Signature Assignment - Literature Review

2

Signature Assignment: Literature Review

Shon Cosby

University of Phoenix

LDR/711A: Leadership, Theory, and Practice

Pam Gordon, Ph. D.

April 28, 2020

Signature Assignment: Literature Review

The leadership theories transactional, transformational, servant, and authentic are approaches that will help to clean up the foster-care system. These leadership theories are all taught in a doctoral program of study. Without learning these theories, the solutions to most workplace problems would not get solved. The problem with the foster-care system is that it does not prepare children for when it is time for them to transition out of the system. Using the transactional, transformational, passive/avoidance, and the authentic leadership theories within the foster-care system would help thousands of kids per year.

Transactional Leadership

Running on a staff of volunteers makes transactional leadership an idea method. According to Northouse (2019), transactional leadership focuses on the exchanges that occur between leaders and followers. Transactional leadership could be used to reward the volunteers for working with the non-profit. Gift cards and other small gifts would be raffled off and given away to volunteers to thank them for their servitude. Having a volunteer appreciation day would be an excellent way to utilize the transactional theory of leadership. Gift cards and other rewards for a job well done could also be given out throughout the year to volunteers so that moral is not lost. “Specifically, transformational leadership has been linked to a dynamic external environment, unsatisfactory organizational performance and times of revolutionary change, while transactional leadership has been associated with stable and predictable environments, acceptable organizational performance and established organizations. In other words, transactional leadership is useful for institutionalizing, reinforcing and refining existing knowledge, whereas transformational leadership is useful for challenging the existing state of affairs” (Baskarada, Watson, & Cromarty, 2017. pg. 507, para. 1). Non-profits require a stable and predictable environment hence the use of transactional leadership.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership has the benefit of being motivational and has positive psychological gains. “Their findings suggest that transformational leadership can result in positive psychological gains for both leader and follower” (Northouse, 2019). Foster care needs more leaders who have morality who can instill that morality into their followers. Motivated followers would ensure that every kid is well taken care of and prepared for their transition out of the foster care system. They would also be someone who everyone looks up to and trusts wholeheartedly. Leaders like this are needed within the foster care system.

Servant

Servant leaders are those who put others over themselves. Changing the foster care system is a long and tiring process. Which is why there are other ways to help that will assist the people in need in a much quicker fashion. “Servant leaders make it a priority to listen to their followers and develop strong long-term relationships with them. This allows leaders to understand the abilities, needs, and goals of followers, which, in turn, allows these followers to achieve their full potential” (Northouse, 2019. Pg. 240, para. 8). A non-profit organization is a good way to be of service to the community and to help foster kids. Servant leaders are those that listen to the wants and needs of their followers. This is exactly what is needed when working with kids in foster care.

Authentic

These days it is important that leaders keep it “real” with their followers. Therefore, authentic leadership would also be effective when establishing relationships with followers. In this case, most of the followers will be teenagers. Teenagers are the generation of keeping it “real”. Therefore, this theory would also work well with a non-profit organization geared towards helping foster children. This type of theory can be practiced by simply telling the truth. “Authentic leaders are self-actualized individuals who are aware of their strengths, their limitations, and their emotions. They also show their real selves to their followers” (Kruse, 2013. Pg. 2, para. 4).

The four leadership theories mentioned are all theories that could apply to the foster care system. There are ways to apply all four theories to a non-profit organization. Transactional, transformational, servant, and authentic theories are all four vastly different theories, but all can be applied to the foster care system. Choosing just one to apply to the organization would be impossible. Ways were found for all four theories to be used on the foster care system.

References

Baškarada, S., Watson, J. and Cromarty, J. (2017), "Balancing transactional and transformational leadership", International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 25 No. 3, pp. 506-515. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJOA-02-2016-0978/full/html.

Krause, K., (2013), “What Is Authentic Leadership?”. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/05/12/what-is-authentic-leadership/#7b73e594def7.

Northouse, P. G. Interactive: Leadership: Theory and Practice Interactive eBook. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781544325194/.