THE ROLE OF THE LEADER IN TEAMWORK

The subject of research in the paper is the competence, way, and quality of team management and leadership styles of team leaders from the point of view of team productivity. The research aims to determine the competence and way of team management and the influence of the team leader's leadership styles (directive, participative, and supportive) on increasing team productivity. In order to achieve the set goal of the research, the paper started with the following hypotheses: General hypothesis (H0): The assumption is that leaders significantly influence teams' productivity in Serbian companies. Specific hypotheses in the paper we define as: H1. The assumption is that the team leaders in a particular organization are competent to perform the tasks. H2. The assumption is that managing the team is a function of creating a favorable social climate. H3. The assumption is that certain leadership styles significantly impact increasing team productivity. H4. The assumption is that improving leadership style and building leadership skills increase team productivity. H5: The assumption is that there are significant differences between respondents in assessing the influence of leadership style on the productivity of teamwork, considering their sociodemographic and status characteristics. The authors used descriptive, inductive, deduction, and content analysis methods in the paper and surveying as a technique. The authors processed statistical data using descriptive statistics (frequency and percentages), analysis of variance, and t-tests for independent and dependent samples. Also, the authors used the F-test and Levene's test. All five hypotheses were confirmed after examining the hypotheses from which the research started.