Activities
& Competencies
Transactional
leaders use conventional reward and punishment to gain compliance
from their followers. They have continuing, often
unspoken interaction that take such forms as:
"Do
as I say and you will get a raise."
"Meet
this quota or you will get fired."
These
are extrinsic motivators that
bring only minimal compliance from followers. Some followers will
supply their own internal (intrinsic) motivation such as pride in
their work, but this is a matter of chance.
Transactional
leaders accept the goals, structure and
culture of the existing organization. They must do so
because this type of leadership is ineffective at bringing
significant change.
Personal
Characteristics
Transactional
leaders tend to be directive and sometimes dominating. They tend to
be action oriented. |
Some
transactional leaders adopt this approach because they are unaware
of the effect it has on followers. Others, I suspect, have a more
sinister motivation: they are fully aware of the negative impact on
others and take pleasure in it.
Application
Level
Transactional
Leadership is the lowest level. It works only where the
organizational problems are simple, clear and technical in nature.
Transactional
leadership has often been associated with the military. However,
successful militaries have long known that it is ineffective.
Of
course, every formal leader uses transactional leadership at times.
In certain situations it is necessary and effective.
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