Week 3&4: Transactional Leadership in Action
After completing half of my total internship, I feel as if I’ve seen transactional leadership most prominently thus far. My internship has mainly consisted of my director giving me a list of names of people who have a lot of work/could potentially use some assistance from an intern, me contacting said person, us connecting for 15-30 minutes to discuss the task, me completing the task on my own, sending it back, and meeting again for feedback. Each conversation involves some sort of transaction between me and a superior (I do work in exchange for feedback (and a paycheck)).
Transactional leadership theory is very common in workplaces due to the nature of its hierarchy and its emphasis on producing results. However, pre-COIVD, it seems as if other elements of leadership softened the transactional nature of the work so employees felt more connected to each other, their superiors, and the firm. The current employees always allude to the culture of the company and how once they return to the office, they are excited to have that culture back. This clearly implies that in the remote work environment, they do not feel the culture of the firm. With everyone working from home through their computers, elements of human connection which allowed for other forms of leadership are much less common than when in the office. I find this in my own experience as well; somedays I don’t speak to a single other human being besides my parents.
Earlier in the pandemic, I think that the firm made more of an effort to host social events, happy hours, etc., but as the pandemic dragged on, many people tired of the inauthenticity of these interactions, as well as the overload of screen time, as many of us have in our personal lives over the past year.
Working through daily transactions can at times feel very draining and even unmotivating, something I have felt after just 4 weeks of doing the work, and is certainly not unique to my own internship experience. I think that many people who are working from home crave more than just the transactional elements of their jobs in order to find more enjoyment in said job. I am looking forward to seeing what other things PwC does to try and lighten this load.