Theory and Practice of Transactional-Transformational Leadership

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.

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

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.

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

Transformational leadership encourages individuals to be innovative and strive to perform beyond expectations. Transactional leaderships rewards individuals for meeting specific targets or goals. An example of transactional leadership would be rewarding a department for contingent upon hitting a particular target. Inspiring a department to reach a target through inspiration and motivation would be transformational leadership. Regardless of the leadership style the objective of any leader is to achieve goals with a particular department or organization.

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.

In this leadership style, the leader is charged developing motivation, moral and performance of his follower group. Transformational leadership is about values and meaning, and creating a purpose that transcends short-term goals and focuses on higher order needs

Transactional leaders, through their transactions, make use of "modal values such as honesty, trustworthiness, reliability, reciprocity, [and] accountability". They do not possess these leader characteristics, nor are they able to develop strong emotional bonds with followers or inspire followers to do more than they

Transactional and transformational leadership differ. Ingram (2016) states “Different managers employ distinctly different management styles, ranging from relatively hands-off, facilitative styles to autocratic, micromanaging styles. Managers can also employ different motivational strategies and techniques to boost employee performance or accomplish internal change. Transformational and transactional leadership are polar opposites when it comes to the underlying theories of management and motivation. Understanding the difference between transformational and transactional leadership is crucial for anyone pursuing a career in management.” (Ingram, 2016). When I was a manager, I had to make sure my store operated properly and maintain sales. Sometimes I would hold contest for my workers to motivate them, Ingram (2016) states “Transactional leadership styles are more concerned with maintaining the normal flow of operations. Transactional leadership can be described as "keeping the ship afloat." Transactional leaders

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,

Peter Northouse in his work on leadership highlights the significant differences between transactional and transformational leadership. Northouse skillfully paints for his reader a picture of transformational leadership as an effective tool beneficial to the leadership arsenal. At the heart of transformational leadership as the name suggests is

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

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

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