James MacGregor Burns. Leadership, 1978
Transactional leadership:
- occurs when one person takes the initiative in making contact with others for the purpose of an exchange of valued things. (page 19)
Transformational leadership:
- occurs when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality. (page 20)
Notes:
Political arenas in which transactional leadership occurs include : the mobilization of community or social opinion; the organization of political action groups; political parties; legislative organizations; and executive agencies.
Transformational leadership includes intellectual leadership (ideas as moral power); reform leadership; revolutionary leadership; and heroic and ideological leadership.
Burns is a bit dense to summarize. The key ideas here to highlight are the concepts of the moral betterment of followers, and the power of leadership to create true transformation and change -- the latter concept in particular has been integrated into most of today’s management and futures related leadership literature.