The goals are usually higher for the first type of leadership, whereas for the second type the goals are more operational. Avolio (1999) suggested that transformational leadership comes to augment the transformational one.
Transformational leadership vs. servant leadership
TABLE 2 - MODEL for TRANSFORMATIONAL & SERVANT LEADERSHIP FUNCTIONAL ATTRIBUTES
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
SERVANT LEADERSHIP
Charismatic influence
Vision
Trust
Respect
Risk sharing
Integrity
Modeling
Inspirational motivation
Commitment to goals
Communication
Enthusiasm
Intellectual stimulation
Rationality
Problem solving
Individual consideration
Personal attention
Mentoring
Listening
Empowerment
Source: Russel & Stone (2002)
Recent leadership studies have brought to attention spiritual leadership (Fairholm, 1996), comparing the value-based transformational leadership with the servant one (Burns, 1978; Fairholm, 1991 & 1994). Some of the characteristics of this type of leadership relate to: sharing meaning, shared values, vision setting, intuition, risk taking, influence and power, enabling, service/servant hood, stewardship, transformation and community (Fairholm, 1996).
A study made by Barbuto and Wheeler (2006) identified five dimensions of servant leadership and a significant relation was found between these dimensions and transformational leadership:
Altruistic calling - refers to those leaders that put other people's interest above their own. The choice to do so is a conscious one and comes from a selfless way of thinking.
Emotional healing - refers to a leader's ability to heal individuals around him/her and create a safe work environment for its followers.
Persuasive mapping - refers to the leader's ability to envision given directions/frameworks for the organization in its future and the ability to engage others in its vision. Such leaders encourage followers to assume responsibilities that would eventually lead to reaching the envisioned goals.
Wisdom - pays respect to the ability of identifying potential cues from environment and people and the ability to see the possible implications of such cues.
Organizational stewardship - pays respect to the leader's choice of giving back to a greater entity such as the community through organizational efforts.
The tendency is for the transformational leadership to borrow some of the characteristics of servant leadership, basically blending those two types of leadership. Transformational leadership scores better from the leader's and organization's perspective, whereas the servant one is more appreciated by followers.
Transactional leadership vs. servant leadership
TABLE 3 - TRANSACTIIONAL & SERVANT LEADERSHIP
TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP
SERVANT LEADERSHIP
The transactional leader has a personal drive for achievement
The servant leader is driven by serving others
The transactional leader is independent and competitive
The servant leader is interdependent and collaborative
The transactional leader is using its position/power and fear to influence followers
The servant leader is using trust and respect to influence followers
The transactional leader is focused on telling other what to do and action
The servant leader is focused on understanding issues and reflecting rather than action
The transactional leader control information
The servant leader is sharing the information he/she has
The transactional leader gives directions and develops itself
The servant leader helps other develop and grow
The transactional leader uses accountability to place blame
The servant leader uses accountability to learn
Focus on results
Focus on people
Use reward to motivate
Inspire people to reach a higher goal
Source: Author's own research, http://www.changezone.co.uk/
Transactional leadership is focused on organizational goals, material results and the leader is the central piece in the leader-follower relationship. Transactional leaders are more focus on their own development, rather than the followers' development.
Servant leadership is focused on the followers' growth and development and the followers are the central piece in the leader-follower relationship. Servant leaders consider that other people's development and needs are more important than its own, which means that he/she is focused less on its own development than that of the followers. The servant leader is trying to transform followers in a given direction. he/she is trying to make people be stronger, wiser, more independent and more likely to become servant leaders at their turn (Greenleaf, 1977).
Spears (1995) suggested that leaders become servants in time as they gradually lose self-interest and become more focused on other people.
The transactional leader's performance depends on his/her ability and creativity to find the most suitable ways of rewarding its followers. However, in order to define rewards a transactional...
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