Transformational and Transactional Leadership

Given representational faithfulness, it is assumed, rational decisions can be taken, and evaluation can be used to foster learning within feedback cycles. This assumption is consistent with a particular kind of leadership, which has been termed “transactional�. Transactional leadership is based on the premise that leaders clarify the goals of subordinates, and provide rewards and punishments concomitant with performance against goals. Transactional leadership clearly has an important role to play within the modern enterprise but there is an alternative: “transformational� leadership (Burns, 1978).

Transformational leaders are capable of outlining and articulating a vision for his or her organizations and their leadership style can have an impact on or “remodel” character-degree variables inclusive of growing motivation and employer-stage variables, inclusive of mediating conflict amongst groups. Transformational leadership has prominent impact on followers and organizational results consisting of employee satisfaction and overall performance. Higher ranges of transformational leadership had been resulted in enhancing the organization’s potency (Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy,

‘Relationship-motivated’ leaders obtain satisfaction through good relationships with others, encouraging their teammates etc., whereas ‘task-motivated’ leaders put emphasis on task completion. This is again a major contribution to leadership and still applies today, as similar to behavioural theories, finding the correct balance between styles is key to unlocking optimum performance from followers, but also adds the importance of situational awareness, being able to adapt based on the context of the situation and other variables. To a certain extent contingency leadership theories are an extension of the trait theory, in the sense that human traits are related to the situation in which the leaders exercise their leadership. It is generally accepted within the contingency theories that a leader is more likely to express their leadership when they feel that their followers will be

Management hierarchies are understood, which helps devise strategies for deeper inclusion. Management at all levels has a say in operational objectives, together with the inclusion of employees. Studies have shown how better inclusion of different opinions and backgrounds can not just result in better results, but also improve relationship. When management and employees are not divided and kept secret, communication between the two groups improves. The strong feedback systems of MBO provide people the opportunity to improve the work input, but also to self-development.

He makes sure that the purpose for which an organization is made is rewarded. In other words, a leader is one who is competent of moving the organization in the direction set by him which he considered in a specified way fits. While having certain leadership competencies and skills, a leader should have the ability to adapt to different leadership style and behaviors to achieve organizational goals and objectives. At the individual level, leaders who are able to convince, motivate and direct employees will often be rewarded by devotion and performance of their employees (Mosadegh and Yarmohammadian, 2006). Leadership is an essential part of the activities of management of people and directing their efforts towards the goals and objectives of the

The concept of transformational leadership stands for the leadership style when leader “inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests and capable of having a profound and extraordinary effect on followers” (Robbins and Judge, 2013). This leader achieves better results by transforming the fundamental beliefs and the needs of employees, creating an organisational culture so that it is self-supported in terms of changes and indicates the need for further adjustments. Transformational leaders run motivation process in such a way that it meets the personal needs of employees in professional and personal fulfillment in exchange for the achievement of manager’s goals. Interaction with this leader is often quite effective motivation

These variables do not operate independently of each other, but they are interactive. According to Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory, 1977, there are four types of situational leadership style namely: • Telling / Directing • Selling / Coaching • Participating / Supporting • Delegating / Observing (Peretomode, 2012) They also introduced another dimension to the theory which was the level of maturity of the subordinates. Maturity was defined as a desire or readiness and ability to tackle the task facing the group. Hersey and Blanchard explained that the effectiveness of leaders depends on the way they diagnose the level of maturity of their subordinates. They suggested that leaders should match their style to the maturity level of the subordinates as shown in figure 1: Figure 1: Maturity level matched with appropriate leadership style Followers maturity level Appropriate leadership style • M1 = Low readiness level……………………… Telling • M2 = Moderate readiness level………………..

Leadership Theory The transformational leadership theory was deemed an appealing based on individual beliefs regarding employee-leader relationships. With a focus on communication and motivation, transformational leaders promote positive change within

In attempts to explain the nature or dynamics of a particular organizational phenomenon, conflict may be incorporated as a causal factor (Brown and Peterson, 1993). Our society is concerned with the issue on how the skills of leaders can be enriched so as to enable them to act with greater proficiency when their contributions are from dealing with and through people especially their subordinates. One way of looking into this issue is from the conflict perspectives. The attention to interpersonal relationships is due to our belief that sound leader-subordinate relationships are important and consistent with humanistic and cooperative work environment sought by contemporary leaders. It is also believed that positive interpersonal relationship at workplace is able to increase subordinates’ satisfaction with leader and subordinates with high levels of satisfaction are more likely to be committed to the organization (Brown and Peterson, 1993).

(2003) and Morales et al. (2008) identified four distinct characteristics of transformational leadership as described in Table 1.0. Characteristics of Transformational Leadership Description Idealized Influence “Inspire” Consisting of Idealized Attributes (IA) whereby it instills pride in employees, goes beyond self-interest, builds others respect and displays power and confidence. Additionally, Idealized Behaviours (IB) is also a sub point of this characteristic and emphasizes on important values and beliefs, has a strong sense of purpose, considers morals and ethical consequences of decisions along with the importance of having a collective sense of mission. It basically sets as a Role Model leader.