Page i LEADERSHIP Denise Stodola Comm.

101 Michael Martin February 24, 2010

Page ii To: Denise Stodola Comm. 101 February 24, 2010 Dear Prof. Stodola, This report will be on Transformational and Transactional Leadership and how they are applied to life at school. I was requested to provide this information in preparation for the end of the school term and finals. The report will go into a detailed explanation of the workings of both these styles looking at how they work and what makes them work in accordance with the school and teachers. I appreciate this assignment because it let me look at the inner working of professors and gave me a better understanding of my college life. I hope this information will also be to your benefit. Sincerely Yours, Michael Martin

Page iii Table of Contents Title/Subtitle Letter of Transmittal Abstract Leadership Transformational Leadership Applying Transformation Leadership Transactional Leadership Applying Transactional Leadership To Conclude Page Number ii v 1 1 2 2 3 4

List of Figures Figure 1.1 Page Number 2

Abstract Transformation and Transactional Leadership are both practiced in my Written and Oral Communications. My purpose in writing this is to better inform myself about the two styles of leadership and get to know the styles used in comm.

Leadership Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it (Eisenhower, 1953). With this statement in mind, Eisenhower led The United States to a cease-fire agreement when he was president from 1953 to 1961. Though not as grand as leading a war, school life at Kettering University sees many instances of leadership everyday. The Purpose of this report is to look at two styles of leadership, transformational and transactional, and then apply them to my Written and Oral Communications class. I gathered information off the internet about these two styles by visiting changingminds.org, which gives accurate information on a multitude of leadership theories studied by psychologists. With this information, I plan to better understand how a class like Written and Verbal Communication is run and the leadership style my professor uses. Transformational Leadership Psychologists use the assumption People will follow a person who inspires them (Bass, 1985) when referring to transformational leadership. Transformational leaders are defined by how well they affect followers. The followers respect and/or admire the leaders without having to be rewarded. There are three ways a transformative leader can transform followers. These are: Increasing the awareness of how important a task is. (Bass, 1985) If a person is aware of how important a certain task is they will be more willing to complete the task Getting followers focus first on team or organizational goals, rather than their own interests. (Bass, 1985) This will help the organization complete more tasks then if a person only worked because it was in their own self-interest. Making them use their higher needs like self-esteem and the drive to meet potential abilities (Bass, 1985). Transformational Leaders cannot give orders to their followers they must convince people to follow of their own free will. Charisma is a necessary trait to have, but it is not all that a leader needs in order to be successful with this style. They must use charisma to evoke strong emotions in the follower that identifies the leader. To do this they need to follow four separate guidelines. These are: Idealized Influence- If the leader is a role model and commits to their vision the people will respect and admire them for it (Riggio, 2009) Inspiration Motivation- Must have the ability to inspire and motivate followers (Riggio, 2009) Individualized Consideration- Leader expresses genuine concern for followers. Personal attention is a key in bringing out potential. (Riggio, 2009) Intellectual Stimulation- Constantly urges followers to be innovative and creative which challenges them to higher levels of performance (Riggio, 2009)

With the emotions peaked with these guidelines, followers will try to surpass the expected outcome of their work because they have passion for following a passionate leader. Look at the table in figure 1.1 for a simplified representation. I believe that teachers fit the characteristics of Transformational Leadership. (Figure 1.1)

Applying Transformational Leadership When you apply Transformational Leadership to Written and Verbal Communications, the most prevalent example is Professor Stodola. Being the teacher of the class, she is already designated the right to tell students what to do. She does use this right, but she goes beyond it by demonstrating transformation leadership when teaching us. She definitely transforms her students by keeping us aware of deadlines for papers and revisions. With the presentation, she put us in groups to work together finding things for the public good and not just our own self-interest. She also touched our higher needs by giving space on papers for creativity like presenting to younger students in paper two. There is no mistaking a teacher as the leader in the class. Professor Stodola is a role model for comm. because everyday she gets up in front of the class and presents the Information regardless of if she is nervous. She sometimes uses humor to lift the mood of a lifeless morning class. With emails like I'm not sure how many of you are aware of our tutoring services here on campus, so I thought I would provide you with that info, Stodola, 2010) even if she sent to all of us it feels as if shes helping us individually like when she send us critiques on our papers. All the extra information she provides us also stimulates mentally.

Transactional Leadership This style of leadership is when the subordinate follows the leader because of a reward or punishment might occur. Structures are created that states clearly what is expected of a subordinate. The difference between this and Transformational is the fact that you can give orders to people and they listen. This is most prevalent in the work environment because most people work for a paycheck and this is the reward. If orders are not followed then a worker can be given various punishments including being fired from the job. There are two concepts when talking about Transactional Leadership. These are: Management by Exception- Only information that indicates a deviation from planned results is focused on. This is to facilitate focus on important issues. (BusinessDictionary.com, 2010) Contingent Reward/ Punishment- Exchange process between managers and subordinates in which subordinate performance is equivalent to the reward or punishment they receive. (Answer, 2010) Transactional Leadership starts out with a contract via verbal or textual that the subordinate places him/herself under the supervision of a manager for benefits like salary. Subordinates are fully responsible for work they are designated by their manager, so if the subordinate were to slack off, the manager is not responsible for the consequences the person receives. The problem with Transactional Leadership is with the concept of rational men who work for monetary rewards and do not do anything above the expected outcome because there is a low incentive to do more. Figure 1.1 shows a simplified diagram of Transactional Leadership.

Applying Transactional Leadership The hierarchy in the classroom puts the teacher as the manager and the students are considered the subordinates. It is just like this in Written and Oral communication with Professor Stodola on top in the manager position. She has the right to give us orders in her classroom and we are obligated to follow them if we want a decent grade in her class. The grade is the Contingent Reward/ Punishment. If we slack off in class then we can expect our grade to reflect our performance. Also once we are assigned a paper to write if we dont end up writing the paper then Prof Stodola is not at fault for our failure. Writing can be boring so unless there is a surprisingly interesting topic to write about you can only expect the students to run at expected capacity

To Conclude Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it (Eisenhower, 1953). With this idea, we can better understand our surroundings and better interpret the actions of others. This also applies in a school environment like a Written and Oral Communications class. I hope information is satisfactory to complete the requirements and I wish you good luck deciphering Transformational and Transactional Leadership.

References Bass, B. M. & Avolio. (1990). retrieved from:.http://www.gu.edu.lb/ETAG/bok5_files/image002.gif. Bass, B. M. (1985) Leadership and performance beyond expectation. New York: Free Press. Retrieved from http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/transformational_leadership.htm. Riggio, R. E. (March, 2009). Cutting-Edge Leadership. Psychology Today. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/200903/are-youtransformational-leader. Stodola, D. (February, 2010). COMM-101-201001-13997. Communication Express. Retrieved from https://webmail.kettering.edu/uwc/webmail/en/mail.html? lang=en&laurel=on&cal=1. (2010). Management by Exception. Business Dictionary.com. retrieved from: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/management-by-exception-MBE.html,