee competence and empowerment levels gradually increase in an organization, a systemic shift is observed in the strength of the leader’s influence from coercion to persuasion.