Laissez-faire leadership style is one in which the final decision making is in the hands of the team members. Here, the team leader is hands-off and team members are given the authority to make decisions. In this, there very little guidance from the team leader and so the team members have to solve the issues all on their own.
Laissez-faire leadership style would work great in a situation in which the team members are motivated, expert at the work they do and able to work independently with little to no supervision. Because they are able to perform their day to day work with their expert knowledge, minimum time would be spent on making decisions and so work would be performed faster. Laissez-faire leadership style provides the team members independence and autonomy. This way the team members become satisfied with the work they do as they are completely involved in it. The satisfaction can lead to higher motivation and hence productivity. 2.1.3.2
If Laissez-faire leadership style is being used and the team members lack the motivation to make decisions, then the overall productivity of the team would get damaged. There will be no point in giving the team members the independence to make their own decisions if they are not willing to do so themselves. With everyone making their own decisions, things can get out of control. Since there is no control over the decisions made, decisions can conflict with each other.