Leadership for Engineering Managers

This book is an excellent supplement for teaching leadership to any audience, but
especially those with an interest in historically important leaders across divergent
settings. Memorable, real life examples that just jump off every page.

– John Hollenbeck, Michigan State University

For those who continue to search for a companion volume offering case studies
for leadership discussions, Dr. Arenas has delivered a collection of leadership cases
from across history well suited to illuminate towering leaders who transformed
their worlds. The questions following each case study in A Casebook of Transfor-
mational and Transactional Leadership will arouse discussion, stir deep feelings, and
call for personal transformation.

– Andrew Stricker, Air University

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A CASEBOOK OF
TRANSFORMATIONAL AND
TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP

Featuring 28 case studies of eclectic leaders throughout history, A Casebook of
Transformational and Transactional Leadership supplements existing texts on the full
range leadership approach, while incorporating character strengths to enhance
profound relationships between leaders and followers, resulting in an authentic
leadership model.

Beginning with an overview of transformational and transactional components,
Arenas describes the original tenets of leadership researchers, demonstrating how
practicing the principles of full range leadership can sustain those who lead or
manage others. The subsequent chapters examine influential figures from various
organizational environments to provide readers with examples that connect with
core leader behaviors. Finally, each case study ends with a “Discussion questions”
and “Reflection” section, helping to engage students with the material and
encouraging further interaction and study.

A Casebook of Transformational and Transactional Leadership is essential reading for
both graduate and undergraduate students of leadership development, as well as
military and non-military professionals in leadership, business, management, and
education.

Fil J. Arenas is an Associate Professor of Leadership at Air University, Maxwell
Air Force Base, Alabama. He retired from the US military in 2005 after 28 years
of faithful service.

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A CASEBOOK OF
TRANSFORMATIONAL
AND TRANSACTIONAL
LEADERSHIP
Fil J. Arenas

First published 2019
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2019 Taylor & Francis

The right of Fil J. Arenas to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested

ISBN: 978-1-138-95393-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-95394-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-17 0- (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo
by Swales & Willis Ltd

87 7

For Zo’e

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CONTENTS

List of figures xi

1 Introduction 1
Full range leadership 1
Virtues and character strengths 7
Authentic leadership 9
Suggestions on how to use this casebook 10

2 Historical leaders 13
Case study 1: Aristotle 13
Case study 2: Leonardo da Vinci 17
Case study 3: Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright 19
Case study 4: Pablo Picasso 23
Case study 5: Walt Disney 27

3 Military leaders 33
Case study 6: General Douglas MacArthur 33
Case study 7: General Colin Powell 37
Case study 8: Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale 41
Case study 9: Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz 45
Case study 10: Lieutenant General “Chesty” Puller 49
Case study 11: Sergeant Major Daniel J. Daly 53
Case study 12: Ida Lewis 57
Case study 13: Petty Officer First Class Douglas A. Munro 61
Case study 14: Brigadier General Robin Olds 65
Case study 15: Major Mary “MJ” Jennings Hegar 69

4 International leaders 75
Case study 16: Confucius 75
Case study 17: Immanuel Kant 79
Case study 18: Dalai Lama (14th) 81
Case study 19: Thomas Aquinas 83
Case study 20: Pope Francis 87

5 Women leaders 91
Case study 21: Margaret Thatcher 91
Case study 22: Malala Yousafzai 95
Case study 23: Amelia Earhart 99
Case study 24: Susan B. Anthony 103

6 Corporate leaders 107
Case study 25: Elon Musk 107
Case study 26: Nick Saban 111
Case study 27: Wendy Kopp 115
Case study 28: Jeff Bezos 119

7 Conclusion 123

Index 127

x Contents

FIGURES

1.1 Full range leadership 2
1.2 Virtues and character strengths 8
1.3 Leadership behavior and character strength worksheet 11

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1
INTRODUCTION

Xenophon, a Greek philosopher, military leader, and student of Socrates who is
credited with leading the 10,000 Soldiers from Persia to Greece in 400 BC, was
the first to define leadership in the Western world. He posited that good leadership
was without coercion and resulted in followers remaining with their leaders
during times of immense danger of their own free will. Further, Xenophon
suggested that tyranny replaces leadership when followers are forced to perform
unwillingly. Moreover, Cicero, a 1st-century philosopher, argued that once
leaders resort to continual threats of punishment or coercion, as opposed to
persuasion, they are no longer leading, by definition. James MacGregor Burns
supported the idea that leadership was the result of followers acting on the shared
values, motivations, and expectations of their leaders (Kolenda, 2001). Through-
out human existence, we have had diverse leadership that has enabled our world
to progress throughout times of growth and misfortune. We have survived and
adapted through much adversity and misfortune for over two millennia. The
following case studies will provide a snapshot in time in order to highlight some
of these timeless personal leadership behaviors and signature character strengths.

Full range leadership

When we describe a full range of leadership, we are referring to transformational
and transactional leadership theories, including laissez-faire, the non-transactional
approach to leadership depicted in Figure 1.1. These three styles of leadership and
associated behaviors comprise the full range leadership approach.

Transformational was first explained in 1973 by Downton as he discerned differences
between transformational and transactional leaders (Bass, 2008). However, it was not
until five years later that James MacGregor Burns introduced these concepts in his
classic text Leadership (1978) as a comprehensive theory. Burns attempted to link

leadership and followership roles while making distinctions between transformational
and transactional properties. Transactional leadership behaviors focused on exchanges
between leaders and followers, as described in many earlier leadership models. For
instance, leaders would offer incentives for performance to drive productivity; politi-
cians sought votes for promises or deals; teachers would offer grades for completed
assignments; or managers would reward employees for exceeding work goals. In
contrast, a transformational approach engaged followers to not only foster a leader–
follower relationship, but raise their level of motivation and morality. A transforma-
tional leader is attentive to the needs of followers, helping them reach their fullest
potential. Further, transformational and transactional leadership approaches were not
mutually exclusive and empirically proven to be positively correlated (Bass, 2008). The
transformational model is one of the current and popular approaches to leadership
today, gaining momentum in the early 1980s. The following sections provide a brief
description of the styles and behaviors associated with full range leadership.

Laissez-faire leadership (LF)

The French term laissez-faire, or hands-off, describes a leadership style that
avoids responsibility, delays decisions, and is usually not interested in

Ef fective

Passiv Ae ctive

Transformational

Transactional

Corrective

Inef fective

AvoidantLF

MBE-P

MBE-A

CR

4Is

Fr
eq

ue
nc

y

FIGURE 1.1 Full range leadership
Source: Published by Mind Garden, Inc., www.mindgarden.com. Used with permission.

2 Introduction

http://www.mindgarden.com

followers’ needs or development. Do you know anyone like that? Typically,
when leaders exhibit laissez-faire behavior, they do not care if their followers
maintain standards or reach any performance goals. This type of leader is not
engaged with subordinates and avoids taking a stand on any decisive issues.
Further, the LF leader is often absent from work meetings and other related
obligations and may avoid them daily. Research has shown that LF leadership
has been associated with the lowest levels of subordinate and organizational
performance (Sosik & Jung, 2010). Conflicts often occur between workers and
leaders since role confusion is usually prevalent within organizations under this
approach to non-leadership. This avoidance style of leadership has been
referred to as not only the most inactive, but most ineffective approach.
Occasionally, LF may be disguised as empowerment, particularly when LF
leaders are delegating their own tasks due to lack of interest or commitment.
Further, LF behaviors have been called the “epitome of ineptness and ineffec-
tiveness,” while actual empowered followers are led by transformational
leaders with genuine intentions of developing their followers (Bass & Riggio,
2006, p. 194). While it is important that leaders recognize that productivity
and work satisfaction suffer under LF leadership, of equal importance is being
aware that an active leadership approach can transform followers into produc-
tive members. The next section describes a necessary style of leadership for all
organizations: transactional leadership.

Transactional leadership

Transactional leadership maintains organizational stability through regular social
exchanges, leading to goal achievement for both leaders and their followers.
Additionally, the leaders enter into agreements with followers to reward or take
corrective action based on expected behaviors and performance (Avolio, 2011).
Until the 1980s, most experimental leadership research concentrated on transac-
tional leadership behaviors, “whereas the movers and shakers of the world”
were considered transformational leaders (Bass, 2008, p. 41). Although transac-
tional leaders may get the job done, unlike transformational leaders, their focus
is not on fostering meaningful leader–follower dyads, but accomplishing the
organizational tasks while meeting guidelines and expectations. Moreover,
optimizing performance systems becomes more important than change and
development (Avolio, 2011). The following three subsections will describe
these behaviors in more detail.

Contingent reward (CR)

Contingent reward is a constructive transaction between leaders and followers.
What does this mean? This transaction is considered constructive because the
leader sets expectations for followers that describe what tasks or goals must be
achieved to meet expected performance. This action is also constructive since it

Introduction 3

leverages rewards to reinforce positive behaviors and performance. The CR
approach has been called an effective and powerful method to motivate
followers by creating mutual expectations between leaders and followers.
Additionally, CR is based on an agreement which defines expectations of both
parties. In a constructive transaction, the leader sets performance goals (agreed
upon by the follower), guidelines for meeting these expectations, and rewards
followers for meeting these desired outcomes. The original idea of utilizing CR
for motivation was actually based on a principle from educational psychology
that believed people tend to repeat behaviors when they are rewarded. How-
ever, a critical strategy involving this approach is to ensure consistency with each
follower. Further, it is important to provide the agreed-upon reward in a timely
manner; conversely, rewarding for lesser expectations will only confuse fol-
lowers, and they will not make the connection between performance and
reward. Also, it is important that leaders understand the resources that are
available for rewards (Sosik & Jung, 2010). Typically, CR is transactional
when the reward is extrinsic, such as a pay raise or promotion. When the
reward is psychological, such as praise, this becomes more of a transformational
approach (Bass & Riggio, 2006).

Management by exception (MBE)

Unlike CR, management by exception is labeled as a corrective transaction and is
usually not as effective as CR or any transformational behaviors, but may be
necessary in high-risk situations (Avolio, 2011). Also, MBE may take two
forms: either active (MBE-A) or passive (MBE-P). Using the active approach,
leaders actively monitor subordinates for any deviations from policy or stan-
dards in the form of errors and take corrective action as warranted. Using an
active approach may become necessary and effective in certain situations,
particularly when safety or urgency is a key factor. Using MBE-P, leaders
passively take corrective action only when they feel they must get involved,
which is generally too late for the organization. Unfortunately, when leaders
are supervising large numbers of followers, it may be difficult for them to
actively monitor all members in a timely fashion, which may appear passive. A
remedy for active leaders is to respond as soon as possible to the deviation or
misstep to ensure that the follower is corrected and back on track (Bass &
Riggio, 2006).

In MBE-A, followers are not only monitored, but controlled through
compliance with rules and regulations along with specific performance expecta-
tions. This management philosophy was originally based on Taylor’s scientific
management school (Sosik & Jung, 2010). These researchers believed that the
use of careful observation, detailed instruction, and active monitoring would
improve organizational efficiency and productivity. Additionally, MBE-A uti-
lizes a corrective transaction, since the leader will focus on the specific deviation
from predefined standards. A typical MBE-A leader will promptly correct

4 Introduction

followers whenever their performance does not meet organizational standards
(Sosik & Jung, 2010).

For MBE-P, the leader typically delays responding in a timely manner
before taking any corrective action. When leaders choose to intervene only
when standards are violated, all focus is generally on negative performance,
and rarely on positive accomplishments. Followers exposed to this approach
typically have low trust in or respect for their leader since they are only
confronted for deviations or problems. For organizations in high-risk settings,
this approach could become a dangerous choice because of passive responses;
an active approach would be safer and more effective. The leader that
espouses this passive approach ascribes to the old adage, “if it ain’t broke,
don’t fix it.” Followers often react to this behavior with low commitment,
identity, and trust for their leaders. It is critical that we utilize positive forms
of transactional leadership in order to meet our organizational performance
goals. However, continual use of purely transactional behaviors will not fully
develop or instill the highest ethical behaviors within your followers (Avolio,
2011). Transactional leaders are pivotal to any organization’s mission, but the
next section will describe the most effective form of leadership: transforma-
tional leadership.

Transformational leadership

In contrast with transactional leadership, transformational leadership involves
developing personal relationships with followers that raise their levels of
motivation and morality. Raising the level of ethics and morality in others
was a key tenet in this style of leadership, according to Burns (1978).
However, this may become confusing when defining leaders such as Adolf
Hitler or Saddam Hussein, who were negatively transforming followers. Bass
(2008) referred to this type of transformation as pseudo-transformational leader-
ship, which typically focused on personalized needs as opposed to followers’
needs. Leaders who are self-consumed, exploitive, and power-oriented with a
distorted sense of morality fall in this classification of leadership. When leaders
are focused on their own self-interests over the interests of others, this is
considered a personalized leadership approach (Northouse, 2007). Additionally,
another key ingredient to the transformational approach is addressing the
follower’s sense of pride and self-respect. The challenge for all transforma-
tional leaders is to motivate their followers to help them accomplish more
than they ever thought possible, reaching their fullest potential. A transforma-
tional approach is accomplished by developing followers while allowing them
to achieve higher standards of performance (Bass, 2008). The four transforma-
tional behaviors – idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual
stimulation, and individualized consideration (“the 4Is”) – are highlighted in
the following sections.

Introduction 5

Idealized influence (II)

Transformational leaders exhibiting idealized influence behavior conduct themselves
as exemplars or role models for all followers to emulate. Further, these leaders are
respected, admired, and trusted within the organization. When followers are asked
to recall past models of leadership, they generally select from this category of
leader. Followers identify with not only the leader, but their cause or mission,
often emulating their behaviors and actions. In true idealized fashion, this type of
leader addresses the needs of their followers over their own personal needs.
High levels of ethics and morals are upheld by this type of leader, who is always
counted on to do the right thing. Mahatma Gandhi has been the most celebrated
leader in history that epitomizes an idealized leader (Sosik & Jung, 2010).

Inspirational motivation (IM)

Often times leaders are required to generate team spirit, provide meaning, and
motivate their teams to raise their levels of performance. Through the use of
enthusiasm and optimism, leaders may inspire their organizations to reach new
levels of productivity. Using this transformational component, leaders can
energize their followers and accomplish attractive future states or inspire solu-
tions not normally considered. A powerful inspirational leader may motivate
followers by their words, their actions, or optimally, by both (Sosik & Jung,
2010). Truly inspirational leaders energize their followers to exert extra effort
throughout their daily routines.

Intellectual stimulation (IS)

Leaders that support creativity and innovation for their followers while supporting
novel and unique approaches to organizational challenges exemplify the IS
behavior. This critical thinking approach encourages followers to develop new
and different methods to solve problems or complex issues within their organiza-
tions (Northouse, 2013). Moreover, leaders employing IS stimulate members to
become more innovative by questioning assumptions, reframing old problems
with new lenses and approaches. Followers should be encouraged to try novel
ideas, and not be criticized or punished for taking risks or disagreeing with
leadership decisions (Bass & Riggio, 2006).

Individualized consideration (IC)

Probably the most personal leadership behavior that you can offer a follower day-to-
day is individualized consideration. Technology today has interfered with our ability to
connect personally with people. Active listening seems easy, but is a very difficult
task in today’s world of emails, texts, and smartphone applications. The key to
managing this disconnect is not only active listening, but two-way communication.

6 Introduction

A leader leveraging IC considers each individual’s needs for growth and achieve-
ment by assuming the role of teacher, coach, mentor, facilitator, confidant, and
counselor. Also, creating new learning opportunities along with a supportive climate
for learning is essential for followers. Leaders must not only recognize individual
differences, but understand that each follower is motivated by different needs and
desires; some may require more encouragement than others. Utilizing IC means
being empathetic towards followers and understanding their personal backgrounds,
needs, and aspirations (Sosik & Jung, 2010).

To summarize this full range leadership approach, we can state that organiza-
tions need excellent transactional leaders who leverage contingent rewards and
management by exception to meet their performance goals and ensure standards
are met in order to successfully achieve their missions. However, a more
effective leadership approach should instill the transformational behaviors of
idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and indi-
vidualized consideration to foster powerful interpersonal relationships and
develop followers beyond their expectations, while considering ethical and
moral values. Additionally, leaders finding a balance between transformational
and transactional leadership behaviors will be the most effective organizational
leaders (Avolio, 2011).

Virtues and character strengths

Having a deep understanding of ethical and moral considerations while applying
virtuous behaviors is not only key for our own personal development, but
necessary for meaningful leadership relationships. Further, to exemplify an authen-
tic transformational leadership approach, it is imperative that we enrich our own
signature character strengths to promote the most effective levels of leadership
acumen. The following section describes how we can continue the human
leader approach by reflecting on our own personal virtues and character strengths
while considering our followers’ inclinations and proclivities as well. To under-
stand the importance of character strength applications throughout our daily
lives, Sosik (2015) has delineated the six overarching virtues and 24 associated
character strengths outlined in Peterson and Seligman’s (2004) influential
research (Figure 1.2). Virtues are referred to as the core characteristics uni-
versally valued by moral philosophers and religious thinkers as the foundations
for good character. They include: wisdom and knowledge, courage, humanity,
justice, temperance, and transcendence. Character strengths are the positive
traits, sometimes called psychological processes, for demonstrating or displaying
the virtues or core characteristics (Arenas et al., 2018).

Wisdom and knowledge

When one exercises fervent interest and other positive behaviors to seek and
apply information, this describes a core virtue referred to as wisdom and

Introduction 7

knowledge. There are five associated character strengths that fall under this
virtue: creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, and perspective
(Peterson & Seligman, 2004). All leaders must be life-learners in order to be
effective and relevant to their followers. Someone once said that we never
stop learning; this is true for not only leaders, but followers. Today’s
technology allows society to learn continually, unencumbered by time,
access, or geographical limitations.

Courage

Unlike all other virtues, courage has been a fundamental part of the military
throughout history. Sometimes referred to as strengths of the heart, these emo-
tional strengths are derived from one’s will in the presence of opposing or
dissenting opinions. Respected leaders are those that stand up for their beliefs.
Peterson and Seligman (2004) point out that despite disagreement, or even
danger, the persistence in the face of significant obstacles makes courage a core
virtue. There are four related character strengths that reflect this virtue: bravery,
persistence, integrity, and vitality.

Humanity

This virtue is one that we consider when we are defining strengths of others, or
more importantly, interpersonal strengths that we use to protect others in our
work or personal lives – what it means to be human. There are three character
strengths associated with humanity: love, kindness, and social intelligence. These
powerful character strengths are key to exemplary leadership and instrumental in
taking care of followers.

Wisdom

Creativity
Curiosity
Love of Learning

Judgment
Perspective

Courage

Bravery
Perseverance
Honesty

Zest

Humanity

Love
Kindness
Social Intelligence

Justice

Teamwork

Fairness

Leadership

Temperance

Forgiveness

Humility

Prudence
Self-Regulation

Transcendence

Appreciation of Beauty

and Excellence

Gratitude
Hope

Humor
Spirituality

FIGURE 1.2 Virtues and character strengths
Source: Adapted from VIA Scale (Peterson & Seligman, 2004).

8 Introduction

Justice

Fostering a sense of fairness and righteousness describes the virtue of justice. There
are three character strengths within this virtue: citizenship, fairness, and leader-
ship. One of the most important character strengths in leadership is the idea of
fairness. Fairness among your followers, students, or team members is crucial to
maintain a sense of order. Dyadic relationships between leaders and followers
must be balanced and fair, otherwise the appearance of favoritism can create
disorder and chaos within an organization.

Temperance

Temperance is the ability to exercise self-control, as described in most organiza-
tional core values, which helps members consider boundaries and limitations on
their personal desires and aspirations. There are four character strengths associated
with this virtue: forgiveness/mercy, humility/modesty, prudence, and self-regula-
tion. This is one of the most challenging virtues in most organizations today.
Typical headline news stories fill the newspapers with multiple examples of
leaders that violate self-regulation!

Transcendence

Transcendence, often referred to as strengths of the spirit, describes how we provide
meaning to our lives by making connections to the larger universe or looking
beyond ourselves for relations with others. This describes Peterson and Seligman’s
(2004) final virtue. There are five related character strengths associated with this
virtue: appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, and
spirituality. Transcendent individuals are typically filled with awe, wonder, and
elevation of spirit upon recognition of certain extraordinary people or things
(Arenas et al., 2018).

Developing leaders often focus on the leadership styles and behaviors as they
relate to meeting organizational goals or specific timelines. In our dynamic and
complex organizational environments, we often fail to consider the human
aspects of leadership and followership. Utilizing the principles of Peterson and
Seligman’s (2004) pioneering research and the transformational applications of
Sosik’s (2015) text, leaders can make more profound connections with superiors,
peers, and followers.

Authentic leadership

As Bill George suggested in his book True North (2007), authentic leadership is an
effective means to bring people together around a shared vision, empowering
them to lead in a genuine style while imparting value to all members of the
organization. Further, he insists that authentic leaders remain true to themselves,

Introduction 9

while promoting trust and making true, meaningful connections with followers.
An authentic leader is more concerned with serving others while placing
followers’ needs above their own needs or success. Sosik and Jung (2010)
remind us that authentic transformational leaders are not only genuine, but
should employ traits that include virtues and character strengths in combination
with relevant transformational behaviors. Additionally, Sosik states: “when what
you say is what you do, and you are true to yourself and others, then you are an
authentic leader” (2015, p. 22).

Suggestions on how to use this casebook

This book was designed as a supplementary text to provide condensed leader
vignettes to enhance other leadership texts, providing sound foundations in
leadership principles and behaviors, virtues, and character strengths. The cases
may be assigned to students as a starting point to promote rich dialogue in the
classroom or group discussions. The original intent of these case studies was to
reinforce the earlier levels of leadership understanding by providing application
levels of cognitive learning.

Chapter 1 provides an overview of the full range leadership approach and
associated components of transformational and transactional leadership. Addition-
ally, a review of Peterson and Seligman’s (2004) virtues and character strengths
supplements discussions of full range leadership. Further, the idea of considering
the human condition to leadership by incorporating these two approaches will
lead to more authentic leadership outcomes.

Chapters 2–6 provide 28 short case study …