Week 4 - Transformational & Transactional Leadership and LMX

Question 1

What is Transformational Leadership? (Burns, 1978; Bass, 1985; Northouse, 2022) (3)

Answer 1

• leadership that inspires followers to trust the leader, to perform at a high level, and to contribute to the achievement of organisational goals
• Transformational leaders are social architects who create shared meanings for people in their
  organisations
• This style focuses on building connections, inspiring collective visions, and encouraging creativity, which can uplift and transform the overall work environment.

Question 2

What is Transactional Leadership? (Burns, 1978; Bass, 1985) (2)

Answer 2

• Leadership that motivates followers by exchanging rewards for high
  performance and noticing and reprimanding subordinates for mistakes and substandard performance

Question 3

How do Transformational Leader inspire and transform followers’ ideals and emotions? (3)

Answer 3

• making them more aware of the importance of task outcomes
• inducing followers to transcend their own self-interest
• activating their higher-order needs

Question 4

What are the 4 elements of Transformational Leadership (Bass, 1985)

Answer 4

• Idealised Influence
• Inspirational Motivation
• Intellectual stimulation
• Individualised consideration

Question 5

What is ‘idealised influence’ - 4 elements of Transformational Leadership? (Bass, 1985) (2)

Answer 5

• describes leaders who serve as strong role models, prompting followers to identify with and aspire to emulate them.
• these leaders uphold high moral and ethical standards, earning deep respect and trust from their followers. They provide a compelling vision and sense of mission.

Question 6

What is ‘Inspirational Motivation’ - 4 elements of Transformational Leadership? (Bass, 1985) (2)

Answer 6

• This element describes leaders who communicate high expectations to followers, inspiring them through motivation to become committed to and a part of the shared vision in the organization
• For example: provide meaning for the work task, set high standards, communicate optimism about the achievability of the vision)

Question 7

What is ‘Intellectual Stimulation’ - 4 elements of Transformational Leadership? (Bass, 1985; Northouse, 2022) (3)

Answer 7

• This factor includes leadership that stimulates followers to be creative and innovative and to challenge their own beliefs and values as well as those of the leader and the organization.
• This type of leadership supports followers as they try new approaches and develop innovative ways of dealing with organizational issues and to use their initiative and engage in organisational problem solving
• For example: challenge assumptions, take risks, ask followers for their ideas and to develop them into practice

Question 8

What is ‘Individualised Consideration’ - 4 elements of Transformational Leadership? (Bass, 1985; Northouse, 2022) (3)

Answer 8

• This factor is representative of leaders who provide a supportive climate in which they listen carefully to the individual needs of followers.
• Leaders act as coaches and advisers while trying to assist followers in becoming fully actualized - leaders make use of delegation to help develop their followers i tackling problems
• act as a mentor or
  coach, listen to their concerns and needs

Question 9

3 Elements of Transactional Leadership

Answer 9

• Contingent Reward
• Passive Management by Exception
• Active Management by Exception

Question 10

What is meant by ‘contingent reward’? - Elements of Transactional Leadership (Northouse, 2022) (2)

Answer 10

• Is an exchange process between leaders and followers in which effort by followers is exchanged for specified rewards
• The leader tries to obtain agreement from followers on what must be done and what the payoffs will be for the people doing

Question 11

According to Notgass (2014) When is ‘Contingent Reward’ Most effective?

Answer 11

when followers feel that they have a high-quality relationship with their leader

Question 12

What is meant by ‘active management by exception’? - elements of transactional leadership (Northouse, 2022)

Answer 12

A leader watches followers closely for mistakes or rule violations and then takes corrective action.

Question 13

What is meant by ‘Passive management by exception’? - elements of transactional leadership (Northouse, 2022) (2)

Answer 13

• Intervenes only after standards have not been met or problems have arisen
• Example: a supervisor who gives employees poor performance evaluations without ever talking with them about their prior work performance

Question 14

What is Lassez-Faire Leadership?

Answer 14

• Is an element of Non-leadership
• This leader abdicates responsibility, delays decisions, gives no feedback, and makes little effort to help followers satisfy their needs. There is no exchange with followers or attempt to help them grow

Question 15

What does the study conducted by Yang (2015) say about Lassez faire? (3)

Answer 15

• It contrasts the regular norm of lassez faire being negative
• Can be a strategic behavioural choice by the leader to acknowledge and defer to followers’ abilities, decrease their dependency, and increase their self-determination, self-competence, and autonomy
• It can help empower followers to lead

Question 16

Full range of Leadership Model (Bass & Avolio, 2004)

Answer 16

Question 17

What does this comparison diagram by Bass & Avolio 1990 say about the difference in Transactional Leadership and Transformational Leadership? (2)

Answer 17

• shows that with transactional leadership employees will meet expected outcomes but are unlikely to go above and beyond
• Whereas with Transformational leadership you are more likely to get employees to go above and beyond

Question 18

What are the key characteristics of Transformational Leaders? (6) (Northouse, 2022)

Answer 18

• acting as strong role models, possessing high moral values, and having a clear sense of identity (Avolio & Gibbons, 1988)
• demonstrate confidence, competence, and effective communication skills, inspiring followers to trust and emulate them
• listen to and respect diverse viewpoints, creating a cooperative spirit within the team
• Create a vision that is from the collective interests of various individuals and units in an organization
• help to establish meanings and values
• focus on building trust, collaboration, and celebrating accomplishments whilst overseeing personal and organisational growth through transformational behaviours (Mason et al., 2014)

Question 19

What are the Strengths with this full range of Leadership approach? (6)

Answer 19

• Extensive Research Base: widely studied, including qualitative analyses of prominent leaders and CEOs
• Intuitive Appeal: resonates with society’s popular notion of leadership as it portrays leaders as agents of change who advocate for a better future
• Emphasis on Process: involves both leaders and followers - leadership emerges from the interaction between leaders and followers, not just from the leader’s actions alone (Bass, 1985; Bryman, 1992).
• Broad View of Leadership: offers a more holistic view. It combines both transactional and transformational behaviours to better explain factors like job satisfaction
• Moral Dimension: elevate followers to higher levels of moral responsibility, encouraging them to transcend their own self-interests for the greater good (Burns, 1978)
• Effectiveness: substantial evidence supporting the effectiveness of transformational leadership. Yukl (1999) reported that studies using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) found a positive relationship between transformational leadership and follower satisfaction, motivation, and performance

Question 20

What are the criticisms with this full range of Leadership approach? (10)

Answer 20

• Lack of Conceptual Clarity: a broad range of activities (e.g., vision creation, motivation, building trust), making it difficult to define its boundaries
• Overlap with Other Leadership Theories: is often confusion between transformational and charismatic leadership
• Issues with Measurement: In MLQ transformational and transactional elements) often correlate, implying they may not be unique to the model and is not consistently replicated
• Trait-Based Perspective: Critics argue that transformational leadership tends to be treated as a personality trait rather than a learned behaviour, making it difficult to teach
• Unclear Causal Relationship: limited evidence establishing a direct causal link between transformational leaders and changes in followers or organizations (Antonakis, 2012)
• Heroic Leadership Bias: focusing primarily on the leader as the main agent of change overlooking the potential for shared leadership and reciprocal influence, where followers also play a significant role.
• Risk of Abuse: involves changing people’s values, which can lead to manipulation
• Cultural Limitations: more effective in Africa, the Middle East, South America, and parts of Southeast Asia than in developed economies like Western Europe and North America (Credé, Jong, and Harms (2019)
• Challenges with Millennials: may not resonate well with millennials, who prioritize work-life balance and may resist the approach’s focus on organizational goals over individual needs (Anderson et al., 2017).

Question 21

What is the Vertical-Dyad Linkage Theory (Leader-member exchange) (Northouse, 2022)

Answer 21

is the theory focused on the nature of the vertical linkages leaders formed with each of their followers

Question 22

What are the two types of relational leadership?

Answer 22

• Traditional
• Contemporary

Question 23

What is Traditional relational leadership? (3)

Answer 23

• Involves working for the leader
• Uni-Directional relationship
• follower passive and dependant

Question 24

What is contemporary relational leadership? (3)

Answer 24

• Involves working with the leader
• Bi-directional leadership
• active and mutual influence process

Question 25

4 Characteristics of relational leadership

Answer 25

• Followers may determine whether leadership is effective
• Followers have an active role in the development of relationship between leaders and followers
• Effective leadership – reciprocal process
• Quality of relationships influences outcomes

Question 26

What is the leader-member exchange theory? (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1985)

Answer 26

A theory that describes the different kinds of relationships that may develop between a leader and a
follower and what the leader and the follower give to and receive back from the relationship.

Question 27

What are the two types of linkages/relationships within the leader-member exchange (LMX)?

Answer 27

• In-group: those that were based on expanded and negotiated role responsibilities (extra-roles),
• out-group: those that were based on the formal employment contract (defined roles)

Question 28

Which factors determine whether a follower is a part of the ‘In-group’ or ‘out-group’? (3)

Answer 28

• how well they work with the leader and how well the leader works with them.
• Personality and other personal characteristics between the leader and follower (Dansereau, Graen, & Haga, 1975; Maslyn, Schyns, & Farmer, 2017; Randolph-Seng et al., 2016).
• Followers interested in negotiating with the leader about what they are willing to do (that’s outside the scope of their role) for the group can join the in-group.
• Followers who are not interested in taking on new and different job responsibilities, become a part of the out-group

Question 29

Characteristics of workers in the ‘In-Group’ (3)

Answer 29

• receive more information, influence, confidence, and concern from their leaders than ‘out-group’ followers do (Dansereau et al., 1975)
• they are more dependable, more highly involved, and more communicative than out-group followers (Dansereau et al., 1975)
• in-group members do extra things for the leader and the leader does the same for them

Question 30

Characteristics of workers in the ‘Out-group’ (2)

Answer 30

• are less compatible with the leader and usually just come to work, do their job, and go home
• perform to the specifications of their job description, but they don’t go above and beyond that to help the leader and the work group.

Question 31

Characteristics of high-quality (In-group) LMX Relationships (Positive outcomes) (Buch, Kuvaas, Dysvik, & Schyns, 2014; Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995; Liden, Wayne, & Stilwell, 1993; Malik, Wan, Ahmad, Naseem, & Rehman, 2015).) (7)

Answer 31

• lower employee turnover - Improved job satisfaction
• better performance evaluations - due to better performance and role clarity
• increased promotions
• higher organizational commitment
• more desirable work assignments
• improved job attitudes
• enhanced career progress

Question 32

3 Characteristics of low-quality (out-group) LMX Relationships

Answer 32

• Formal employment contract
• Low levels of responsibility
• Low levels of influence

Question 33

What helps to build high-quality LMX? (3)

Answer 33

● Electronic and face-to-face communication can improve leader-member relationships (N. Hill, Kang, & Seo, 2014; Omilion-Hodges & Baker, 2017).
● Group dynamics, diverse cultural contexts and empowerment (Anand, Hu, Liden, & Vidyarthi, 2011; Malik et al., 2015)
● Volmer, Spurk, and Niessen (2012) found that greater job autonomy could increase the positive relationship between LMX and creativity.

Question 34

What are the key factors that influence the effects of LMX on job performance? (4)

Answer 34

● Trust (most significant)
● Motivation
● Empowerment
● Job satisfaction

Question 35

Negative effects of LMX relationships

Answer 35

• The greater the range of LMX in a work group the greater the reported group conflict therefore job satisfaction decreases and work stress increases
• Employees in the ‘out-group’ feel powerless regarding this differential treatment and try to figure out why this occurs (Sias, 1996; Sias & Jablin, 1995)

Question 36

How can leaders improve poor quality relations? (4)

Answer 36

• Acknowledge their biases
• Ask for others’ opinions (360 feedback)
• Be prepared to re-judge people
• Beware that followers discuss them and their LMX relationships

Question 37

What does LMX leadership development emphasise? (Northouse, 2022)

Answer 37

that leaders should strive to create high-quality exchanges with all followers, rather than just a select few

Question 38

What impact can striving to create high-quality exchanges with all followers lead to? (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995) (2)

Answer 38

• It can lead to leaders avoiding the inequities and negative implications associated with out-groups
• promoting partnerships where effective dyads are formed with all members of a work unit

Question 39

What are the 3 progressive leadership development phases? (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995).

Answer 39

• The stranger phase
• The acquaintance phase
• The mature partnership phase

Question 40

What is the stranger phase? - Phases of leadership development (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995)

Answer 40

Interactions are rule-bound and based on formal, contractual relationships, with self-interest being the main driver

Question 41

What is the acquaintance phase? - Phases of leadership development (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995)

Answer 41

• leaders and followers begin to exchange more resources and information, testing whether they can engage in a deeper, career-oriented relationship.
• move away from strictly role-defined interactions toward building greater trust and respect, leading to medium-quality exchanges.
• Successful dyads during this phase focus more on group goals rather than self-interests.

Question 42

What is the Mature Partnership phase? - Phases of leadership development (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995) (2)

Answer 42

• high-quality exchanges with mutual trust, respect, and obligation.
• Relationships in this phase involve reciprocity, where leaders and followers can rely on each other for support and extra tasks.

Question 43

What did Nahrgrang, Morgeson and Ilies (2009) say about how LMX Leadership can be developed? (2)

Answer 43

• followers look for leaders who are pleasant, trusting, and cooperative. - performance from both sides can impact relationship quality over time
• leaders seek followers who demonstrate enthusiasm, participation, and extraversion

Question 44

5 Strengths of LMX Theory

Answer 44

• Descriptive Accuracy: effectively describes the dynamics of work units by highlighting the existence of in-groups and out-groups
• Dyadic Relationships: LMX centers on the dyadic (one-on-one) relationships between leaders and followers
• Emphasis on Communication
• Awareness of Biases: warns leaders to be mindful of biases (related to race, gender, ethnicity, age, etc.) when forming in-groups.
• Positive Organizational Outcomes

Question 45

4 Criticisms of LMX theory

Answer 45

• Fairness Concerns: concept of in-groups and ‘out-groups’ promotes unfairness
• Incomplete Development of Core Ideas: does not clearly explain how high-quality leader-member exchanges are created
• Need for Improved Theorization: Despite significant research, there is little consensus on a clear theoretical framework for LMX
• Lack of contextual consideration: examines leader-member exchanges in isolation, without adequately addressing the impact of contextual factors such as organizational norms, culture, and social networks can influence LMX relationships