Leadership is an important role in every organization because leaders are mandated to providing direction, motivating people, and implementing plans. There are many types of leadership models, such as servant leadership and transactional leadership. Servant leadership refers to the type of leadership where the leader's main aim is to serve his team and promote their growth while setting his power aside (Lemoine, et.al. 2019) . Transactional leadership is the form of leadership where the leaders focus on supervision that leads to the attainment of the organization's goals. This paper aims to compare and contrast these two types of leadership.
The first difference between servant leadership and transactional leadership is influence Allen, et.al. 2016). Transactional leadership aims to train employees, inspire, motivate, and unlock their potential, with the intention of benefiting the company and achieving its goals. If implemented correctly, it results in a better working space, benefiting both the employees and the company. On the other hand, servant leadership supports its followers and value their opinion. The leaders here treat their followers like equals, engaging in meaningful conversations with them. This type of leadership could be the most comfortable for the employees in a working place.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Another difference between these two types of leadership is orientation. Servant leadership is oriented towards service. In such a setup, all leaders' and followers' titles are lifted, and the leader sets an example for the subordinates. Equality is key here, and the leader affirms their subordinate's actions while celebrating their victories. On the other hand, the orientation of transactional leadership is based on results and does not focus so much on the followers. If the leaders take any actions to empower the followers, they are for the greater good of an organization, and they aim towards achieving a set goal. This type of leadership might be disadvantageous for the followers as their wins are rarely celebrated unless it is associated with achieving the goal.
The third difference between these types of leadership is the underlying goals. In transformational leadership, the leader views followers as the drivers towards the achievement of the goal. It prompts the followers to be as innovative as possible to achieve the organization's goals. In servant leadership, the goal itself is to make the followers as comfortable as possible to perform tasks delegated to them. The followers' happiness and stability are of a high priority, and the leader works to ensure this.
These types of leadership contain more differences than similarities. However, both transactional and servant leaderships involve employees' motivation, even though it is for different purposes. Servant leaders motivate their followers to improve their personal growth, while transactional leaders motivate their followers to urge them towards achieving the organization's goals and objectives. These two leadership methods are both goal-oriented. In servant leadership, the goal is to improve the followers individually, and in transactional leadership, the goal is achieving the set objectives.
Jesus Christ demonstrated servant leadership in the church during the argument between the Grecians and Hellenistic Jews, whereby he taught the disciples that greatness is found in servanthood. Jesus gave them the example of the Gentile leaders who exercise high authority on their subjects, and He stated that this should not be so with the disciples as whoever desired greatness must first humble himself as a servant. Jesus also compared Himself as a servant by saying that He did not come to the world to be served but to serve humanity. His actions to give His life for the salvation of humanity also qualifies as one of the many ways that Jesus established Himself as a servant leader.
References
Allen, G. P., Moore, W. M., Moser, L. R., Neill, K. K., Sambamoorthi, U., & Bell, H. S. (2016). The role of servant leadership and transformational leadership in academic pharmacy. American journal of pharmaceutical education , 80 (7).
Lemoine, G. J., Hartnell, C. A., & Leroy, H. (2019). Taking stock of moral approaches to leadership: An integrative review of ethical, authentic, and servant leadership. Academy of Management Annals , 13 (1), 148-187.
