Significance of situational leadership style for improving effectiveness and productivity of subordinates-A case study approach

There are three different leadership styles practiced by leaders such as ‘Autocratic’, ‘Democratic’ and ‘Laissez-Faire’. We have seen in the past that, these styles are adopted by the leaders based on their aptitude. Recently, leaders have realized that, situational leadership style is the best suitable style for today's environment. Based on author's rich experience of industry and academics for more than 23 years till date, he has observed cases where leaders exercised leadership style other than ‘Situational’, particularly ‘Autocratic’ due to which subordinates got demotivated and stopped contributing in a positive way towards benefits of the organization. Author has narrated three cases which highlight the significance of situational leadership style for improving effectiveness and productivity of subordinates. He has also focused on impact of autocratic style of leaders which proves to be unuseful in many situations. At the end, author also gave conclusions and suggestions based on findings.