Laissez-Faire Leadership
Complete freedom for the group — a style in one framework, the absence of one in another.
Definition
A laissez-faire leader gives the group complete freedom over decisions and methods, supplying materials or information only when asked and otherwise minimizing participation. The description comes from Kurt Lewin, Ronald Lippitt, and Ralph White’s 1939 studies; Bernard Bass later carried the term into his Full Range model as the non-leadership pole. Freedom in one account, absence in the other.
Who decides, and how word travels
Conventionally, decisions are delegated wholesale to the group, and communication is hands-off: the leader answers when asked and otherwise stays out of the channel.
Where it conventionally fits
It is conventionally workable only with highly expert, self-motivated members who can structure their own work — some research and specialist teams operate this way by design.
Where it conventionally strains
Groups that need structure or coordination get neither. In the 1939 experiments, laissez-faire groups were the least productive and the least satisfied of the three climates studied.
One column is not a leader
No leader lives in one column. Delegating everything to one seasoned team and nothing to a new one is a normal week, not a contradiction, and the test shows its point spread for exactly that reason.