Roles of Leaders in Organizations

Traditional Approaches to Leadership Theory

During the twentieth century, two primary approaches to leadership were developed: transactional and transformational (Deluga & Souza 7). Transactional leadership suggests that leaders respond to lower level subordinate basic and security needs (Deluga & Souza 50). Leaders and subordinates are viewed as bargaining agents where relative power regulates an exchange process as benefits are issued and received. There are two types of behavioral patterns used in transactional leadership: passive and active. The passive style is described as management by exception where employees do not receive notice for their positive contributions to the organization, but instead are paid attention by their manager only when an error or problem arises. Punishment or disciplinary action is often the medium used in this approach. Active transactional leadership uses contingent rewards. With this approach, employees are praised for their performance and may be eligible for pay increases or other incentives (Matey 600).

Transformational leadership incorporates transactional leadership approaches, but moves beyond t

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, they communicate optimism, they are trustworthy, they communicate a shared vision, and they are effective in that they achieve results (Heffes 18). Bennis is careful to separate these general characteristics from specific issues, thus results in one organization be different from results in another, but a leader is successful at achieving results. Bennis also departs from traditional hierarchical views of leadership, which suggest that there can only be one leader of an organization, and encourages leadership development at all levels of the organization. Like Drucker, Bennis maintains that today's business environment is far different from the past and that those leadership techniques and styles need to change in order to be effective. In addition, Bennis is a strong supporter of education at the corporate level, particularly education about leadership. This also marks a departure from traditional views of leadership that held that leaders were "born," not "made" (Heffes 19). Rosabeth Moss Kanter Rosabeth Moss Kanter maintains that leadership requires establishing a shared vision and ensuring that members of the organization understand their role in the larger organization, not just their specific functional tasks (Kante
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Approximate Word count = 3420
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)

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