Transactional Leadership: Assumptions And Inner Workings

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Transactional leadership is an organizational scheme where leaders motivate and direct followers by appealing to their self-interests. It works around the system of providing rewards if an employee does well, or penalties if the employee underperforms.

One of the basic assumptions of transactional leadership is that employees perform better under a definite and well-established chain of command. The workers can distinguish between the levels of leadership and which specific leaders are delegated to certain tasks. It also assumes that the primary motivation of employees is determined by rewards and punishments. Third, the primary directive of employees under such setup is to follow the orders of the leaders. Lastly, employees need to be closely monitored in order to ascertain that expectations and objectives are met.

Transactional leadership is based on the relationship between the employee and the management, defined by mutual need fulfillment. In the implementation of the rewards and punishments system, rules and procedures are integral. This type of leadership is effective in setting initial expectations and standards which will boost the efficiency and productivity of the team.

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Transactional leaders are expected to give constructive feedback to their team members, which leads to an increase in the efforts of the latter to receive better feedback in the future. Transactional leadership is also fully effective in the event of a crisis or during crunch time. Focus, one of the strengths of this kind of leadership, is key in the mitigation of disasters.

Seattle-based business coach Emile Haddad’s sensitivity to differing values within the workplace has enabled him to come up with business management models that promote professionalism and excellence. Get to know him more through this blog.