Topic > Transformational and Transactional Leadership - 897

Certainly, an army would not be able to fight in war without a commander who is responsible for the entire strategy. As a result, any organization cannot function without leaders. The leader is the most substantial element of successful organizations. Becoming exceptional leaders, leadership skill is vital to move organizations forward. Several leadership principles are widely used today. Burns (1978) identified two types of leadership: transactional and transformational leadership. Therefore, leaders should be able to indicate which theory should be applied in accordance with the culture and goals of the organization. This essay aims to evaluate the similarities and differences between transactional and transformational leadership, as well as the feasibility of using a mixture of them, by providing definitions and examples followed by supporting research and studies. Initially, transactional and transformational leadership are different in terms of the implementation and its outcomes. However, transformational leadership was developed from transactional leadership (Downton, 1973). Bass (1985) defines transactional leadership as an exchange activity that leaders perform to motivate subordinates to achieve their tasks by assigning rewards or punishments corresponding to their performance. Furthermore, when dealing with misconceptions and errors, active and passive management by exception is taken into account. Bass (1985) states that transformational leadership emphasizes the value of subordinates, encourages them to exert additional effort, and ensures their understanding of the organization's goals and objectives. Furthermore, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation… half of the paper…) has shown that these two types work well in different contexts, transformational leadership involves procedural justice while distributive justice is based on transactional justice. leadership. An association of both would maximize the level of trust in leaders. In conclusion, transactional and transformational leadership can be combined or used individually depending on various circumstances. However, they are partially related. To best utilize and achieve desired results from these principles, leaders should achieve a deep understanding of each theory as they are different in leading. Furthermore, an appropriate balance should be considered if leaders aim to integrate them together. From my point of view, autonomous or combined use would benefit any organization if the candidacy of leaders was adopted in suitable situations.