Leadership Styles

Though leadership styles vary widely, they can be grouped into two primary categories:

  • Transactional leadership: The transactional leadership style is characterized by the possibility of rewards and the threat of punishment. This is a “no news is good news” approach to leadership—leaders get involved when goals are not met or when employees are not adhering to stated rules.

  • Transformational leadership: Transformational leaders are coaches, not enforcers. They model the behavior they expect the group to emulate, and they focus on relationships as well as tasks. These two concerns are not separate; rather, they co-exist and are complementary. Both are essential, and neither is expendable.

EXAM ALERT

Be prepared to speak to the ...

Get PHR Exam Prep™ now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.