Theory and Practice of Transactional-Transformational Leadership

The leader demonstrates to the followers loyalty, trust, respect and admiration, with these the qualities of the transformational leader, they tend to work harder than originally expected that tends to have a link between effort and reward. These outcomes occur because the transformational leader offers followers something more than just working for self-gain; they provide followers with an inspiring mission and vision and gives them an identity. They believe in the organizational culture they find and specific methods of performing tasks. Transactional leaders are effective in getting specific tasks completed by managing each portion individually. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, transactional leaders focus on the lower levels of the hierarchy that is the very basic levels of need satisfaction. One way that transactional leadership focuses on lower level needs is by stressing specific task performance (Hargis et al, 2001). They are more concerned with processes rather than revolutionary ideas hence under their leadership change is least expected. Unlike them, transformational leaders end up changing existing organizational cultures by implementing new ideas.

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).

Over the past twenty years, an abundant body of researches have been done to review transformational leadership and transactional leadership. Burn (1978) was the first person to introduce and conceptualize the concept of transformational leadership and transactional leadership. Bass (1985) based on Burn’s concept and deepen his notion with modifications, which stated that one of the best frameworks of leadership is transformational or transactional, but not opposing to each other. Followed by Bass and Avolio (1994), they provide the idea of these two leaderships and generalize them into the development of global economic world. Bass and Avolio (1997) also suggested that there was no need to view transformational and

There are many models of leadership that exist across a range of fields (e.g. social work, education, psychology, business, etc.). The ability to transform an organization successfully requires a different set of attitudes and skills. Transformational leadership is an approach where a leader utilizes inspiration, charisma, individualized attention, and intellectual stimulation with their employees (Iachini, Cross, & Freedman, 2015, p. 651). Transformational leadership helps to clarify organizational vision, inspires employees to attain objectives, empowers employees, encourages employees to take risks, and advocates the seeking of alternative solutions to challenges in the workplace (Transformational Leadership, 2015). It allows the leader to engage and motivate each follower identify with the organization’s values and goals.

Leaders can chose to use transformational leadership and transactional leadership independently or a combination of both to achieve defined

Additionally, transformational leadership theory looks at leadership differently. It sees a true leader as one who can distil the values, hopes, and needs of followers into a vision, and then encourage and empower followers to pursue that vision. A transactional leader thinks of improvement or development as doing the same thing better: an organization that reaches more people, a company that makes more money. A transformational leader thinks about changing the world, even if only on a small scale (Community Tool box, 2016).

Leadership development is a multi-billion-dollar industry in the United States and Europe. This essay discusses the difference in transformational and transactional leadership styles and provide examples. Transformational leadership is developmental and usually begins with a transactional approach. First, transactional leader's behavior approach is management- by-exception. This leader puts out fires by taking corrective actions to solve the problem. Additionally, he/she uses contingent reward behavior: rewards an employee for doing a good job. Both concepts have proven to be effective. Something as simple as a pat on the back brings about a greater

Transformational leadership theory is defined as specific behaviors that are utilized by leaders in their interaction with followers that have a lasting effect (Yukl, 1999).  According to Harms and Credé (2010), these behaviors reflect a mentor who motivates the followers to learn, succeed, and develop as individuals. Additionally, they state that the leader cultivates a trusting environment, challenges their followers, displays consideration, charisma and the ability to spark intellectual stimulation (Harms & Credé, 2010; Yukl, 1999).

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.

Theories have been researched and proven to provide correct guidance for responsible decision making. Transactional leadership is traditional, intended to meet basic needs: food, shelter, etc… Transformational leaders intend to elevate the group to meet a higher-level of needs: esteem, competence, self-fulfillment, and self-actualization. Empirical studies have provided evidence that leaders that transform followers are more successful, achieve results, higher quality, greater profits, and improved service. By putting the needs of the followers ahead of self-absorbed leaders allows them to become healthier, wiser, freer, and more likely willing to be of service. These leaders are perceived to be self-aware and others-aware, they acknowledge their responsibility, are grounded in their values and beliefs, and adapt when faced with risk and

It is observed by many authors that transformational leadership enhances transactional leadership by which improving the performance of the organization (Bass & Avolio, 1994; Howell & Avolio, 1993; Lowe et al, 1996). While according to Weihrich (2008) transformational theory is a sub-division of transactional theory. The concept of transformational and transactional leadership behavior in recent years has received a lot of attention to social scientists. Several empirical studies on Transformational Leadership focuses on leader behavior described to inspire and motivate people to perform beyond expectation and in Transactional leadership, as described, plays a positive role on large organizations that reflects on a wide range of employee attitudes and behaviors (Bass & Bass, 2008; Bass & Riggio, 2006; Judge & Piccolo,

Over the past twenty years, an abundant body of researches have been done to review transformational leadership and transactional leadership. Burn (1978) was the first person to introduce and conceptualize the concept of transformational leadership and transactional leadership. Bass (1985) based on Burn’s concept and deepened his notion with modifications, which stated that one of the best frameworks of leadership is transformational or transactional. Following Bass and Avolio (1994, p. 4) provided the idea of these two leaderships and generalized them into the development of global economic world. Bass and Avolio (1997) also suggested that there was no need to view transformational and transactional leadership as

According to Avolio, Bass, and Jung, (1999) transactional leaders motivate to perform by using positive or negative feedback. Employees work is determined by the reward or punishment that the leader prescribes to achieve mission accomplishment. The leader’s effectiveness is determined by task completion. Breevaart, Bakker, Hetland, Demerouti, Olsen, and Espevik, (2014) suggest that the transactional leader is involved in sustaining operational flow. Zhu, Sosik, Riggio, and Yang, (2012) argue that the transactional leader uses the exchange of rewards to increase performance and is not concerned with strategic planning, as much as daily operations.

After briefly understanding the definitions of these two leadership styles, l want to illustrate each of them more specifically. Staring from transactional leadership, in the real word, transactional leaders are people who play the roles of controllers and they tell followers to obey their instructions and commands. For instance, in the previous case study “Coach K and Knight”, those two coaches are totally different leaders but have the same reputation in the field. They are both the most successful basketball coaches in the history. Coach Knight is a perfect example of transactional leadership. In his team, players were told to do

The primary focus of my research will deal with both transactional and authentic leadership and how they are viewed in the workplace. Transactional leadership is most often compared to transformational leadership. Transactional leadership depends on self-motivated people who work well in a structured, directed environment. By contrast, transformational leadership is used to motivate and inspire workers by influence rather than direct the individual. Authentic leadership is an approach to leadership that emphasizes building the leader's legitimacy through honest relationships with followers whose input are valued and are built linked to an ethical foundation. Authentic leaders are usually positive people with truthful