After writing my earlier blog post, I read number of books on transformational leadership. In one of his book, John Adair asked “Is anything called transactional leadership exists?” I got interest on his explanation and found that his statement is true but to some extent.
“I believe, that there can be no such thing as transactional leadership, for merely honouring mutual agreements meets none of the necessary conditions we identified for explaining why the term leader can be used for anyone.”
Those individual termed as ‘transactional’ leaders possess leadership skills but it is less transformational. Instead of using the word ‘less transformational’, researchers would have used ‘transactional’.
Transactional behavior exists and it is prevalent in this world. Transactional Leadership got into every discussion of Transformational Leadership because a) ‘transactional’ way of dealing things are very familiar to everyone b) contrasting two different methods are easier for understanding c) it is included as leadership to bring out the excellent concept of transformational leadership.
My Other posts on Transactional & Transformational Leadership:
Project Management & Leadership Champions 