Melissa L Cantwell, MHA
Grand Canyon University: RES-811
January 13, 2015
Comparison Matrix Essay
Studying leadership styles to determine if there are trends or dominant styles that represent best practices is critical for leaders in any field. An effective method for studying this information is conducting literature reviews and comparing their findings. Wright and Pandey’s (2010) article, “Transformational Leadership in the Public Sector: Does Structure Matter?” studied the effects of transformational leadership in public organizations (herein referred to as article 1). Emery and Barker’s (2007) article, “The Effect of Transactional and Transformational Leadership Styles on the Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction of Customer Contact Personnel” studied both transactional and transformational leadership styles in banks and grocery chains (herein referred to as article 2). Finally, Prenestini and Lega’s (2013) article, “Do Senior Management Cultures Affect Performance? Evidence from Italian Public Healthcare Organizations” studied the relationship between the culture of senior managers and staff performance in public healthcare (herein referred to as article 3).
Comparison of Research Questions
Article 1’s authors theorized that hierarchical organizational authority structures and high levels of organizational formalization resulted in lower rates of transformational leadership behaviors (Wright & Pandey, 2010). In article 2 the authors hypothesized that customer contact personnel who perceive that they are managed via a transformational leadership style will have a higher level of organizational commitment that those managed via a transactional leadership style (Emery & Barker, 2007). In article 3 the authors suggested that due to hierarchical cultures being the most common in the Tuscan region they would have better outcomes than the other leadership styles (Prenestini & Lega, 2013). All three studies are