Leadership Styles in National Bank of Bahrain: A Comparison of Transactional and Transformational Leadership

This presentation provides an overview of the leadership styles used in different departments of National Bank of Bahrain. It compares the implementation of transactional and transformational leadership styles in the HRD and PR departments of the bank. The potential benefits and areas of failure of each style are also discussed.

Leadership in a
changing
context

Introduction
HRD department
Human resource
development department of
the company helps them in
gathering prospective
people for the company and
keeping them interested in
process activities as well.
The HRD departments help
in creating good workplace
environment for the
employees(Banks, et. al.,
2016).
The purpose of this task is
to provide a brief overview
about the leadership styles
used in different
departments of the national
bank of Bahrain.
PR department: The public
relation department is the
department promotes the
company in the external
market and aims to satisfy the
customers with their activities.
Activities like promotion,
customer grievances/
complaints etc. are handled by
this department. 2

Transactional
Leadership
This type of leadership is also known as
managerial leadership which lays
emphasis only on the process of
supervision, organization and
performance of the company
(Ohunakin, Adeniji, and Akintayo,
2016). The transactional leadership
style is a style under which the
leaders of the organization insist
the followers to obey the rules and
laws formed by the organization,
they perform such acts with the use
of both rewards and punishments
process.
Transactional leadership establishes and
standardize practices helps an
organization to reach maturity and
emphasis setting of goals (Javed,
Jaffari, and Rahim 2014)
.
1.

“▪ Transactional leadership focus on the results of the activities
presented in the organization; also this type of leadership lays
strict focus the outcomes and order to provide outcomes, the
leaders penalize and reward the employees for the work
performed by them. A transactional leader works by providing
rewards and sanctions to its employees.
▪ Political scientist James McGregor Burns is one of the most
prominent authors to talk about leadership in his book in the
year 1980 (Asrar-ul-Haq, and Kuchinke 2016) .
4

Implication of transactional
leadership
▪ The leaders who perform
transactional leadership style
lay more focus on the short
term goals and plans, and
standard rules and codes of
conduct. Such leaders strictly
follow the rules ad do not
believe in inputting creativity
and innovation in process of
the organization (Belias, et. al.,
2015) .
5
• The assumptions of transactional leadership are that the activity
believes that the employees get motivated by rewards and
punishments and the subordinates have to obey the orders given
by the superiors.
• The transactional leadership is used in an organization when the
leader wants to maintain a strict decorum in the organization.

Transformation
al Leadership
Transformational is a leadership style which
works with an aim to create inspirational
vision for the subordinates working with them.
The leaders who uses this type of leadership
style identify the changes which shall be
conducted by the management and
implement them using innovation and
creativity practices in the system (Imran, Ilyas,
and Aslam 2016).
6
This term was firstly
coined by James V.
Downton and was further
developed by leadership
expert and presidential
biographer James
MacGregor Burns.
According to Burns, this
leadership applies when
leaders and followers
make each other advance
to a higher level of
morality and motivation
(Northouse 2018) .

Examples of Transformational
leaders
▪ Peter Ducker
He was a prof. and
management consultant
who identified the
biggest change of
marketing and
innovation. He coined
that term knowledge
worker. The professor
combined and managed
the short term and long
term goals together to
profits for the business.
He also used
entrepreneurship as the
vehicle of innovation in
an organization.
▪ Ross Perot
H. Ross Perot developed
his career from IBM
where he worked as a
salesperson. Later in
1960s he initiated his
own company where he
trained workers to enact
activities which are
needed to be done to
raise the satisfaction
level of customers
(Belias, and Koustelios
2014).
▪ John D.
Rockefeller
Rockefeller was the
owner and founder of
Standard Oil Company.
He started his business
from a single oil refinery
and led his business to
grow with time. He
aimed to provide
guaranteed products to
the customers b
increasing tactics and
disciplined strategies for
the employees to work
efficiently.
7

Difference between
transactional and
transformational
leadership
▪ Transactional leadership is more responsive
than proactive, whereas transformational
leadership is proactive. Transactional
leadership works within the culture of
organization whereas transformational
leadership works with an aim to change the
culture of the organization for better
outcomes.
▪ Transactional leaders motivates the followers
by appealing to their own self-interest whereas
transformational leaders motivates the
subordinates by encouraging them to
transcend their own interests for those of the
group or unit (Chatterjee, and Kulakli 2015) .
8

Implementation of transactional in HRD department
9
• The human resource department of the National
Bank of Bahrain involves strict rules ad
regulation for the successful implementation of
process at their workplace. The department of
the bank aims to manage the workplace
environment by successfully implementing the
code of conduct in the organization (Dartey-
Baah, and Ampofo 2015).
• Apart from that, the leaders of the company do
not prefer sharing all the information with their
employees, they just inform them about the
new rules which the subordinates needs to
follow in order to sustain in the environment
(Mozammel and Haan 2016).

Process of transaction leadership in
NBB
10
HRD processes
Performance management:
The transactional leader of
the company performs the
administrative functions of
the organization correctly.
They record the number of
times when the employee
received rewards and the
times when he got
punishment as well. With the
help of such data analysis
the HR department of the
company provides
performance appraisal to the
employees and retain them
(Muenjohn, and Armstrong
2015)
.
Recruitment and selection
process: The recruitment and
section process is
implemented strictly with the
help of vision and code of
conduct of the company. The
company aims to seek the
employees who can adhere the
rules of the organization and
contribute their share in
growth.
Employee relation: the human resource department
maintains formal relation with the employee in the
company. They do not believe in interacting with the
subordinates and seeking their suggestion for the
accomplishment of tasks.

Effect of transactional
leadership on HRD of NBB
11
• The transactional HR is
similar to the
administrative functions
which were once handled
by the personnel
department of the
company. Role of
transactional in this case
includes the benefit
administration,
investigating workplace
issues and implementing
the workplace policies.
The leaders in this case
consider their role of
transactional leader and
• The leaders judge their
organization only in two
categories, either right that
is justified according to the
procedure of the company
and wrong that is against
the guidance of the
company (Yang, and Lim
2016) .

Implementation transformational in public relations
dept.
12
The public relations department of any company is a department which
helps the organization to promote their activities in the external market and
satisfy the requirements of the customers as well. This department of NBB
uses the transformational leadership style in the process to flourish their
business.
As the company is present in banking sector it is very important for them to
satisfy the customer’s requirements and provide them adequate banking
suggestions as well. So, the leaders present in that department use the
transformational leadership techniques in creating an identified place for
the business through its activities (Tsigu, and Rao 2015) .

Implementation of
Transformational leadership in
PR department
▪ At the initial level, the employee and customers felt dissatisfied with the
initiation of transformational leadership in their business. This type of
leadership insists the leaders to implement policies which are innovative
and creative and bring differential output for the company than other
competitors. Further, it is very important for a bank to maintain good public
image in the market otherwise the customers will not trust them and will
not provide them money.
▪ So, the leaders in case create a positive image by initiating various
campaigns and events so as to reach with the public properly. Outreaching
the public is the most important task so the PR management asks
employees of the company to in reaching the customers and more people
who wants to connect to the company (Louw, Muriithi, and Radloff 2017).
13

Potential benefits of
transformational leadership in PR
▪ Talking about the potential benefits of it should be noted that
the company has adequately applied the transformational
leadership process in their business. This type of leadership
style has now become the need of the era so the organization
applied it in the process with the purpose of growth and
success of the NBB bank (Handa, et. al., 2015) .
▪ Further the culture of the company developed with this
process as the public relation were adequately managed with
increased the satisfaction level of customer along with the
employees of the company (Yahaya, and Ebrahim, 2016).
14

Critical analysis of implementation
of transactional leadership in HRD
department
15
Talking about the
approach used by the
company in initiating
their human resource
development activities,
it used be noted that the
company used more of
the pessimist approach.
As this the transactional
leadership style
bounded the employees
of the company to work
according to the way
defined by their leaders.
Due to which the
employees felt afraid
while initiating their
business activity, as a
minor mistake will lead
the managers to levy
punishment on them.
But the extent to which
the leaders provide
punishment to
employees for their
mistakes is acceptable
(Aga, Noorderhaven
and Vallejo 2016)
.

Area of success for transactional
leaders
Solidarity: The
employees of the
company show their
solidarity in the
organization due to
surveillance of employers
and strict action plan.
Self Awareness: The
transformational practice
of leadership insisted the
employees to initiate the
activity of self awareness
within them; as they were
rewarded or punished for
every task performed by
them.
Formal relationship:
The human resource
department of the
company developed
formal relationship with its
employees which
developed organized work
process as well.
16
Accountable: The human
resource department of
NBB holds accountability
for the work which they
initiate. As they have the
responsibility to levy
punishment and prove
reward similarly they have
the accountability for the
same as well.
Obedience: The
subordinates of the
company show obedience
towards the top
management as they obey
and implement all the
rules formed by the
superior.
Follow back: The
employees follow back the
path of their leaders
without questioning which
is a positive aspect for the
transformational leaders
(Amin, et. al., 2018).

17
Areas of failure for transactional
leadership
The transactional leadership style helped the leaders of human resource
department to initiate accountability and obedience among employees but it also
negatively impacted the growth of NBB in the external environment.
Due to this activity, the creativity among employees of NBB decreased and they
were unable to share their problems with the human resource manager of the
NBB. The employees’ became afraid of the punishment which the management
gives when they do a mistake in their work. Resulting to which, the workplace
environment became very strict and rigid for the employees to survive (Banks,
Ledbetter, and Greenhalgh 2016).

Use of transformational leadership
style in the public relations
department of the National Bank of
Bahrain is regarded as a good
choice by the company. As this
leadership style explains about the
use of creativity and innovation in
the business, so it gives an
opportunity to the company to
develop the technological
adaptability and promote their
activities in the company. 18
Critical analysis of
implementation of
transformational
leadership in PR
department The company holds a large customer
base as the public relations
department of the company is working
efficiently in satisfying their
requirements of the customers in the
market. Also, transformational style of
leadership introduces new and
efficient technology for the people to
use in the bank (Bass,Avolio, Jung,
and Berson 2003) .

In a critical view the transformational
leadership style affected the working of
the company in both negative and positive
manner. This leadership style provided
freedom to the employees of the bank to
openly communicate to the public relations
department of the company. But
transformational leadership style
increased the amount of problem coming
up to the management.
As the employees of NBB were always
present to seek redressal for the problem
of their client due to which the clients used
to come up o small issue which they can
solve by them as well. This increased the
workload of the employees and the stress
level as well. It also resulted in tension for
higher level of management (Effelsberg,
and Solga 2015) .
19
Effects of
transformational
leadership in
business

For further improvement of the process of NBB it
should be noted that the transactional style of
leadership shall be used by the top level
management of the company. Only, the higher
management shall hold the right to punish and
reward the employees and they should access
them on the discretion of work done by the
employees irrespective of their position of the
relationship in the company. Further the
transformational style of leadership shall be
used by the middle level leaders of the
company. They should monitor the growth and
motivate the employees of the work effectively
by using new and innovative ways. The
transformational leaders shall also initiate
flexibility in the organization so that employees
can easily share their views with superiors (Li,
Zhao, and Begley 2015) . 20
Use of both leadership
styles

▪ Thus in the limelight of above mentioned
event it should be noted that the National
bank of Bahrain uses both type of
leadership styles in their business to
become efficient in the target market. The
transaction leadership style was used by
the human resource department of the
company where as the transformational
style of leadership was used by the public
relations department of the company.
21
Conclusion

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