Kurt Lewin’s 3 leadership styles

Lewin made several contributions to the field of Organizational and Work Psychology.

Kurt Lewin, one of the main members of the Gestalt School, made great contributions to social psychology but also to other disciplines, such as organizational psychology.

In this article we will analyze the three styles of leadership described by Kurt LewinThe authoritarian, the democratic and the "laissez-faire", which can be translated as "let it be done".

Kurt Lewin's theory

Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) was a German psychologist who had a fundamental influence on the development of this science during the first half of the 20th century. Like Wertheimer, Köhler and Koffka, he was part of the Gestalt School.Lewin, who tried to find the laws that determine human perception and the tendency of the mind to organize the stimuli received.

Lewin is credited with founding social psychology as an independent discipline. as an independent discipline. This is due to his conception of social situations as "force fields" where different factors operate and confront each other, his research on social actions, his analysis of group dynamics and his famous equation for predicting behavior.

Another of this author's key contributions is his theory on the three leadership styles, based on the experiments he carried out in 1939. This part of his work had a great impact on another branch of psychology: psychology. another branch of psychology: industrial psychology, also called work or organizational psychologywhich analyzes behavior in the context of the world of work.

However, Lewin's leadership theory is not only useful for analyzing the context of organizations, but can be applied to any human group with structural characteristics such as hierarchization or the attempt to achieve one or more objectives. Of course, the organizational environment has shown a particular interest in this type of theories.

The three styles of leadership

Lewin's research led this pioneer to describe three different types of leadership in organizational settings three different types of leadership in organizational management environmentsLewin's research led him to describe three different types of leadership in organizational management environments: authoritarian, which has a dictatorial character, democratic, in which decision-making is collective, and "laissez-faire", in which the leader's supervision of the tasks performed by subordinates is minimal.

Each of these leadership styles is related to distinct behavioral patterns, interaction dynamics and socioemotional environment. All three types of leaders have their own advantages and disadvantages, and none can be said to be superior in all aspects; however, Lewin asserted that the democratic leader is the most effective of the three..

Authoritarian

Authoritarian work environments are characterized by the fact that the leader monopolizes decision making. It is this person who determines the roles of subordinates, the techniques and methods they must follow to complete their tasks and the conditions under which the work is carried out. This style of leadership is widespread in most organizations. in most organizations.

Despite the negative connotations of the word "authoritarian", Lewin insists that this type of leader does not always generate an unpleasant socioemotional environment; criticism of employees is commonplace, but so is praise.. Authoritarian leaders are also characterized by little involvement in the performance of the work tasks themselves.

According to Lewin's observations, authoritarian-style leadership carries the risk of "revolution" on the part of subordinates. The more marked the leader's authoritarian character, the greater the likelihood of this happening.

2. Democratic

The democratic style described by Lewin is very different from the authoritarian type of leadership. Leaders who follow this pattern do not make decisions alone, but these arise as a result of a process of collective debate; in this case the leader acts in the role of an expert who advises subordinates, and of course can intervene in the final decision if necessary.

Most people tend to prefer the democratic type of leadership over the authoritarian and "authoritarian-faire" type, especially when they have had bad experiences with one of these styles. over authoritarian and laissez-faire leadership, especially when they have had bad experiences with one of these styles. However, democratic leadership does carry some risk of efficiency loss, especially in relation to collective decision making.

3. Laissez-faire

The French concept of "laissez-faire" could be roughly translated as "laissez-faire", "non-interventionism" or "liberalism", following the political-economic terminology used by Lewin. Leaders of this type let subordinates make their own decisions, although they do not necessarily take responsibility for the results of these decisions.

This style of leadership is generally considered to be the least effective of the three, since it can lead to a lack of productivity and consistency; it is better to have an active leader. Nevertheless, works very well when the subordinates are capable and highly motivated people and there is no great need for communication among the workers. and there is no great need for communication among workers.