Athletic teams also rely heavily on transactional leadership.

Winning a game might mean accolades and bonuses while losing might lead to rejection and verbal castigation.

Players often become highlymotivatedto do well, even if it means suffering pain and injury.

business people working and talking around conference room table

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Unliketransformational leaderswho tend to be forward-looking, transactional leaders are interested in merely maintaining the status quo.

Transformational leaders take a stab at sell their ideas and vision to followers.

Transactional leaders, on the other hand, tell group members what to do and when to do it.

When subordinates perform well, they receive a reward.

When they perform poorly, they will be punished in some way.

Rules, procedures, and standards are essential in transactional leadership.

Transactional leaders monitor followers carefully to enforce rules, reward success, and punish failure.

They do not, however, act as catalysts for growth and change within an organization.

Instead, they are focused on maintaining this as they are and enforcing current rules and expectations.

When Is Transactional Leadership the Most Effective?

It can also work well in crisis situations where the focus needs to be on accomplishing certain tasks.

By assigning clearly defined duties to particular individuals, leaders can ensure that those things get done.

Transactional leaders focus on the maintenance of the structure of the group.

St. Thomas University.What is transactional leadership?

Structure leads to results.

International Journal of Applied Sociology.

Harper & Row; 1978.