Distinguish between transactional and transformational leadership styles
Name
PSYC 6552 - Psychology of Motivation at Work
Walden University
2022
Introduction
Transactional Leadership is a style of leadership in which the leader promotes compliance of his
followers through both rewards and punishments. Unlike Transformational leadership, leaders
using the transactional approach are not looking to change the future; they are looking to merely
keep things the same. These leaders pay attention to followers' work in order to find faults and
deviations. This type of leadership is effective in crisis and emergency situations, as well as
when projects need to be carried out in a specific fashion.
Within the context of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, transactional leadership works at the basic
levels of need satisfaction, where transactional leaders focus on the lower levels of the hierarchy.
Transactional leaders use an exchange model, with rewards being given for good work or
positive outcomes. Conversely, people with this leadership style also can punish poor work or
negative outcomes, until the problem is corrected one way that transactional leadership focuses
on lower level needs is by stressing specific task performance. Transactional leaders are effective
in getting specific tasks completed by managing each portion individually.
Transformational leadership can be broadly exhibited when followers and leaders jointly work
together to achieve a higher degree of work, morale and motivation. A transformational leader
can probably exhibit leadership style through his personality and ability to make lasting changes
through visions and goals. Furthermore a transformational leader is concerned with satisfying the
needs of his followers first.
James Macgregor Burns (2006) first introduced the concept of transformational leadership in his
descriptive research on political leaders, but this term is now used in organizational psychology
as well. According to Burns, transforming leadership is a process in which "leaders and
followers help each other to advance to a higher level of morale and motivation". Burns related
to the difficulty in differentiation between management and leadership and claimed that the
differences are in characteristics and behaviors.
He established two concepts: "transformational leadership" and "transactional leadership".
According to Burns, the transformational approach creates significant change in the life of
people and organizations. It redesigns perceptions and values, and changes expectations and
aspirations of employees. Unlike in the transactional approach, it is not based on a "give and
take" relationship, but on the leader's personality, traits and ability to make a change through
example, articulation of an energizing vision and challenging goals.
Transforming leaders are idealized in the sense that they are a moral exemplar of working
towards the benefit of the team, organization and/or community. Burns theorized that
transforming and transactional leadership was mutually exclusive styles.
Bernard M. Bass (1999) extended the work of Burns (1999) by explaining the psychological
mechanisms that underlie transformational and transactional leadership. Bass introduced the term
"transformational" in place of "transforming." Bass added to the initial concepts of Burns (1999)
to help explain how transformational leadership could be measured, as well as how it impacts
follower motivation and performance. The extent to which a leader is transformational is
measured first, in terms of his influence on the followers. The followers of such a leader feel
trust, admiration, loyalty and respect for the leader and because of the qualities of the
transformational leader are willing to work harder than originally expected. 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 give them an identity.
The leader transforms and motivates followers through his or her idealized influence (earlier
referred to as charisma), intellectual stimulation and individual consideration. In addition, this
leader encourages followers to come up with new and unique ways to challenge the status quo
and to alter the environment to support being successful. Finally, in contrast to Burns, Bass
suggested that leadership can simultaneously display both transformational and transactional
leadership.
Qualities of Transactional Leadership
Transactional leaders use reward and punishments to gain compliance from their followers. They
are extrinsic motivators that bring minimal compliance from followers. They accept goals,
structure, and the culture of the existing organization. Transactional leaders tend to be directive
and action-oriented.
Transactional leaders are willing to work within existing systems and negotiate to attain goals of
the organization. They tend to think inside the box when solving problems
Transactional leadership is primarily passive. The behaviors most associated with this type of
leadership are establishing the criteria for rewarding followers and maintaining the status quo
Within transactional leadership, there are two factors, contingent reward and management-by-
exception. Contingent reward provides rewards for effort and recognizes good performance.
Management-by-exception maintains the status quo, intervenes when subordinates do not meet
acceptable performance levels, and initiates corrective action to improve performance.
b) Which of the above style can be best applied by a school principle?
Transformational leadership can best applied by a school principle. According to spurs (2006),
transformative leaders engage in reflective processes that enable self-evaluation of personal
values, beliefs, and experiences, and they intentionally promote the conditions and experiences
for transformation in their staff. This includes nurturing the voices of others and building their
capacity to take leadership in the school community.
This method can best be applied by school principals because; spurs (2006) Transformational
leadership requires that everyone be an instructional leader and not self centeredness. Principals
will focus on standards of practice and performance, pushing to ensure that the daily work of the
school is at intellectually high levels. This form of leadership asks hard questions about culture
and practice, foster on going opportunities for collaboration, and respond in productive ways to
persistent practices and behaviors that raise concerns. It ensures that the school principle, staff
and curriculum developers work to ensure a curriculum that is culturally responsive.
Decision making is inclusive and radically democratic, including structures such as rotating
leadership; rotating staff chairs; student co-directors, and so on. Roles and responsibilities,
though shifting, are clear. Staff actually plans the meetings; as teaching materials and specific
pedagogies must be placed in the hands of those closest to the learner. All school constituencies,
including students and parents, families and community members, have opportunities to gain
leadership skills and are involved in substantive decision making both in the classroom and
school wide. School decisions are made to support the school’s mission. Spurs (2006) adds that
the entire school staff represents a collective voice when it comes to creating and maintaining an
effective and equitable learning environment. The vision and mission are translated into
everyday practice. Formal and frequent opportunities exist for staff to collaborate on success,
challenges, and assessment results as they put into practice the vision and mission of the school.
The vision and mission are periodically revisited and edited so they remain living, meaningful
documents. Teachers and leaders generate meaningful internal and teacher-led professional
development, and they also seize external opportunities. Students have major input in curriculum
and work collaboratively with teachers, and all teachers in the school have an administrative role
in addition to their instructional responsibilities so that leadership is diffuse and transparent.
Transformational this form of leadership is vital because Teachers and leaders participate in
professional development together. Teachers and leaders decide on curriculum that best serves
students and teachers have ownership over course development. Students engage in decision
making through existing school structures like government, advisory, town meetings, and the
like.
Spurs (2006) argues that through transformational leadership Parents are involved in the PTA or
other parent organization. The school has made structure and space available for parent
involvement but participations is limited. Staff and parents discuss and collaborate to reduce the
challenges associated with greater partnerships. The school budget is widely shared with all
members of the school community. Leaders allow teachers time for professional development
but do not engage in it with them. Teachers have some decision-making authority regarding
curriculum and school policy, but generally administrators have final say. Transformational
leadership has full range of leadership elements of which includes: Individualized
Consideration the degree to which the leader attends to each follower's needs, acts as a mentor
or coach to the follower and listens to the follower's concerns and needs. The leader gives
empathy and support, keeps communication open and places challenges before the followers.
This also encompasses the need for respect and celebrates the individual contribution that each
follower can make to the team. The followers have a will and aspirations for self development
and have intrinsic motivation for their tasks. Intellectual Stimulation The degree, to which the
leader challenges assumptions, takes risks and solicits followers' ideas. Leaders with this style
stimulate and encourage creativity in their followers. They nurture and develop people who think
independently. For such a leader, learning is a value and unexpected situations are seen as
opportunities to learn. The followers ask questions, think deeply about things and figure out
better ways to execute their tasks. Inspirational Motivation The degree to which the leader
articulates a vision that is appealing and inspiring to followers. Leaders with inspirational
motivation challenge followers with high standards, communicate optimism about future goals,
and provide meaning for the task at hand. Followers need to have a strong sense of purpose if
they are to be motivated to act. Purpose and meaning provide the energy that drives a group
forward. The visionary aspects of leadership are supported by communication skills that make
the vision understandable, precise, powerful and engaging. The followers are willing to invest
more effort in their tasks; they are encouraged and optimistic about the future and believe in their
abilities.
References
1) Bass, B. M. (1997). Does the transactional-transformational leadership paradigm transcend
organizational and national boundaries? American Psychologist, 52,130-139.Bass, B and
Avolio, B., Manual
2) Spurs (2006) Manual for the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. ConsuPsychologist Press,
Palo Alto, California.
1. Reference
1) James Macgregor Burns (2006) leadership, NY, Harper and Row publishers (ISBN 0-394-
74320-2)
2) Bernard M. Bass (1999) effective leadership published with Penguin Group in 2009 (ISBN
1594202192).
3) Wikipedia `leadership styles’.
