What are the differences between transformational and transactional styles of leadership in small school or university environments?
Transactional style of leadership is the capability to guide followers to achieve the goal(s) through extrinsic measures (e.g. reward & punish based on performance set etc.) & structure (e.g. hierarchical & compliance culture etc.) by focusing on tangible deliverables.
Transformational style of leadership is the capability to motivate followers to achieve the goal(s) through intrinsic changes (e.g. open mindedness, visionary, proactive attitudes & behaviors etc.) & relational environment (e.g. inspirational, receptive to new ideas etc.) by focusing on what are the best actions that the followers can perform.
Transactional leadership style and transactional leaders focus on tangible objectives and generally have a short term perspective while transformational leadership style and transformational leaders focus on development of capabilities which help a firm or a system or a country to be successful in the long term. Transactional style is driven by short term or instant popularity and power while transformational leadership style is driven by a well articulated vision. Leaders change their style based on environmental factors. The ability to change plays an important role in the success of a leader under a given situation.
You may find this book by Michael Fullan useful:
Fullan, M. (2006). Turnaround leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Thank you Ben for putting words to my thoughts. Transformational leadership is a glorified, holier-than-thou model of leadership that sounds fancy but treads on thin ice in terms of sound theoretical/empirical foundations. At the same time, the much maligned transactional leadership is looked down upon as a reward-punishment form of leadership when it is much more than that. Aren't a majority of leadership exchanges between a leader and follower transactional in nature - give and take?
The distinction between those two styles of leadership may or not be meaningful ,but all have to be and are used in any kind of organisation depending on the situation. As a leader, you need to get people committed to the organisation goals either by rewarding (positive transactional style) or by stimulating (transformational style) instead of punishing (negative transactional style). However, depending on the context, the reward would be more psychological (public recognition of performance) than material.
https://online.stu.edu/articles/education/what-is-transactional-leadership.aspx