Week 2: Transactional Theory in Action
I have started to interpret the organizational culture as an example of the transactional leadership theory in action. There are clearly regimented goals and action items on agendas to be completed with both rewards for reaching goals and punishments for not meeting expectations. In one of my training meetings this week, I was taught about a checklist for completing source documents for the different studies. If something is missing from the source, it is a deviation from protocol for the study, and there are consequences from the site manager. The first offense is a verbal warning, second offense results in a write up, third offense puts the employee on probation, and a fourth offense is cause for termination. It does not seem like anyone has made mistakes to get them to this point, but as I am trying to learn how to create source documents, it is intimidating because it seems so easy to make a mistake since the protocols are so particular. I am sure there are set standards like this at other companies because employees cannot get away with bad work, but there are also little punishments such as having your ability to get the incentives or rewards taken away for the week.
I was also exposed to another reward strategy this week. In order to be at the top of the search list on google for the conditions that DelRicht has studies for, they need to get google reviews from patients, so there was a group goal to secure two google reviews each day. There is also a personal incentive for each study coordinator because for every ten patients they get to complete a google review, they get a $25 gift card to Starbucks.
I expected there to be more transformational leadership because the mission is “moving medicine forward” and that seems inspiring enough, but I am starting to see how the paperwork and tedious aspects of the job may make that difficult to be the only motivator. I like the job so far and the strict agenda of action items to complete every day has been helpful for training, so I think the leadership here is generally effective. The punishments keep the study coordinators focused on not making mistakes and the rewards seem like really useful motivators. I have not seen the team fall short of a goal yet. Since the company is so small, it seems like everyone already has a strong relationship with lots of face to face interaction and guidance from leader, the site manager, so I do not think being more relationship oriented would improve productivity for the organization. The size of the company may be a contingency for how the transactional theory related to their efficacy. I am looking forward to working more with patients next week and seeing that dynamic of the company.
Really interesting insights. You’ve provided some really concrete examples that illustrate transactional leadership. I can imagine how daunting it might be – being concerned about making mistakes. In regards to your expectation about transformational leadership, it may be that transformational leadership is exhibited elsewhere in the organization, separate from the regimented and regulated work of protocols. I think there are any number of organizations who may enjoy transformational leadership overall but who have departments or areas that – given the nature of the work – require more transactional leadership. We’ll have to wait and see if you get any glimmers of that as you are there longer. I’d be interested to hear more about your statement “The size of the company may be a contingency for how the transactional theory related to their efficacy.” This might be something you expand upon in your final reflection and/or academic assignments this fall.