Transformational and Transactional Leadership: a Descriptive Analysis of Human Service Organizations

This work examines the use of transformational and transactional leadership in two types of human service organizations. Applying the transformational leadership model developed by Burns (1978) and Bass (1985), the researcher explores the variations of how this model is practiced between leaders in community based non-profit organizations (CBO) and leaders in government social services. Differences in variables between individual leaders (such as sex, age and education) are also explored. The 45-item Multi-factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) is used as the measurement tool. The researcher suggests the transformational leadership model is useful and can be applied to social workers and other human service disciplines as a means of understanding and enhancing leadership ability.