Running head: Leadership

Expanded Comparison Matrix

Grand Canyon University
Introduction to Advanced Graduate Studies and Scholarship

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Comparison Matrix

Introduction
This comparison matrix comprises three articles which focus on the transformation and
transactional leadership and their effects in the Public, banking, retail, and government sector.

In Transformational Leadership in the Public Sector: Does Structure Matter? Wright

and Pandey test existing paradigms regarding transformational leadership. They present a
reasonable argument based on the need for followers to be flexible in order for a leader to
motivate them beyond satisfactory performance. They also argue that structure and controls in
place for public organizations might slow down the effectiveness of a transformational leader.

Emery and Barker on the other hand examined the effect of transactional and
transformational leadership styles on the performance (job satisfaction, organizational
commitment) of customer contact personnel. They suggest relationships between employee
attitude (i.e., organizational
commitment and job satisfaction) and customer satisfaction (Emery and Barker, 2007).

In Leading With Meaning: Beneficiary Contact, ProSocial Impact, and the Performance
Effects of Transformational Leadership Grant switches gears on the subject of transformational
leadership and introduce beneficiary contact as a novel contingency for the effects of
transformational leadership on follower performance, suggesting that relational job design can
enhance rather than substitute for the effects of transformational leadership on follower
performance.

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Comparison of Research Questions

Wright and Pandey present questions about the hierarchy of the authority structure and its
correlation with transformational leadership behaviors. They found that the more hierarchical an
organizations authority structure, the lower the reported practice of transformational leadership
behaviors. They also found that the weaker the lateral and upward communication in an
organization, the lower the reported practice of transformational leadership behaviors. The
greater organizational formalization (measured as [3a] procurement red tape and [3b] human
resource red tape), the lower the reported practice of transformational leadership behaviors. The
more an organizations structure impedes the establishment of extrinsic reward-performance
contingencies (here measured as human resource red tape), the higher the reported practice of
transformational leadership behaviors. The use of organizational performance measures will
decrease the reported transformational leadership behaviors. (Wright and Pandey, 2009)

Emery and Barker presents research about organizational commitment, relationships,

satisfaction, and participation effects on employees. They found that organizational commitment
reflects an employee's identification and involvement with a particular organization. The
relationship between organizational commitment and customer satisfaction was found to be well
established. They also found organizational participation and a willingness to improve coincide
with superior customer service. Employee job satisfaction is often conceptualized as containing
the following elements: the job itself, supervisor relationship, management beliefs, future
opportunity, work environment, pay/benefits/rewards, and co-worker relationships. They found a

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positive relationship between employee satisfaction in year one and customer satisfaction in year
two. (Emery and Barker, 2007)

Grant probes into the effects of transformational leadership and beneficiary contact on
followers job performance. His research shows that when transformational leaders articulate an
inspiring vision, providing beneficiary contact can enhance the salience and vividness of the
visions prosocial impact. Beneficiary contact creates a credible link between leaders words and
deeds enabling employees to see how their organizations mission comes to life in benefiting
others, which can motivate employees to work harder and more effectively. Beneficiary contact
enhances the effect of transformational leadership on followers performance by fostering a
stronger perception of prosocial impact. (Grant, 2012)

Literature Review

Wright & Pandey, and Grant offer similar literary review topics. They both focus on
transformational leadership. Wright & Pandey literary review begins with an explanation of
transformation leadership and then explains the conditions that need to exist before
transformational leadership can be successful. The review moves to organizational structure and
the ways in which the structure can support or inhibit transformational styles including
formalization of processes and procedures, inadequate performance measurement and reward
processes, and a hierarchical chain of command. Grant literary review begins with an
introduction of beneficiary contact as an important moderator of the impact of transformational
leadership on follower performance. The review also discusses the perceived prosocial impact as

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a new mechanism for explaining transformational leadership effects. The review then moves to
psychological and performance effects of relational job design. Emery & Bark switch gears and
shows transactional and transformational leadership as drivers. The literary review begins with
the effect that increased competition has had on customer satisfaction and how the attitude of
customer contact personnel is a determinant of customer satisfaction. The review then moves to
the employee perception of their immediate supervisor being a determinant of the employees
attitude and the examination of transactional and/or transformational leadership being the driver.
Bass & Riggio, and Yammarino studies tend to be commonality amongst the author reviews.

Comparison of Sample Populations

Wright and Pandey focused their population on public administrators. They studied
1,322 high-level public administrators in municipalities exceeding 50,000 residents.

Emery and

Barker used the banking and retail industries as their samples. They studied 77 branch managers
from three regional banking organizations and 47 store managers from one national food chain.
Grant diverted his focus to the governmental arena. He studied 329 employees and their direct
supervisors in a large U.S. government organization.

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Comparison of Limitations of the Study

It was interesting to see that the limitations for all of the articles where similar. The major
limitation I see is systematic measurement error that equally affects different study groups.
Wright and Pandey average age of their respondents was 50 years, and mostly Caucasian. Many
jurisdictions had only 3 respondents, which might not be representative of the opinions of other
direct reports. A reduced number of questions were used to identify transformational leadership
to keep the survey short possibly causing false identification of transformational leaders. Emery
and Barker genders of their respondents from the branch and store managers were 43% and 85%
male and the bank and food store respondents were 100% female, which may not be clear
representation of the opinion of the female branch and store managers and the male bank and
food store respondents. Also of the female respondents 55% were married and their views may
not be reflective of the single population. Lastly the response was greater among the bank tellers
than the checkers which may also cause a slanted opinion. Grant didnt measure beneficiary.
For example, a beneficiarys need, similarity, emotional expressions, responsibility, charisma,
authenticity and attractiveness may be important.

Conclusion

Leadership comes in different forms ranging from hands off facilitative to domineering
micromanaging styles. Leaders can also employ different motivational strategies and techniques
to raise performance or complete internal change. Transformational and transactional leaders
tend to be on different sides of the scale when it comes to underlying theories of management

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and motivation. Transactional leaders provide dissimilar advantages through their abilities to
address small operational details quickly. Transactional leaders handle all the details that come
together to build a strong presence in the marketplace, while keeping employees productive on
the front line. Transformational leadership styles are vital to the calculated development of a
small business. Small businesses with transformational leaders at the wheel move towards
ambitious goals, and achieve rapid success through the vision and team-building skills of the
leader. Wright and Pandey research supported the idea that not all governmental organizational
are bureaucratic and that organizational red tape or rules do not necessarily limit the use of
transformational leadership. Emery & Bark research supported the use of transformational
leadership to increase the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of customer contact
personnel. Grant research provided convergent evidence that the relationship between
transformational leadership and follower performance is stronger under beneficiary contact. .
One question that I didnt find addressed by any of the authors was what type of leadership arena
if any is transformational style not a good fit.

While the authors of the articles may have used different approaches to their research and
even showed different variables they all came to the same conclusion in that transformational
tends to be the leadership style that is most favorable with employees and tend to promote
employee motivation and moral.

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References

Wright, B. E., & Pandey, S. K. (2010). Transformational Leadership in the Public Sector: Does
Structure Matter?. Journal Of Public Administration Research & Theory, 20(1), 75-89.
doi:10.1093/jopart/mup003

Emery, C. R., & Barker, K. J. (2007). THE EFFECT OF TRANSACTIONAL AND

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP STYLES ON THE ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMITMENT AND JOB SATISFACTION OF CUSTOMER CONTACT
PERSONNEL. Journal Of Organizational Culture, Communications & Conflict, 11(1),
77-90.

Grant, A. M. (2012). Leading with Meaning: Beneficiary Contact, Prosocial Impact, and the
Performance Effects of Transformational Leadership. Academy Of Management Journal,
55(2), 458-476.

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