Report 2

Transformational and transactional leadership and their association to emotional intelligence

Abstract  

Transformational and transactional leaders are believed to have different level of emotional intelligence. There is a need to explore the qualities of each leadership styles that will enhance the understanding of how each of them relates to emotional intelligence. This paper explores literature available on the two leadership styles and their relation to emotional intelligence, an analysis of the findings and recommends further studies on how transactional leadership related contingent reward behaviors can be integrated with emotional intelligence to influence performance.

Introduction

Leadership is an essential aspect in an organization because it influences the perception of workers, their creativity and innovation and their overall performances.  Transformational leadership involves stimulating and inspiring followers to attain exceptional outcomes by attending to their needs and concerns.  Transactional leadership involves focusing on supervision roles and tasks and using rewards and punishment to influence employees’ performance. Transformational leadership is related with high emotional intelligence than transactional leadership and is better placed to take the pulse of a team, understand its present unspoken concerns and thoughts and communicate with people in ways that they can understand and embrace.

Literature review  

Transformational leaders stimulate and provide an inspiration to followers to attain amazing outcomes and focuses on the followers’ developmental needs and concerns to achieve this.  Their transformation involves changing the awareness of followers about certain issues by assisting them to have a new perspective of old problems (Naznin, 2013). By paying attention to their needs and concerns, a transformational leader is can arouse and inspire the followers to exert more efforts to attain some set goals.  Their leadership styles improve their morale and motivation which are indicated in the performance of these followers in various mechanisms.  The leader is able to have a follower relationship that is full of emotions which allows him or her to place followers at a higher degree of potential and motivation which are translated into improved performance (Odumeru & Ogbonna, 2013).  The ability of the leader to inspire can be related to inspirational motivation which appeals to followers through establishment of challenging goals and offering emotional support and an optimistic attitude to achieve these goals.  This is an exceptional trait of the leader which makes the followers to embrace a shared vision (Kumar, 2014).  

The behavioral engagement of the leader with his followers involves challenging their beliefs or assumptions, embracing creative thinking and proactive actions. That they can now take risks and intellectually participate in the share vision can be defined as intellectual stimulation, and the leader can then extend the efforts of his followers in regard to creativity and innovation (Naznin, 2013). While finding the solutions to the problems, the transformational leaders can change the negative attitudes of feelings such as helplessness or frustration to constructive attitudes or feelings, for example, a challenge (Naznin, 2013). There are four aspects that define transformational leadership:

• Idealized influence or charisma refers the extent to which a leader’s behavior is desirable, while his convictions and stands on issues make followers to identify with him or her. The leader’s values enable him to act as their role model (Odumeru & Ogbonna, 2013).
• The inspirational motivation refers to the extent to which the leader is able to put forth a vision that is inspiring and appealing to followers and remain optimistic about the set goals which provides meaning for the present tasks at hand (Odumeru & Ogbonna, 2013).
• Intellectual stimulation involves the level to which the leader is capable of challenging assumptions, encourages creativity among the people through provision of a platform for creating connection with organization, the goals and others and hence, be able to overcome any arising obstacles (Odumeru & Ogbonna, 2013).
• Individual attention refers to the leader’s level of attendance to every follower’s needs, mentors, gives respect and appreciates a person’s contribution to their team. Through this, the leader is able to enhance the needs for self-worth or fulfillment among the team members and thus, inspires the follower to better growth and achievement (Odumeru & Ogbonna, 2013).

The major focus of transactional leadership is on supervision and organization roles and the performance of group. This is a leadership style in which a leader enhances the possibility of followers’ compliance by way of rewards or punishments (Naznin, 2013). In comparison with transformational leadership, a leader who adopts the transactional approach is not focused on altering the future outcomes, but they aim at maintain things as they are (Naznin, 2013).  The focuses of these leaders is on the tasks being carried out by followers, so that once they can identify deviations and faults. This approach is normally adopted during emergencies or in situational crisis and when a project has to be done in a particular manner.  The work of this leadership on the hierarchy if needs in Maslow’s context can be observed at the fundamental points of need satisfaction (Naznin, 2013).  In this context the leaders place their focus on the lower ranks of the hierarchy.  The transactional leader may punish followers whose work is poor as much as they reward those with positive work outcomes (Odumeru & Ogbonna, 2013). Therefore, the concern for this leader is not on creativity and innovation but on the work processes.  Their major aspects of motivation to the followers involve contingent rewards or penalization.  The contingent rewards mean the extent to which leaders operations are in accordance with the emotional and economic exchange attitude with his followers. Hence, he establishes some objectives and expectations and then offer rewards to those individuals who are working towards their achievements (Odumeru & Ogbonna, 2013).  

The rewards may work as intrinsic motivators through which minimal compliance is derived from the followers. The leadership style also involves accepting structure and goals and then adopting to the established culture of a specific organization (Harms & Credé, 2010).  Their approach tends to be action-oriented and directive. Hence, they are ready to embrace the present systems and through negotiation, they achieve the organizational goals. Their thinking appears to be inside the box during problem solving. Their style is basically passive while the behavior which is majorly associated with this kind of leadership involves the establishment of reward criteria for team members and efforts to have things remain as they are (Harms & Credé, 2010).  The major factors that define this kind of leadership include management-by-exception and contingent reward, with the latter providing rewards for recognition of good performance (Naznin, 2013).   The status quo is maintained through management-by exception, whereby the leader has to intervene if followers fail to achieve the expected performance and comes up with corrective actions to ensure the performance is improved (Harms & Credé, 2010).

 By highlighting the qualities if both leadership styles, it is possible to point out the various differences that can indicate the best suited leadership approach for connecting with a group , understand their concerns and thoughts and then communicate with team members in way that are able to comprehend and embrace.  The transformational leadership is presented as being proactive, while the transactional leadership style can be said to be responsive. The transformational leadership acts better during the process of changing organizational culture through implementation of new and better ideas but the transactional leadership works best within the existing culture (Harms & Credé, 2010).

 In transformational leadership employees are able to obtain their objectives due to the imprinted higher moral values or ideals while the transactional leadership enables employees to attain their goals through giving rewards or imposing punishment for the non-performers (Harms & Credé, 2010).  The transformational leaders are able to motivate followers through encouragement where he influences them to put the interest of a team first, but transactional leaders motivate group members by attempting to appeal to their individual self-interests (Harms & Credé, 2010).  The transformational leader embraces individualized considerations where individual behaviors are influenced to show consideration and even support. However, management-by-exception involves maintaining things as they are and put emphasis on corrective actions to enhance individual performance (Harms & Credé, 2010).  For the transformational leader, intellectual stimulation promotes the creativity and innovation in finding solutions for problems.

Leadership and emotional intelligence  

Emotional intelligence can be perceived as verbal and non-verbal abilities that make it possible for an individual to induce emotions, recognize, express and understand them and then assess other people’s emotions so as shape their impulses or thinking and their actions so as to successfully cope with various environmental pressures and demands (Kumar, 2014).  The right display of emotions and recognition of emotions displayed by other people are important for effective functioning and even leadership in an organization.  Considering that the transformational leadership style is based on recognizing the needs of followers and influencing their behavior, it has largely been associated positively with emotional intelligence (Kumar, 2014).

There exists less theoretical emphasis that can guide the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and transactional leadership but suggestions have been raised that try to relate this style with emotional intelligence. This includes the idea that contingent behaviors of leaders should involve traits and abilities related with high emotional intelligence for rewards to be effective (Kumar, 2014). Since management-by-exception attitudes or behavior shows routine or reactive leadership style where empathy is not required, it is expected that there will be no link with Emotional Intelligence. It is also expected that there would be a negative relationship between a passive management-by-exception and Emotional Intelligence since people with high Emotional Intelligence are considered to be highly self-efficient and with high initiative (Brown, 2014).  In one study, there was a positive relationship between various transformational leadership aspects and contingent reward behaviors but it shows no relationship or there was negatively relationship with transactional leadership (Modassir & Singh, 2008).

There is a possibility of emotions becoming greatly intense and can at times have disruptive influence in an organization or can significantly affect the work being done. Leaders who resonate with the thoughts or concerns of the followers and who are emotionally intelligent will improve the effectiveness of workers in the workplace.  The emotional responses may be shown through the behavior and actions of both the leader and followers and through their individuals’ moods (Modassir & Singh, 2008).  This relates more with transformational leaders than transactional leaders. Transformational leaders can motivate their followers in a team so that they can achieve over and above expected performances through inspirational goals, articulation of a vision and being role models to them. In contrast, transactional leadership focuses on performance of the follower which is stimulated through rewards (Brown, 2014). An example is in a sales work environment where the major aim is to have high sales, with rewards being bonuses and commissions as incentives.  The reward and punishment behaviors have been related with a negative impact on the team members and their overall performance (Brown, 2014).

 In another study, the transformational leadership has been shown to have the ability to empower and the motivate followers. The four aspects of this leadership style including inspirational motivation, idealized influence, individualized consideration and even intellectual simulation enable the leader to impact on the outcomes of their followers (Kumar, 2014). This is because trustworthiness acts as an essential aspect in definition of a leader and followers tend to trust leaders who can relate to their thoughts, needs and concerns.  The transformational leaders can also facilitates the empowerment of cultural norms, greatly motivate their subordinates, influence them to commit to quality and thus enhance productivity (Kumar, 2014). These aspects especially individuals’ considerations in transformational leaders are associated with the ones ability to control and even manage their emotions and those of the followers.

Findings of the research

The study shows that transformational research is greatly linked to emotional intelligence than the transactional leadership. The major aspects of transformational leadership which includes inspirational motivation, idealized influence, individualized consideration and even intellectual simulation enable the leader resonate with his followers in a team. This means that a transformational leader is better placed to take the pulse of a team, relate with their unspoken concerns and thoughts and even communicate with the people in ways that they can comprehend and embrace. The transformational leader can have a great influence on his followers since his relation with them is positive.

The positive relationship enables personal connection with followers which provides an opportunity for them to influence their emotions and thus, their behavior. He is able to understand their concerns and thoughts and through effective communication, he challenges their old manner of doing things and the status quo. The leader is able to intrinsically motivate them. The personal relationship between the leader and the follower is very important if motivation and improved performance in an organization is to be achieved.  The understanding of followers’ personal needs as the basis for relating with them is an aspect that can be applied in a working environment.  Rather than adopting reward and punishment approach that is likely to illicit negative attitude, focusing on their employees personal needs will enable a leader to influence their behavior and performance by first focusing on the interest of a team before their own. The study has changed my view of leadership by improving my understanding that the best leadership style involves intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivation which relates to emotional intelligence. Transactional leadership is not associated with high emotional intelligence because motivation is mostly extrinsic.

Recommendation 

Even though contingent reward behaviors are not associated with positive results in relation to influencing the employee’s behavior, there is a need to explore how rewards and punishment can improve the performance of employees.  Further studies should also focus on how transactional leadership can be incorporated with emotional intelligence to influence employees’ behavior in an organization.

Conclusion

Both transformational and transactional leaderships use different approaches to influence followers’ behavior, but transformational leaders are greatly related with positive outcomes and emotional intelligence. Transactional leadership is better placed to take the pulse of a team, understand its present unspoken concerns and thoughts and communicate with people in ways that they can understand and embrace.

 

 

References

Kumar, S. (2014). Establishing linkages between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership. Industrial psychiatry journal, 23(1), 1.

 

Harms, P. D., & Credé, M. (2010). Emotional intelligence and transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analysis. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 17(1), 5-17.

 

Brown, C. (2014). The Effects of Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Leadership Style on Sales Performance. Economic Insights-Trends & Challenges, 66(3).

 

Modassir, A., & Singh, T. (2008). Relationship of emotional intelligence with transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior. International journal of leadership studies, 4(1), 3-21.

 

Naznin, H. (2013). Correlation between Emotional Intelligence and Transformational Leadership Behaviour. Journal of Business and Management, 13(2), 64-67.

 

Odumeru, J. A., & Ogbonna, I. G. (2013). Transformational vs. transactional leadership theories: Evidence in literature. International Review of Management and Business Research, 2(2), 355.