Introduction
Leadership is the ability of an individual to assist others in achieving their goals or objectives. In our normal daily activities, we come across several leaders such as the manager at work, the supervisor at the laundry place, the football coach in school to mention but a few. These individuals just like the rest of us, are of different characters and employ various techniques in influencing their followers to achieve the common goal they all are after, hence different leadership styles-two of which are discussed in this paper.
Transformational leadership
Avolio and Bass (2008, p. 13) define transformational leaders as those who motivate others to do more than they originally intended and often more than they thought was possible. As Mc Crimmon (2008, para. 2) notes, transformational leadership was developed by James McGregor Burns in the late 1970s for political leaders and later adopted into business. Transformational leadership can be viewed as entailing charisma, energy, dynamism, and a commanding presence. Undoubtedly, such qualities would make people desire to emulate you. Transformational leadership leads to admiration, respect, and trust, and one may then be regarded as a role model.
Inspirational motivation is another component of transformational leadership. These are leaders who appeal to basic values with enthusiasm, optimism, and eloquent speaking styles that leave their followers mesmerized.
Intellectual stimulation involves inspiring people to explore their abilities to make the most of their learning habits through such ways as creative thinking and the suggestion of new solutions to problems. Public criticism is avoided and followers are free to differ in opinion with the leader. The leader should pay attention to their subordinates and help them meet their needs. An example of this kind of leader is the current United States president Barrack Obama. He is charismatic and large numbers of the minority groups in the U.S. such as the African Americans admire him as their role model. President Obama has demonstrated his superior oratory skills on several important occasions. For example, his famous Cairo speech gave hope to the strained relations between the U.S. and the Islamic world. His speech in Berlin is another classic example of the admirable oratory skills of president Obama. He has welcomed criticism in his major healthcare budget plans and included republicans’ suggestions in the bill that is now being discussed in congress.
The Founders of SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) normally have an immense understanding of their business operations, especially in early times. As it grows and employees increase, the need to nurture talent within the organization for healthy growth arises. Transformational leadership easily achieves this. It also escapes the control bureaucracy and bonds of traditional inertia. This kind of leader may not be skilled in employee engagement in environments where substance, integrity, or character and content are of extreme importance and demand for “evidence-based” decision making is key.
Transactional leadership
According to Bass (1998, p. 37), transactional leadership is that which serves the structure of relationships and regulatory norms that are already in place. This kind of leadership employs the leader to reward and punish employees depending on who does what is required to be done. The relationship between the leader and his/her followers is more like a transaction where people offer each other something in exchange for their valuables. The leaders keep everything as it is unless problems arise or change is inevitable. A contract is signed at the offset and employees get a clear picture of the kind of benefits conditions that would prevail at their workplace while accepting to be ruled over as per the stated terms. This authority is vested in the leader. Behaviors here may include considering the subordinate responsible for actions that are completely out of their hands. The follower has considered personally at fault should anything go wrong and punishment may be administered and vice versa. Military leadership is mainly of this kind. Soldiers are expected to carry out orders from their commanding officers without question. All tasks allocated must be obeyed to the later failure of which normally very harsh punishments are handed down and good performance based on the underlying rules is accordingly rewarded.
Decision making is not a consultative forum where subordinates exchange ideas with their leaders and come to a consensus on the be the best course for action but a leader in this case a superior officer figuring out what he/she thinks is right and handing it down as a command that is then obeyed by all the followers. Criticism of the leader by the juniors is not an option. The code of conduct is as strict as yesterday, today, and forever. There is no change in behavior expectations and adjustments are made only on mandatory areas for instance the basic drills have been the same all along. Innovations are carried out in military technology because it must be done. Failure to keep abreast with this weakens then which is against the policy of being strong and hence has no choice but to implement it.
Transactional leadership is capable of attaining the highest degree of efficiency, achieving corporate control of coercive leaders, and favors the leveling of social classes. As stated in Changing Minds. (n.d, Discussion section, para. 3), the major limitation comes from the assumption people are largely motivated by reward and their behaviors are predictable. The underlying behaviorism psychologies include Skinner’s Operant Conditioning and Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning. These two theories though factual are based on animal experiments and do not incorporate social factors in real-life situations of human beings. These include high costs of rewards and punishments since rewards require a continuous increase in value over time to remain effective for the same accomplishment and loyalty to a leader requires much more than dishing out rewards.
Analysis
To improve leadership skills, Kotelnikov, V. (n.d, para. 1) states that a transformational leader should constantly create awareness of the vision to be achieved regarding a task that requires commitment and energy. The leaders should also uphold personal integrity to build trust which is essential in creating followers as they sell the vision. Keeping subordinates fully informed on all that affect their jobs empowers them by making them feel they are insiders boosting their morale. Respecting other individuals plays a role in organizational change and the process to drive change should be humane even when under high pressure.
A transactional leader should be well knowledgeable on what motivates their employees since the success of this system relies on the impact of rewards on followers. Employees should also have a good understanding of the reward system being used by the management. Ensuring the subordinates understand the full benefits of their incentive packages may enhance motivation. Exercising both the reward and punishment systems consistently prevent perceived unfairness among followers which may demoralize them. A feedback process throughout the entire work framework is also of importance. This ease control of employee’s output and shape expectations of reward. These rewards and recognitions should also be awarded within reasonable time frames best being as quickly as possible. This closes the chapter of completed assignments and shifts attention to the future making employees not have to keep on looking at the past. Keeping the relevant expertise is of significance since tasks are mostly individual efforts. It is however likely not to yield the same result in different cultural backgrounds.
Conclusion
The above methods can be applied to different situations each with its pros and cons. Transformational leadership greatly empowers people to achieve beyond prior accomplishments and achievements are also shared. Transactional leadership concerns the deployment and management of resources and people to obtain results. The system is centered on exchanging services for various kinds of rewards controlled by the leader. Choosing the type of leadership style to implement is greatly influenced by the kind of organization to be run and structures already in place. The best method is a mixture of the above two well integrated.
Reference
Avolio, J. B. & Bass, B.M. (2008). Developing potential across a full range of leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Bass, B. (1998). Transformational leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Changing Minds. (n.d). Transactional Leadership. Web.
Kotelnikov, V. (n.d) Transformational Leadership. 2010. Web.
Mc Crimmon,M. (2008). Transformational leadership. Web.