Certain Leadership Models, Essay Example

It appears that certain leadership models inherently rely upon specific sources of power, even as there is room in most models for flexibility.  Transactional leadership, for example, is a more pragmatic style; it exists as defined by the context of the circumstances, the organization, the goals, and the subordinates themselves.  This being the reality, reward and coercive power sources are valuable instruments within it; the leadership is process-centered, so whatever encourages the collective effort, and either as reward or discipline, is then a component of the larger transactional system.  The supervisor empowered to raise a salary, for example, is employing reward power to further the literally “transactional” nature of the relationship with the subordinate, as the action is intended to facilitate that subordinate’s contribution to the goals. This leadership is also likely based in a legitimate power source; in order for the leader to exercise the authority necessary to direct the group, the power must be substantiated by the greater organization.

Conversely, the transformational leader exists in a way at least partly removed from the actual context of the efforts, a reality supported by the nature of the leadership itself.  It is, in a word, charismatic, and thus reliant upon a high degree of referent power.  This may not be an active agenda on the leader’s part; what occurs is that the followers supply the compliance because they are inspired by the leader’s vision (Spencer, 2012,  p. 342).  Inherent within this type of leadership is the possibility that it is more personal character, rather than vision, that draws the subordinates.  This in turn brings into play expert and legitimate power, in that these attributes are likely attached to the leader by the subordinates.  Of course, it must be remembered that transformational leadership often creates the context surrounding the leadership, and thus lacks the constraints of the transactional.  That is to say, if a Martin Luther King stands as exemplary of positive transformational leadership, Adolf Hitler was no less a transformational leader.

References

Spector, P. E. (2012). Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Research and Practice (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.