LEADERSHIP WITHIN THE WORK FORCE
Leadership is a technique to bring different individuals together to form a team by maximizing their potential in order to accomplish a common goal. By knowing and understanding the various theories of organizational leadership can aid individuals in expanding and developing their abilities within leadership. Furthermore, leaders practice different leadership styles and theories contingent upon the circumstances and necessities required to successfully achieve objectives. As an example, some leaders may use the transformational theory as a method to maintain communication among workers to motivate them to get the job done. Leaders apply transactional theory as a way to provide rewards or punishment according to performance to motivate followers (Voon, Lo, Ngui & Ayob, 2011). The future of an organization rest on its leadership’s capability to lead and it is important that leaders use each theory for organizational leadership depending on the current condition to efficiently inspire and foster individuals to achieve each goal that is set before them.
I am currently serving in the United States Air Force as a Non-Commissioned Officer in charge of my section. My job is to sustain an interconnected team that preform well as whole, enjoy what they are doing, work hard, enhance personal and group abilities in hopes to assist in the development of all our journeys as successful leaders. “Leadership is relational; it happens among people, and it is
Transformational leaders and transactional leaders differ from one another in the manner that they encourage and motivate those who follow them. Transactional leaders are defined as those who focus on monetary and tangible rewards as motivational tools for the daily operations (Marquis & Huston, 2015). Transactional leadership is associated with a clear organizational structure in which managers and subordinates understand their roles and know from whom to receive reward and feedback (Cherry, 2015). This type of leadership style focuses on motivation for the here and now to accomplish daily tasks at hand. This leadership does not focus on forward thinking or growth towards the future (Gellis, 2001).
The organization that I am apart of requires both transactional and transformational leadership skills and traits. Throughout the paper I have explained the effectiveness of leadership for the purpose of organizing and influencing followers in order to achieve organizational goal. The theories of transactional and transformational leadership expounds on the aforementioned by further “ explaining the
They inspire team members with their passion and enthusiasm for achieving the defined objective. I am use this leadership style on the meetings e.g. when I shared that we need to make some energy savings – Green Plan.
My leadership philosophy is consists of multiple leadership theories. Leadership theories can be leader-centered or follower-centered. Leadership theories focus on the leader’s personality and skill abilities. The psychodynamic approach is most similar to my leadership style because of its focus on personality. My leadership style is directive and task oriented. There are certain weaknesses in my leadership style which I know I can improve on. By incorporating the knowledge I have gained through this course I plan on applying the contingency theory to refine my leadership skills. The path-goal theory’s main emphases is on the relationship between the leader and follower which can help influence your subordinates. As a follower, I feel the relationship between the follower and the leader is tremendously important in the work environment in order to be able to complete tasks efficiently which is described in the leader-member exchange theory. In this essay I will describe my leadership philosophy which is comprised of the contingency theory, the path-goal theory, the leader-member exchange theory, and the psychodynamic approach theory and present a plan of action to improve my leadership and motivation skills.
The transformational leader, according to Burns (1978), is one who” raises the followers level of consciousness about the importance and value of designated outcomes and ways of reaching them; gets the followers to transcend their own self-interests for the sake of the team, organization, or larger polity; and raises the follower’s level of need on Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy from lower-end concerns for safety and security to higher-level needs for achievement and self-actualization.” The transactional leader use rights a reward/punishment paradigm to entice meeting the agreements and standards. Transactional leaders emphasize the exchange between leader and follower (Bass) where reaching objectives are rewarded and failing to reach objectives are punished, which is then reinforced by the leaders. The two factors which emerged reflecting the punishment/reward is contingent reward and management by exception. This type of leadership was the core of leadership theory up until 1970’s when transformational leadership theory was introduced as different from transactional (Downton, 1973). In 1978, James MacGregor Burns wrote Leadership which contrasted these styles which was followed by Bass’s work in 1985 in which he empirically demonstrated the positively correlated dimensions which represented a shift in the study of Leadership. (Bass).
Transactional leadership (Tomey, 2009) focuses on management tasks and trade-offs to meet the goals by exchanging rewards for performance, and in maintaining the normal flow of operations (as cited in Marquis & Huston; Ingra, 2016). Transformational leadership is inspirational leadership that promotes employee development, attends to the needs and motives of follower, inspires through optimism, influences changes in perception, provides intellectual stimulation, and encourages follower creativity (Tomey, 2009), that goes beyond managing day-to-day operations (Ingra, 2016). Both leadership styles are needed for an organization to succeed in this modern age, due to diversity of workers and customers we have.
There could also be conflicts with outside organizations such as unions of any represented employ-ees that may be working for the state agency. Many states are seeing cuts in its workforce and this also potentially could reduce the number of represented employees that can be members of a union. This type of cuts will also gain the attention of the media and many workers may feel compelled to share their stories which could make the governor look bad in public.
Leaders are often described as being prepared with different approaches, a plan and the desire to direct their teams to accomplish future goals. Both leadership styles are needed for leading a successful organization. Transactional leaders provide different advantages through their capabilities of addressing small effective details quickly (De Oliveira Rodrigues & Ferreira, 2015). Transactional leaders also handle all details that come together to build a strong name, while keeping employees productive at all times (De Oliveira Rodrigues & Ferreira, 2015). Different management styles are best suited for different situations. Transformational leadership inspires leaders to advance each another to higher levels of motivation (Mathew & Gupta, 2015).
Transformational leadership has been presented in the literature as different from transactional leadership. While transactional leadership was defined on the basis of the influence process underlying it, as an exchange of rewards for compliance, transformational leadership was defined on the basis of its effects, as transforming the values and priorities of followers and motivating them to perform beyond their expectations (Yukl, 1998). Bass and Avolio (1994) proposed that the behaviors transformational leaders’ exhibit include four components: individualized consideration, inspirational motivation, idealized influence and intellectual stimulation.
Transformational leaders are those individuals who communicate a vision and a sense of strategic methods to battle obstacles, are concerned with the qualities of services their organization can provide, and motivate members to buy into the idea (Swail, 2003). In contrast, transactional leaders specify that rewards are contingent on achievements, which may make individual task performance salient and thereby set followers apart from one another regarding their achievements (Lord, 1999). Hence, transactional leadership, emphasizing individual as
This essay details the different behaviors characterized by the contemporary transactional and transformational leadership models. The specific behaviors of each model are reviewed and their corresponding relation to motivation of individuals and teams are assessed. Both leadership techniques are distinct however neither is mutually exclusive and a balance of both models is generally needed for the success of a business.
The theory of transformational leadership is compelling and exciting. In our text, Leadership: A Communication Perspective, we read that the idea of transformational leadership was developed into a theory in the 1970’s by James MacGregor Burns; Burns saw transformational leadership as a more “complex and potent” form of management than mere transactional leadership (Hackman & Johnson, 2013). Transactional leadership simply offers a traditional model of leading and following. Within this model, leaders offer to meet a follower’s basic needs, and provide reward in exchange for effort. Transactional leaders see a work day as a series of transactions between themselves and their followers, and a manager’s most important function is to “maintain the status quo” (Hackman & Johnson, 2013). On the other hand, transformational leaders offer their followers the opportunity to become leaders by inspiring, empowering, and nurturing them. In these pages, we will explore how transformational leadership theory could provide a dynamic roadmap for a century-old business as it evolves and transforms to meet new needs.
Balancing family responsibilities and work is one of the most challenging obstacles for women seeking leadership positions (Eagly & Carli, 2007; Sandberg, 2013), and it can be especially daunting for the millions of working women raising children on their own (Hess & Kelly, 2015). Leadership roles are time consuming and requires a responsible person, which is one of the reasons holding back women from leadership roles.
Leadership is an attempt to influence the people around the leader and try to direct them to accomplish the desired goal. The leadership skills contain influence people to reach their goal which is finally benefiting the organization to achieve its goals. In addition to, it contains the ability to influence and motivate in order to reach goals. Leadership skills exist within each individual that can be shown at the time of external events or the individual can learn it through training. The importance of leadership summaries as a source of the interaction between employees and the organization and its future plans. Also, it is a tool used in order to unite efforts to achieve the goals. One of the benefits of leadership is eliminating labor problems and develops and motivates individuals. The leadership is defined as making accurate decisions in urgent situations. (1)
The makeup of an organization operating under Transactional leadership can influence the amount of rewards given to individuals. Additionally, the weakness of communication can influence behavior as it pertains to transformational leadership (Pandey and Wright, 2009).