Chapter 10 discusses group communication and in group communication the different types of leadership is presented. Laissez-faire, authoritarian leadership style, and democratic leadership style. Laissez-faire is the type of leadership style where the leader is least involved as a leader. Authoritarian style is where the leader is most involved and decisions are made only by them. Democratic style is the balance of both, where decisions are made by both the leader and in collaboration with other people.  The editorial cartoon above illustrates a Laissez-faire leadership, the leader directly states  “I don’t want to be involved” and his body language sends the same message, he is seated laid back, uninterested in getting much work done. 

I have seen this type of leadership style at work, when a leader, the person who is supposed to put the most effort on growing the business puts the least effort, it sends a message to others that this leader is not aiming to achieve a higher goal. Particularly when workers are distracted and not completing their jobs, a leader is in the position to bring everyone together. 

When I was in 5th grade I attended school in my country, once a week the students cleaned their classroom. On one of those occasions our teacher took the laissez-faire approach by leaving the students to decide what tasks they want to take to clean. Soon we realized that not much has been done because everyone was starting a task and moving on without finishing. Afterwards our teacher had given each one of us each corner of the classroom to organize and clean. 

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