Traditional Leadership Style Analysis

Traditional Leadership Styles

Even though not all organizations may benefit from transformational leadership if not in a state of change, a transactional approach has merits for clarifying roles and setting specific goals for followers. The popular leadership theory is transformational yet both transformational and transactional styles are equally selective of certain characteristics and behaviors where females tend to display a natural affiliation towards transformational. Transformational motivates and stimulates followers whereas transactional can have a negative impact that leads to demoralization of followers. Transactional leadership operates on a reward or punishment approach that thrives in a stable predictive environment. Transformational

Bass’s extension of work by Burns takes the term ‘transforming’ and converts it to ‘transformational’ and chooses the term of influence instead of charisma to motivate and stimulate followers (Creative Commons Attribution, n.d.). Bass and Burns have both agreed that transformational leadership is the key application for organizational success (Bennett, 2009). Yet while Burns and Bass both distinguish transformational and transactional concept, Bass’s most notable idea is that a leader can exhibit both styles equally (Kuhnert, & Lewis, 1987). The idea presented by Bass is that a leader can implement both transactional and transformational leadership to create a more stable work environment (Gelard, Boroumand, & Mohammadi,

Since the transformational leadership model is the most popular, the traditional view of male-dominated leadership is not accurate because of natural female tendencies that support the transformational approach. The characteristics that construct the transformational style can also be used to describe feminism. Key to this approach is the nurturing and support provided to followers where women have been found to apply an interactive style that is close transformational leadership (Aldoory, & Toth, 2004). Studies have found that while women are stereotypically portrayed as less effective leaders, they have a natural predisposition to display transformational or charismatic leadership than men which some can argue that it gives females the advantage (Lopez-Zafra, Garcia-Retamero, & Berrios Martos, 2012). This natural ability works to enhance the self-worth of followers and the ability to energize teams or groups which is especially effective in guiding an organization through change (Aldoory, & Toth, 2004). Males however, tend to display a forceful, assertive, and more dominant approach that is typically suited for a transactional leader (Quader,