The Effectiveness of Specific Leadership Styles (Research Paper Sample)

The Effectiveness of Specific Leadership Styles
Introduction
In a business organization, a leadership style refers to how the leader influences others to get a given task done by inspiring them rather than using force and power. Generally, a leadership style involves the specific behaviors of a given leader in guiding, directing, managing, and motivating a group of people in performing a particular task. Effective leadership is essential in motivating followers and mobilizing resources to attain the organization’s objectives and improving its performance. Researchers have used several theories to define leadership, including Behavioral, Trait, Contingency or Situational, and Neocharismatic Theories. These theories give rise to various leadership styles such as Transactional, Transformational, and Laissez-Faire leadership styles. This paper focuses on transformational and transactional leadership styles. The effectiveness of specific leadership styles depends on specific leaders’ personalities, philosophy, skills, and experience.
One of the essential leadership skills is communication since a leader has to communicate the objectives, goals, and vision to the team members to ensure they meet them effectively and efficiently. Communication is a powerful tool for leaders to inspire a positive and incremental change in the organization by empowering their followers to achieve common goals. This paper highlights the aspect of communication in the two leadership styles; transactional and transformational. The report compares the two leadership styles in terms of their communication approaches. Additionally, it presents a literature review of communication approaches by transactional and transformational leaders.
Literature Review
Leadership Styles
According to Memon (2014), leadership styles refer to how a leader directs, guides, motivates people, and implements plans in an organization. Robbins and Judge (2017) also illustrate that leadership is a leader’s ability to influence a given team of followers to attain the set vision and goals. Additionally, Nawoselng’ollan and Roussel (2017) state that leaders motivate their employees to perform better and inspire them to perform beyond their expectations. Memon (2014) relies on the theories of Behavior, Trait, Contingency or Situational, and Neocharismatic to suggest three types of leadership styles: transactional, Transformational, and Laissez-Faire leadership styles. According to Memon (2014), Neocharismatic Theories are majorly represented by transformational and transactional leadership styles. Vasilescu (2019) presents an analysis of the various theories of leadership styles as shown in the table below;
Source; Vasilescu (2019).
Several researchers have studied various types of leadership styles. For instance, Bonsu and Twum-Danso (2018) illustrate the existence of autocratic, laissez-faire, transactional, democratic, transformational, and cross-cultural leadership styles. According to Wen et al. (2019), several researchers have studied transactional and transformational leadership styles related to employee performance and the most effective leadership styles. Through literature review, it is observed that there are various types of leadership styles that are based on different theories and assumptions. Diverse leaders choose different styles based on their preferences, values, beliefs, and the present organizational culture and norms that prefer some types to others. Although transactional and transformational leadership styles have been widely researched, there are very minimal studies focusing on their approaches to communication. This paper focuses on transactional and transformational leadership styles about their communication approach.
Transactional Leadership Style
Wen et al. (2019) define transactional as a leadership style in which leaders use rewards and punishments to lead their teams in completing specific tasks. Robbins and Judge (2017) state that transactional leaders focus on clarifying their followers’ task requirements and roles to guide and motivate them. Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy (2014) state that transactional leadership focuses on the staff’s demands, and thus the relationship between leaders and their followers is founded on the contract they possess. These leaders work towards maintaining a stable organization, and thus together with their followers; they achieve the organizational goals through pacific job roles and mission design. Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy (2014) also explain how transactional leadership focuses on the followers’ compensation for attaining the set objectives and goals. Therefore, this leadership concentrates on the relationship between performance and reward in which the leader responds appropriately to encourage the followers to perform better.
Transformational Leadership Style
Wen et al. (2019) also define transformational leadership as a style that involves mutual engagement. The leader and the followers motivate each other and create a transforming effect on each side. According to Nawoselng’ollan and Roussel (2017), transformational leadership allows leaders to encourage their followers to boost their morale levels, beliefs, perceptions, motivation, and coalition with the set objectives and goals of the organization. Nawoselng’ollan and Roussel (2017) also list four significant components of transformational leadership: inspiration motivation, individual consideration, charisma, and intellectual stimulation. Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy (2014) transformational leadership is characterized by personal influence, intellectual stimulation, and spiritual encouragement. Leaders who embrace transformational leadership consider individuals and trust them to achieve their goals considering their potentials.
Comparing Transactional and Transformational Leadership Styles
Various studies to compare transactional and transformational leadership styles have been conducted. For instance, Odumeru and Ogbonna (2013) conducted a literature review on the two types of leadership and found the differences between them as illustrated below;
Source; Odumeru & Ogbonna (2013).
The Aspect of Communication in Business Leadership
Several researchers have illustrated that communication is key to business leadership. For instance, Wikaningrum and Yuniawan (2018) explain that leadership, as a behavior, is carried out through communication whereby it clarifies the perception of the leaders’ personality. Leaders are expected to communicate with messages that bear affective and cognitive policies to their followers. Some forms of leadership styles encourage upward and downward communication. According to Kelly and MacDonald (2019), such leadership styles yield positive outcomes within the organization, workplace, and teams. Kelly and MacDonald (2019) also explain the importance of communication by illustrating that the communicative nature of leadership offers the perspective that leadership is an interactive communication process between leaders and their followers. Therefore, it is essential to understand the antecedent of effective leadership, founded on communication for individuals to become influential leaders.
Discussion
Generally, leadership is the act of influencing specific individuals’ behaviors to achieve objectives and goals. There are various leadership styles based on different theories and assumptions. Based on research, leaders chose the most appropriate type based on their perceptions, beliefs, values, and the organizational culture and norms. Transactional and transformational leadership styles are some of the most researched techniques. However, studies on how each type embraces communication approaches are minimal. Therefore, this paper embarks on comparing transformational and transactional leadership styles approach communication.
Communication in Leadership
Numerous studies illustrate that communication is an essential aspect of leadership. According to Miftari (2018), effective communication plays various crucial roles in an organization, such as enabling the coordination of activities within the organization. Communication also allows sharing information in giving directions, facts, and data between various units within the organization. Thirdly, communication also enables the growth of friendships and building of trusts acceptance among the individuals receiving the message. Consequently, communication makes it easy to build social relationships within the organization, focusing on what individuals say and how they say it and its impact on others. Therefore, it is essential to pay close attention to communication factors to create a workplace atmosphere that contains pleasant interpersonal relations. Additionally, a leader has to use communication in decision-making to ensure the best decisions are made.
Generally, communication in teams or organizations serves various functions, particularly in the context of leadership. As illustrated by Miftari (2018), communication can control the followers, such as the leader can determine if they are performing their duties according to the organization’s needs. Communication can also be used for motivation in explaining the role played by the followers, their achievement, and what they can do for better performance. It also allows individuals to express their emotions and fulfill their social needs while at the workplace. Communication is also the primary source of information within an organization as it helps members identify and evaluate alternative options, especially in decision making. Therefore, a leader should communicate effectively to ensure successful ...