Reward and punishment are the fundamental motivators of human behavior. These concepts are exemplified clearly in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Human social organizations function most effectively when a clear leadership hierarchy is defined. One aspect of employment that individuals must accept and anticipate is that they must submit to the authority of the superior to whom they report. The primary function of a subordinate is to perform to the expectations of his or her superior.
When rewarding a subordinate, a transactional leader must create a clear structure of what is required of said worker when following orders. Alongside rewards, there should be a well understood formal system of discipline in place, although not always talked about.
The early stage of Transactional Leadership is in negotiating the contract whereby the subordinate is given a salary and other benefits, and the company (and by implication the subordinate's manager) gets authority over the subordinate.
When the Transactional Leader allocates work to a subordinate, they are considered to be fully responsible for it, whether or not they have the resources or capability to carry it out. When things go wrong, then the subordinate is considered to be personally at fault, and is punished for their failure (just as they are rewarded for succeeding).
Often the transactional leader will work under the expectation that if something isn't broke, don't fix it. In other words, if a principle is operating to expectations, it doesn't warrant notice. Along with this is the expectation that anything above expectations merits praise and rewarding, and anything below expectations needs corrective action.
Transactional Leadership has a 'telling style', as opposed to the 'selling style' Transformational Leadership has. Reward or punishment are the two outcomes that follow the performance.
Many managers still hold the Transactional Leadership approach in high regard despite recent research which has highlighted some limitations. The fact that this approach skews towards Management rather than towards Leadership makes it far easier to implement for those light on talent, time, or training.
Behaviorist psychology pioneers B.F.Skinner and Pavlov used carefully conducted experiments on controlled populations in a laboratory setting when formulating their famous theories of Operant and Classical Conditioning. While these shed much light on human and animal behavior, they fall short of understanding man's behavior fully. This is because they rely upon a model of a rational man, whose simple drive towards reward is unclouded by complex social and emotional issues.
In practice, there is sufficient truth in Behaviorism to sustain Transactional approaches. This is reinforced by the supply-and-demand situation of much employment, coupled with the effects of deeper needs, as in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. When the demand for a skill outstrips the supply, then Transactional Leadership often is insufficient, and other approaches are more effective.
Daiv Russell is a management and marketing consultant with Envision Web Marketing. Read more Management Articles, learn about Abraham Maslow and the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
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