Holly Elko

Dr. Armstrong

Leadership Communication

10/15/2017

Leadership Theories

Over time, many researchers, academics, and practitioners have debated over

various leadership theories and practices. McCeskey (2014) argues that leadership has

been studied for more than 100 years. Still, no one seems to agree on one best method.

While there is no shortage of concepts within leadership theories, little consensus exists

on what constitutes effective leadership (Gordon and Yuki, 2004). This begs the question,

is there truly one best approach to executing good leadership? No, I dont believe so. I

think the most effective style of a leader is dependent on the audience, the context, and

circumstantial factors. Upon in depth research, three leadership theories in particular

stuck out to be as being widely studied and used, due to their effectiveness.

Transformational, transactional, and servant leadership styles are unique in their ability to

fit a respective situation. In order to be an effective leader, its essential to understand

aspects of these theories such as: the definition, the common assumptions of the

leader/audience, and ways to implement these styles.

Transformational leadership has been the single most studied and debated idea

with the field of leadership over the past 30 years (Diaz-Saenz, 2011, p. 299). Lee

(2014, p. 21) defines transformational leaders as those who motivate and inspire

followers to work. While this might seem like a commonality between most leaders,

transformational leadership is unique in that it truly enacts transcendent experience for

both the leader and the followers. As a transformational leader, one must have passion,

energy, and a vision. Many researchers agree that charisma is an essential characteristic

of this type of leader (Bass, 2003). Lee (2014) tell us the following transformational

leadership traits: leading by example, inspiring through articulating vision, leading

ethically, with integrity and optimism, showing a willingness to take risks/responsibility

to achieve the vision, and being proactive and confident. Regarding the audience,

Armstrong (2017) explains followers need to be inspired to change.

In order to implement transformational leadership, one must focus on developing

the vision, selling the vision, finding the way forwards, and leading the charge

(Armstrong, 2017). Firstly to develop the vision, a leader must create something that will

excite and convert potential followers, that he/she themselves are also enthused about.

The next step of selling the vision is a constant one; it requires energy and commitment

from the leader, as well as the followers ability to trust them. Then, finding the way

forward includes providing a clear vision to your followers, details in the plan/route

arent as important as direction. Lastly, the final stage of a transformational leader is

remaining front and center during the entire process, being motivating and inspiring the

followers. Bass and Riggio (2006) have similar ideas in the steps of being a

transformational leader, including: emulating characteristics followers want to have,

impressing them through your behavior, and inspiring by sharing meaning and

challenges. Regardless of the slight variation in transformational leadership styles across

time, two things remain consistent: leaders must be inspirational and motivational.

A leadership style complementary to transformational is transactional leadership.

Capella (2005) defines these type of leaders as ones who encourage followers to
complete goals by clearly identifying roles and setting vision. Characteristics of

transactional leaders include: ability to provide role and expectation clarity and good

communications, willingness to work along with the team, relationship building skills,

ability to lead effective team meetings, and strong project management. Similar to

transformational leadership, transactional leaders must be committed and enthused about

the vision. Armstrong (2017) says these leaders assume followers are motivated by

reward and punishment, and that social systems work best under a clear chain of

command.

Transactional leadership style in action focuses on exchanges occurring between

leaders and followers (Bass, 1985). Exchanges are seen as the backbone to the

organization, they allow leaders to accomplish performance objectives, motivate

followers through contractual agreement, emphasize extrinsic awards, and focus on

organizational structure and efficiency. In order to implement transactional leadership,

leaders must first create clear structure of whats required of their subordinates, this is the

early stage of negotiating contracts (Armstrong, 2017). Once duties are allocated to

subordinates, they become responsible for the success or failure of their task. Followers

are less supervised than transformational and work towards the next transaction. When

followers exceed expectations, they are given praise and reward, and corrective action

when performing below expectation. This process of exchanges of gratification is

designed to maximize both organizational and individual gains (Burns, 1978). Lee

(2014) found that transactional leadership style is successful based on its contingent-

reward factor.
 An approach thats similar to transformational and transactional in its

effectiveness, but vastly different in its methods is servant leadership. Robert Greenleaf

(1970) describes servant leaders as those who intend to help followers grow healthier,

wiser, freer, more autonomous, and more likely themselves to be servants. In contrast to

many other styles, servant leadership focuses more on empowerment of service rather

than leadership. Boone and Makhani (2012) say a servant leader must adopt the following

attitudes: believing that visioning isn't everything, but it's the beginning of everything,

listening is hard work requiring a major investment of personal time andeffort my job

involves being a talent scout and committing to my staff's success, that it is good to give

away my power, and I am a community builder. Followers must trust and believe their

servant leaders, which is why credibility is essential. Kouzes and Posner (2007) believe

building credibility can be done by being honest, forward-looking, inspiring, and

competent.

Implementing servant leadership is unique to other styles in that it requires the

leader to have a moral objective to serve others (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). In order to be

an effective servant leader, one must possess the attitudes mentioned earlier. The attitude

of visioning being the beginning of everything is shown when leaders create a clear

vision of what tomorrow can look like, giving focus and energy to their followers. By

understanding the importance of listening, servant leaders can identify their followers

dreams and aspirations; then, leaders can incorporate hopes of their followers into their

own visions (Boone & Makhini, 2012). Regarding leaders being a talent scout and

committing to their staffs success, one can do this by assessing the best abilities of others

and assisting them in implementing these abilities. Committing to the success of

followers is crucial in servant leadership. The attitude of it being good to give away

power is an important aspect in servant leadership. Maxwell (1998) says by giving

followers power, leaders are empowering followers to reach their potential, which

contributes to the goal of facilitating others in growing to their maximum potential.

Lastly the attitude of being a community builder is one held by all servant leaders.

Having the skill of selecting the right people is imperative. Boone and Makhini (2012)

explain strong communities include people who share similar values, are passionate about

the vision, and whose strengths match the organizations needs. So acting upon the vision,

listening, and community building are time-consuming, but effective in implementing

servant leadership.

While leadership has been studied for more than a century, no consensus on the

most effective practices and methods exists. I believe this is because there is no one true

best leadership style. By breaking down the definitions, assumptions, and ways to

implement transformational, transactional, and servant leadership approaches, its easy to

see how theyre different. If someone is more charismatic and tends to be front and center

of change, they might relate to transformational styles. However, an individual who has a

passion to serve and uses leadership as their platform would be practicing more servant

leadership styles. Transactional methods are useful for those who value contractual

agreements and reward-punish principles. Each of these methods is effective in their

ability to lead a group of people toward a certain goal. However, the leadership style

needed is dependent on the context, the abilities of the leader, and the attitudes of the

followers. In conclusion, out of all the various theories, transformational, transactional,

and servant leadership styles, when used correctly, are each best or effective in their

own way.
 References

Armstrong, E. (2017). Lecture 1: Leadership Theories. Retrieved from James Madison

University Leadership Communication www.canvas.jmu.edu

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by assessing transformational and transactional leadership. Journal of Applied

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NY: Psychology Press.

Boone, L. W. & Makhini, S. (2012). Five necessary attitudes of a servant leader. Review

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