Week 3 Discussion #3

One of the concepts from the reading this week that I found interest in was in “Chapter 3 in the Group Communication text - Leadership and Decision Making in Groups and Teams”. I thought this was a very important concept because in group/teams, leadership is essential to a successful group/team. The chapter went into detail about what is leadership, the types of leadership, and what the leader should accomplish with the group during their time together. I really was interested in the different types of leadership which included: authoritarian, consultative, participative, and laissez-faire. I enjoyed how the book included how each one had a checklist on how each have certain characteristics. It seemed as though, as a leader, one must choose which type they would want to be. Although each one has its advantages, it also comes with disadvantages. In the book, it showed every characteristic each type had. Every single one had its good and bad and it seemed like being a leader, one must balance out each type to be successful, mainly the authoritarian, consultative, and participative type. The one type leaders should stay away from is the laissez-faire, for it is the least effective for a successful group/team.