uch a leader gives more authority to the group than does the consultative leader. A democratic leader places final authority in the group, functioning as one who collects opinions and takes a vote before making a decision. Such a leader may give away so much authority as to be classified as a free-rein leader.
The free-rein leader turns over almost all authority to group members and provides as little leadership as possible. Such a leader maintains a hands-off policy as long as the situation is one in which the work to be done by each subordinate is clearly defined. The free-rein style may be held by an abdicator who cares very little for achieving productivity or efficiency, while in other cases this may be an appropriate style leading to high productivity.
One dimension of this type of categorization is the level of decision-making authority. Hersey and Blanchard note that managers spend much of their time reviewing and acting on the proposals of associates, upper management, a
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