A transactional leader pays more attention to the leader and therefore the subjects are paid in terms of their compliance and effort. Transactional leaders are controlling and paternalistic, making the leader be solely responsible for worker job satisfaction and high staff turnover (Benjamin, 2017). Nevertheless, the roles and responsibilities of every member are defined clearly resulting to more ambitious and motivated workers who desire to thrive on external factors (Eagly & Johannesen, 2001).
Autocratic leaders are an extreme type of transactional leaders who exercise many powers over their subjects. Members under autocratic leaders have little opportunity for suggestions and liberty. Democratic leaders include team members in the decision-making process. However, they are the last to make decisions. People-oriented leaders are a participatory style where the leader is focused on organizing, supporting, and developing their subjects (Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, 2017).
Autocratic style, similar to transactional leadership, is useful for routine and unskilled jobs where advantages of control outweigh the disadvantages. Analogous to transactional leaders, autocratic leaders are incredibly efficient, quick at making decisions, and efficient in their operations. Members resent the form of treatment they receive and hence the styles experience high staff turnover and high levels of absenteeism (Eagly & Johannesen, 2001).
Unlike transactional and autocratic leaders, democratic leaders motivate members to become creative as they are engaged in projects and in decisions. Members besides have high job satisfaction and productivity, develop people’s skills, control their destiny, and become more motivated to work. However, democratic leaders take long to make decisions making it difficult to solve a crisis at an instance. Contrary to transactional and autocratic leaders, people-oriented leaders develop creative, collaborative, friendly, and approachable team members, since they regard everybody as equal. Leaders exercising people-oriented style create teams, which people desire to participate in. Moreover, productivity and willingness are high results among people-oriented leaders . However, people-oriented leaders may regard development above project directives (Eagly & Johannesen, 2001).
Works Cited
Benjamin, T. (2017). Transactional Leadership Limitations. The Chron.
Eagly, A. H. & Johannesen, M. C. (2001). The Leadership Styles of Women and Men. Journal of
Social Issues. Wiley Online Library.
Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. (2017). 10 x Leadership Styles. Available at