Effects of Leadership Styles on Employees’ Motivation: A Literary Debate

Abstract

Leadership styles are different modes of behavior exhibited by administrators,
managers or leaders, significantly influencing the motivation level of their
employees within an organization. These styles include Transactional,
Transformational, Autocratic, Democratic, Servant, and Laissez-faire leadership.
Each style has unique characteristics, and its effectiveness depends largely on the
situational context. While some organizations inherently lean towards a particular
leadership style, other may rarely practice certain styles. For instance, military
organizations typically favor transactional leadership, whereas educational
institutions often adopt a transformational approach. A theoretical model was
developed from the literature to understand the effects of these different leadership
styles on employees’ motivation. This model will be tested and verified later by
using primary data to be collected from university teachers in Dera Ismail Khan,
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.