Introduction
In the recent times, the concepts of transactional and transformational leadership have been considered as the orders of a day. The concept of transformational leadership was introduced by James McGregor in the year 1978. The belief and argument behind the introduction were that transformational leadership is a process in which the followers and the leaders coexist and mutually help each other rise at moral and motivational levels. Further explanation on the same was given in 1985 by Bernard M Bass through his book, “Leadership and performance Beyond Expectations.”
There was the development of criteria that must be fulfilled by a leader in order to qualify as a transformational leader (Bass, 1985). If we analyze the history of the United States, Lincoln Herald is one of the most influential transformational leaders of that time. He held the position of the 16th President of the country, and we can prove that he is a transformational leader by weighing in all the theories of the leadership of the modern day, such as psychoanalytical theory, contingency theory, charismatic theory, transactional theory, situational theory, attribution theory and the transformational theory. These bases are used for the analysis and qualification of Lincoln’s performance, presidential abilities, effective leadership ingredients and the additional credits that would make him qualify as a more effective transformational leader.
Alternatively, another style of leadership is the transactional one, where there is the promotion of extreme compliance from the leadership side to the follower side, by the provision of punishments and rewards and the creation of structural clarity. One of the most prominent pioneers of this type of leadership was Dwight Eisenhower. He was one of the star Generals of the Second World War and carried responsibility as the US President for a long period of eight years. He was popularly recognized as a transactional leader. His main focus was on the setting of goals, performance monitoring of United States performance for the recovery of the economy following the Second World War and in the time when he served as the commander of the European Theater Allied Forces.
Transactional and transformation leaders
Any leader should be a junction of three aspects which perfectly justify the leadership style- a simplified and motivating working environment, prospects of growth for followers and the leader; and continuous learning. Not just a self-interest hub, leader-follower space should be a synergy hub for success.
The notion here is that the leadership characteristics, the performing circumstances or the situation and also the objectives and goals of the leader at the personal level which he aims to achieve through group efforts, decide whether a leader is transactional or transformational. There are four components which mark the existence of transformational leadership and which a leader must embrace to quality as a transformational leader. One of these four components is the intellectual stimulation, which means that the leader is supposed to provide motivation and encouragement to the followers for engaging in creativity for the exploration of novel opportunities. This means that the leader must not limit him with just being concerned about fulfilling the status quo. Another component is that of individualized consideration, which means that encouragement and support are given to the followers and communication channels are all kept open so that each and every follower has easy access to the leader. In addition, another component is that of inspirational motivation, where there is setting of a clear vision and direction by the leader so that the same can be articulated to the mass of followers for the development of passion, drive and motivation so that goals can be achieved, ideas can be influenced, leaders can be served as a role model for others to follow (Bass & Riggio, 2006).
Conversely, the leader who is transactional in nature contains the motivation at the extrinsic level for achievement of the wanted performance in the team for the motivation of the employees at the external levels, high practicality levels taking an approach of problem solving and taking into consideration the SWOT analysis, which means analyzing what the constraints and opportunities in a given situation are. One other factor that is prevalent in a transactional leader is resistance to change. This makes a leader transactional and not necessarily transformational. There is no interest in transforming things, and there are high resistance levels towards changes. They tend to remain as they were, through discouragement to sole thinking which means a limit is created by the innovative behavior and creativity of people. The person believes that everything is fine as it is, and there are reward and punishment system based on the particular targets and goals set by the leader. Passive and constrained thinking also drives the performance, and the major focus is on the maintenance of status quo of the leader. The style of leadership is directive in nature and the leaders tend to be very particular about the fulfillment of self-interest and emphasis on the corporate structure is highly maintained (Howell & Avolio, 1993).
The significance of transformational leadership and transactional leadership to an organization
The success of people, as well as organization, depends hugely on the quality of leadership that an organization possesses. Transactional and transformational are both two strong types of leadership, and they are responsible for taking an organization to success levels. There is the advantage of transactional leaders in an organization through the provision of quick address to operations and related issues and handling of all the necessary details so that a strong reputation and foundation of the organization can be set. The employees are also pushed to the bottom end of the line of productivity, by this type of leadership. On the other hand, the leaders that are transformational in nature are important to the core organizational development of a small-level business, as the ambitions of this type of leader are quite high. Thus, rapid success for an organization is to be expected, by the streamlined following of set mission, vision, and efforts of team building, for greater organizational good (Pounder, 2008).
Organization condition and contingencies influencing whether a transactional or transformation leadership is effective
Many theories and postulates in the leadership literature agree that situations existing in an organization determine to a great extent, the type of leadership style that will be followed by a given leader. For example, in a situation where most of the employees are engaged in a minimum wage basis, the theory of transactional leadership will be best suited for ensuring that the organization is run in a smooth manner, rather than spending time in making up improved ways of doing the same. If we need to consider the example on the other side, the marketing and sales functions in any given situation will be effective in an organization if the leader who manages it or the CEO is of the transformational leadership style. The leader needs to have the ability of designing and communicating strategic missions at the grand level, also passing respective mission to employees, in the organization. In this case, there is no alternative than adopting transformational leadership for optimizing organizational effectiveness (Howell & Avolio, 1993).
Effectiveness of Dwight Eisenhower and Lincoln Herald
There are many leaders in the world history who have used different forms of leadership and succeeded in their own light. The two examples that I take here are the two greatest leaders in the history of time- Dwight Eisenhower as a transactional leader and Lincoln Herald as a transformational leader.
Dwight Eisenhower led the United States as the president of the country at the crucial time of Second World War. His application of transactional leadership at that time was significant in restoring of the country following the devastating effect caused by the way. This was a time when Dwight realized that special attention was needed towards the economy of the United States for the resettlement of economic stabilization and proper settlement of those who have been homeless or displaced in the war. He made particular associations with the larger vision for the country and brought a system of reward and punishment which would compel individuals to be motivated for restoring the economy. Thus, given the time, that style of transactional leadership undertaken by Dwight was the most suitable one.
On the other hand, we take Lincoln Herald as a transformational leader, who was dynamic and believed in reforms. The skills, abilities and the ultimate performance of Lincoln as a transformational leader can be assessed in three particular categories- The degree of confidence acquired by him for himself and the team, the huge amount of loyalty, trust and respect that he received from the followers and the most important ability to inspire and motivate others to make sacrifices, though there were numerous hardships that the followers needed to face, at that time in the United States. The other is the strength and effectiveness of the appeal that he made to the ethical value of the followers for developing and keeping their morale high. In addition to these, his role and performance in the form of a transformational leader are monumental and highly suitable for the team which increased the intensity of his skills of leadership. The Army of the United States was most impressed by the transformational leadership that he showcased during his tenure, and the same sentiments have been recorded in the letters that they have written in large amounts. Another major highlight of the transformational leaderships of Lincoln is represented in the book by William C. Davis, titled, "Lincoln’s Men: How President Became Father to an Army and Nation.”
There is clear indication in the book by Davis that Lincoln had a clear understanding of the significance of maintaining intimate contact with the concerned soldiers, also keeping in mind the heart feelings and mind psychology of ranking men. He also appreciates the hardships that the US Army had at the time, and how Lincoln as a leader handled the situation (Davis, 1999).
Thus, given that time of chaos, Lincoln proved out to be a very effective transformational leader.
References
Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free Press.
Bass, B. M., &Riggio, R. E. (2006). Transformational leadership. Mahwah, NJ [u.a.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Davis, W. C. (1999). Lincoln's men: How President Lincoln became father to an army and a nation. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Howell, J. M., &Avolio, B. J. (1993). Transformational leadership, transactional leadership, locus of control, and support for innovation: Key predictors of consolidated-business-unit performance. Journal of applied psychology, 78(6), 891.
Pounder, J. (2008). Transformational leadership: Practicing what we teach in the Management classroom. Journal of Education for Business, 84 (1), pp. 2-6
