There are two main leadership theories: transformational and transactional. Transformational leadership is about a leader’s ability to change or transform groups or organizations in a significant way. Transactional leadership can be described as leaders who motivate their followers by rewarding them. This essay examines the strengths and weaknesses of these two major leadership theories.
Speaking about the strengths of the leadership theories, transformational leadership is successful at uniting people, while transactional one creates a sense of fairness within a group. Moreover, transformational leadership consists of passionate leaders who make team members feel special and purposeful about their work experience. Transactional leadership has a reward-and-punishment system that is easy to understand and implement. Additionally, by giving tasks to employees and setting goals for each of them, employees can see their impact on the organization.
When it comes to weaknesses of these leadership theories, there are several of them. Transformational leadership needs strong role models that will provide meaning and clarity to a group identity. Finding such role models is difficult, so making the leadership ineffective in some cases. In addition, transformational leadership uses a too vague approach and undermines operational details. It can also lead to employee burnout as keeping them always motivated and excited for a long time is impossible.
In contrast, transactional leadership lacks focus on building relationships among employees as they work to get rewards and not cooperate. Moreover, it is not easy to find prizes that will motivate all employees. Transactional leadership emphasizes short-term goals, undermining long-term vision because, for employees, making their work done on time is more important than thinking about the work in the future.
Overall, two major leadership theories are transformational and transactional. Transformational leadership changes individuals and organizations through leaders’ performance, while transactional leadership applies a reward-and-punishment system to motivate followers. Transformational leadership is better for cooperating with people, while transactional one facilitates employees to work productively.