Critical Analysis of two Leadership Theories: Transactional and Transformational Theories

Leadership Theories
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Introduction
Organizational management is associated with strategies that help in increasing the level of productivity and the quality of services that the company or organization in question deals with. This means breaking down the various parts of the company organization, in light of business processes. Relative to the fact that this is a sensitive topic that managers have to deal with, management theories have received a fair amount of attention from the professional and academic quotas. Managers have the choice of using different theories to bring out the element of productivity. It is thus common for managers to bring about a mix of theories to implement and make the best of the productivity strategies. The two main categories of theories are transactional and the transformational theories. The transactional theory is attributed to Max weber and Bernard Bass and dates back to the 70s. This is a theory that is mostly focused on the organization, supervision, and largely performance. Leaders that use this theory are mostly looking make sure that their staffs are compliant with the basic rules and strategies laid out by the company, by using rewards for those that do follow and punishment for those staffs that negate from the same. In the case of the transformational theory, it is attributed to quite a number of authors some of whom are anonymous and it can also be traced back to the 70s (Smith, 2014). In the case of the transformational leader, as the title suggests, this is theory that is embedded on the premise that tasks at hand should motivate the staffs carrying them out. In this case the staffs are transformed as they carry out the various tasks. This means that leaders that are considered transformational or using the transformational leadership theory, tend to focus on the best strategies that help their staffs to be transformed through the activities that they partake in. as such, there are quite some very distinctive differences that can come out from critically evaluating and assessing the two theories (Bono & Judge, 2004).
Transactional leadership theory
Theory Overview
The transactional leadership theory is based on punishment and rewards. This means that the staffs are rewarded when they achieve their goals and punished when they do not get to their goals. Ideally, where a company sets specific standards to be achieved or observed, a manager that is using the transactional leadership theory, is more likely to reward the staffs that heed to the specifics of the standards and punish those that fail to observe the standards. One of the elements that comes out about the transactional theory is that, for the leaders that are using the theory, they are simply looking to make sure that there a certain level of compliance in their staffs. As such, transactional leaders are simply looking to make sure that things stay the same, such as culture, standards, ethics and values among other business aspects (Shivers, 1999). It is thus common to find that most of the leaders using this theory are going to concentrate much of their efforts on supervision, group performance and organization. By using the element of rewards and punishments, the transactional leaders are able to gain some heightened level of compliance from their staffs. Any leader that adopts the transactional theory, is most likely to have some element of directness and mostly oriented towards action (Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt & van Engen, 2003).
For the transactional leaders, organizational structure also tends to play a great role. This means that aspects such as positional hierarchy is crucial for the leader to use the power that they have to get the staffs to do what they want in the specifics of the actions that they prefer. This leadership theory and approach is more in line with maintaining the status quo. In this theory, the mechanisms of leadership are thus associated with hierarchy, where everyone understand who the leaders are and who the followers are and well as the protocol of association between the two factions (Bugenhagen, 2006). It is the element of achieving goals is more important in this theory than any other element that staffs may encounter along the process. In most of the cases, the managers will step in if the staffs are not performing and implement corrective measures to make sure that the performance bars are met (Shivers, 1999). In the case of the rewards, this is a way of maintaining the level of performance established for the staffs, such that those that those that come above the expected results are rewarded as a way of getting the rest to improve and encourage the high achievers to keep up.
In the nursing field, when the transactional leadership theory is applied, this means that the nurse leader has all the mandate to make the decisions, while the rest of the nurses simply follow the lead. This means that most of the decisions about the patients and the basic operations are mostly going to come from the leader rather that the groups (Howell & Avolio, 1993). It is common under this theory for the leaders to follow the laid out protocol, making sure that everything is running smoothly as it should.
When the theory is subjected to critical evaluation relative to the nursing field, it tends to come apart at certain aspects. One of the underling element that is to be considered in the nursing field is the fact that, there is an element of dynamism that is quite turbulent. Medical conditions and treatment rarely have a certain element of conformity towards being smooth. Patients, will easily develop complications within short spans of time and split second decisions have to be made. This means that the nurses have to work as a team rather than wait around on their leaders to make the calls. Given that the theory is inherently hierarchical with set boundaries and highly undemocratic, it would not be a fitting theory to use in the nursing field (Judge & Piccolo, 2004). Medical groups have to constantly share information, debate on decisions and in most cases, the time limit does not allow for the staffs to wait on leaders to make the directives as the theory suggests. In the same light, the theory is mostly associated with scenarios where the leaders give instructions and the staffs are not supposed to ask question but simply oblige (Bugenhagen, 2006). Medical cases are rarely straight forward and thus theory would only work on a limited number of cases, where simple directives will bring about a turnaround in the patients’ outcomes. One other element that quite common in the medical arena is the fact that, nursing requires constant learning. This means that the nurses are constantly learning and getting new experiences that are not simply part of a daily protocol (Hamstra, Van Yperen, Wiss & Sassenberg, 2011). It is common for nurses to encounter a scenario that they have never encountered in theory or practice and they have to learn as they go along for the purpose of the future by sharpening their skills. The complex relationship that exists between the nurses and the patient, cannot simply be governed using a theory that highly relies on rewards and punishment, nurses need to be motivated for them to make right choices and constantly give the best care possible.
Transformational leadership theory
Overview
The transformational leadership theory takes a different approach from the transactional approach in that, it brings on board the element of people getting motivated by what tasks they are entitled to do. In this case, staffs give their tasks all they they have and place their needs second. In this case, it is crucial to note that, the leaders always work with the staffs to establish the changes that need to be made, by creating an elemental vision for the future (Kramer, 2007). Le...