After last class\u2019s reading, I was a little confused about transactional leadership, so the reading titled \u201cWhat is Transactional Leadership?\u201d helped clear up a lot. I thought that the emphasis on order, structure, and consistency for crisis situations made complete sense, but I had a couple of points that I\u2019m not so onboard with. In the first paragraph, it says that transactional leadership does not fit with creativity and innovation, but the examples of Vince Lombardi, Bill Gates, and Howard Schultz given at the end all contradict this. Vince Lombardi used a new strategy of drilling the plays into his team so that they didn\u2019t make mistakes, even if their opponents knew what was coming, instead of trying to surprise his opponents; he innovated a whole new strategy of coaching. Bill Gates revolutionized the way that we use technology. Howard Schultz turned Starbucks into the empire it is by turning around their entire business model. I don\u2019t think that transactional leadership and creativity are incompatible; instead, I think that they need one another to succeed. Even if a leader does not exhibit both traits simultaneously at every moment of every day, I still think both are necessary for the leader to have.<\/p>\n
Another point that struck me was when the reading claimed that transactional leaders appeal to \u201cthe self-interest of individuals\u201d because the phrase self-interest last came up when we were defining tyranny. In that context, it meant \u201cagainst the greater good,\u201d but I don\u2019t think that is true here. If you look at the quotes by transactional leaders at the end of the reading, I think that all these leaders are doing what is best for their own business or organization, so how is this defined as acting in \u201cself-interest\u201d? My belief is that it is not, and the reading mis-defined transactional leadership. I view transactional leadership requires a more pragmatic view of the world, a here-and-now mentality, while transformational leadership involves high aspirations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After last class\u2019s reading, I was a little confused about transactional leadership, so the reading titled \u201cWhat is Transactional Leadership?\u201d helped clear up a lot.…<\/p>\n