Transactional Leadership
Hi Leaders
An interesting leadership style that is becoming more prominent in the business arena is transactional leadership.
Transactional leadership is a part of a style of leadership that focuses on supervision, organisation, and performance, in which leaders promote compliance by followers through both rewards and punishments. Unlike transformational leaders, those using the transactional approach are not looking to change the future, they look to keep things the same. Leaders using transactional leadership as a model pay attention to followers' work in order to find faults and deviations.
Within the context of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, transactional leadership works at the basic levels of need satisfaction, focusing 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.
Are you a transactional leader?
Here are some tell-tale signs.
1. Extrinsic motivation - Employees are rewarded for behaving in the expected manner, and punished for any deviation - transactional.
2. Practicality - Their approach to solving problems is one of pragmatism, and they take all realistic constraints and opportunities into account.
3. Resistant to change - The leader wants everything to remain strictly as they are, and do not believe in improving working conditions to make things better.
4. Discourage independent thinking - Independent thought and risky actions are frowned upon, and this is because the leader is not innovative and believes that things are good as they are.
5. Rewards performance - They are quick to notice when employees achieve a predetermined goal, and will reward them appropriately. Similarly, they are also aware of poor performance and withholds the reward in such instances.
6. Constrained thinking - They tend to think inside the box for solving problems. While they may be able to handle routine affairs, they are often stumped when faced with the problem that requires a creative solution.
7. Passive - Only react to things that happen, and does not take proactive steps to prevent problems. The most notable behaviour associated with this leadership is establishing criteria for assessing and rewarding performance.
8. Directive - This type of leader believes that it is up to him to make all the decisions, and employees must simply follow their directives or instructions.
9. Emphasis on corporate structure - A lot of importance on hierarchy, and the corporate structure and culture. The leadership style compliments rigid organisational hierarchy.
10. Emphasis on self-interest - The motivational style of a transactional leader is one of appealing to the self-interest of the employee. If the employee achieves a certain goal, they are rewarded. There isn’t much emphasis on teamwork or achievement of group goals.
As I mentioned in a previous post, all leadership styles has a place and a time when they are most beneficial. Some are counterproductive.
Here is a comparison between transactional and transformational leadership, the later being the more positive approach in achieving what transactional leaders strife to achieve:
An interesting leadership style that is becoming more prominent in the business arena is transactional leadership.
Transactional leadership is a part of a style of leadership that focuses on supervision, organisation, and performance, in which leaders promote compliance by followers through both rewards and punishments. Unlike transformational leaders, those using the transactional approach are not looking to change the future, they look to keep things the same. Leaders using transactional leadership as a model pay attention to followers' work in order to find faults and deviations.
Within the context of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, transactional leadership works at the basic levels of need satisfaction, focusing 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.
Are you a transactional leader?
Here are some tell-tale signs.
1. Extrinsic motivation - Employees are rewarded for behaving in the expected manner, and punished for any deviation - transactional.
2. Practicality - Their approach to solving problems is one of pragmatism, and they take all realistic constraints and opportunities into account.
3. Resistant to change - The leader wants everything to remain strictly as they are, and do not believe in improving working conditions to make things better.
4. Discourage independent thinking - Independent thought and risky actions are frowned upon, and this is because the leader is not innovative and believes that things are good as they are.
5. Rewards performance - They are quick to notice when employees achieve a predetermined goal, and will reward them appropriately. Similarly, they are also aware of poor performance and withholds the reward in such instances.
6. Constrained thinking - They tend to think inside the box for solving problems. While they may be able to handle routine affairs, they are often stumped when faced with the problem that requires a creative solution.
7. Passive - Only react to things that happen, and does not take proactive steps to prevent problems. The most notable behaviour associated with this leadership is establishing criteria for assessing and rewarding performance.
8. Directive - This type of leader believes that it is up to him to make all the decisions, and employees must simply follow their directives or instructions.
9. Emphasis on corporate structure - A lot of importance on hierarchy, and the corporate structure and culture. The leadership style compliments rigid organisational hierarchy.
10. Emphasis on self-interest - The motivational style of a transactional leader is one of appealing to the self-interest of the employee. If the employee achieves a certain goal, they are rewarded. There isn’t much emphasis on teamwork or achievement of group goals.
As I mentioned in a previous post, all leadership styles has a place and a time when they are most beneficial. Some are counterproductive.
Here is a comparison between transactional and transformational leadership, the later being the more positive approach in achieving what transactional leaders strife to achieve:
| Transactional | VS. | Transformational (Odumeru & Ogbonna, 2013) |
|---|---|---|
| Leadership is responsive | Leadership is proactive | |
| Works within the organisational culture | Works to change the organisational culture by implementing new ideas | |
| Employees achieve objectives through rewards and punishments set by leader | Employees achieve objectives through higher ideals and moral values | |
| Motivates followers by appealing to their own self-interest | Motivates followers by encouraging them to put group interests first | |
| Management-by-exception: maintain the status quo; stress correct actions to improve performance. | Individualised consideration: Each behaviour is directed to each individual to express consideration and support. Intellectual stimulation: Promote creative and innovative ideas to solve problems. |
Have you identified the type of leader you are yet?
Compare cheap flights
Comments
Post a Comment