| Course | MGT 424 Leadership |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 5 |
| Paper type | Comparative leadership paper |
| Length | About 1,098 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MGT 424 Module 5
After the Kiln Explosion: Transformational and Servant Leadership at a Family Brick Manufacturer
Student Name
Business Administration Program, Aspen University
MGT 424: Leadership
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
After the Kiln Explosion: Transformational and Servant Leadership at a Family Brick Manufacturer
Muskingum Clay Products, a composite family-owned company in Zanesville, Ohio, makes face brick for homes and commercial buildings in a plant that runs around the clock. It employs about 180 people, many from families that have worked there for generations. Last October, gas built up in one of its two tunnel kilns and ignited, hospitalizing two workers with burns. Both are recovering. An investigation found that a gas sensor had malfunctioned for months and that operators had reported it several times without action. The chief executive, granddaughter of the founder, took over from her father two years ago. Employees now question whether the company cares about them, and three experienced operators have quit. This paper compares two approaches to leading through such a moment.
Transformational Leadership
Bass (1985) distinguished leaders who exchange rewards for performance from leaders who change what followers value and expect of themselves. He described four components of the latter. Through idealized influence, leaders act in ways that earn admiration and trust, becoming models followers want to emulate. Through inspirational motivation, they offer a compelling picture of the future and confidence that it can be reached. Through intellectual stimulation, they invite followers to question assumptions and solve old problems in new ways. Through individualized consideration, they attend to each follower's needs and growth. Transactional leadership, by contrast, relies on contingent reward, trading rewards for agreed results, and management by exception, stepping in when something goes wrong.
What the Evidence Shows
Judge and Piccolo (2004) pooled studies of transformational and transactional leadership and found transformational leadership had an overall relationship of about .44 with criteria such as follower satisfaction, motivation and leader effectiveness. Contingent reward, however, was nearly as strongly related at about .39, and the two were highly correlated with each other. Laissez-faire leadership, the absence of leadership, related negatively to outcomes. The findings suggest that clear agreements and fair rewards matter almost as much as inspiration.
Servant Leadership
Servant leadership begins from a different starting point: the leader's first responsibility is to serve followers. Liden et al. (2008) developed and tested a measure with seven dimensions: attending to followers' personal hurts, which they called emotional healing; contributing to the wider community; understanding the organization well enough to solve problems; handing people real authority; building their careers; ranking their interests ahead of the leader's own; and holding to ethical standards. In their study, servant leadership predicted followers' community citizenship, in-role performance and organizational commitment even after accounting for transformational leadership and leader-member exchange.
Comparing the Two
The approaches overlap, especially in individualized consideration, but they differ in whose interests come first. Transformational leaders aim to raise followers' commitment to the organization's goals; their attention to followers serves those goals. Servant leaders aim first at followers' well-being and growth, trusting that organizational results will follow. After an accident caused by ignored warnings, that difference matters.
What Employees Said
Before deciding how to lead, the chief executive asked the plant's HR manager to hold small listening sessions with each shift. The message was consistent. Operators did not blame her personally, but they had stopped believing that reports led anywhere. One said the sensor report had been written up four times and "went into a drawer." Several said they felt the company valued production over people, an impression strengthened when the second kiln restarted two days after the explosion. Others said they would stay if they saw real change within a few months. These comments shaped the sequence recommended below: employees were asking first to be heard and protected, not inspired.
A Third-Generation Leader
Her position adds a complication. Employees knew her grandfather and father, and many see her as part of the family that let the sensor go unrepaired. Bass's idealized influence depends on followers trusting a leader's character, which she must earn rather than inherit. Liden and colleagues' dimension of behaving ethically, including admitting failures openly, offers a way to separate herself from past decisions without blaming her father publicly.
The First Hundred Days
| Action | Approach and component |
|---|---|
| Visit both injured workers and their families, and cover all costs beyond insurance | Servant: emotional healing, putting followers first |
| Meet every shift in person, admit the sensor reports were ignored and apologize | Servant: behaving ethically; transformational: idealized influence |
| Form a safety committee of operators with authority to stop a kiln | Servant: empowering; transformational: intellectual stimulation |
| Act on every safety report within 48 hours and post the response | Transactional: contingent reward of reporting; servant: putting followers first |
| Fund training for operators seeking kiln certification | Servant: helping subordinates grow |
| After three months, share a vision of the safest brickworks in the region | Transformational: inspirational motivation |
Recommendation
The chief executive should lead with servant behaviors for the first three months. Employees need evidence that their concerns come first before they will accept a new direction. Healing, honesty and empowerment address the breach of trust directly. Contingent reward also matters: every safety report answered quickly is a small, visible exchange that rebuilds confidence, consistent with Judge and Piccolo's evidence on its strength. Once trust begins to return, she should add transformational leadership, offering a vision of the company as a leader in safety and quality that gives employees something to build together, and inviting them to rethink kiln operations.
Day-to-Day Transactions Still Matter
Judge and Piccolo's evidence on contingent reward has a practical meaning here. Beyond the big gestures, supervisors on every shift will follow simple rules: answer every safety concern by the next shift, thank people who raise one and report back on what was done. These small, reliable exchanges are what employees will remember when they decide whether to believe the vision that comes later.
Risks
Servant leadership could be read as weakness if it never sets standards, so the safety committee's authority comes with clear rules. A vision launched too early would seem like public relations. And her father's continuing presence on the board may complicate her credibility; he will support her apology publicly.
Measures
Progress will be measured by the number of safety reports and response times, operator turnover, a quarterly trust survey and the safety committee's record of actions.
Conclusion
Bass's transformational leadership and Liden and colleagues' servant leadership both offer guidance after the kiln explosion, but they begin from different places. Because the accident followed ignored warnings, the chief executive should first show that employees come first, then lead them toward a shared vision. Judge and Piccolo's evidence reminds her that keeping promises about small things may matter as much as inspiring words.
References
Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. Free Press.
Judge, T. A., & Piccolo, R. F. (2004). Transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic test of their relative validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(5), 755-768. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.89.5.755
Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., & Henderson, D. (2008). Servant leadership: Development of a multidimensional measure and multi-level assessment. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(2), 161-177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2008.01.006
MGT 424 Module 5 instructions, in plain terms
Transformational and servant leadership receive close attention in Aspen's MGT 424, and the paper here often asks students to compare the two and apply them to a leader. Follow your classroom's Module 5 directions on scope; this example sets them against one executive's crisis. Explain the components of transformational leadership and how it differs from transactional leadership. Summarize evidence on its effects. Explain servant leadership and its dimensions. Compare the two, noting where they overlap and where they lead in different directions. Apply both to a leader's situation, with specific actions and the reasons for each. Recommend which approach should lead and when, and how the leader will know it is working.
How this MGT 424 Module 5 example is built
The paper opens with Muskingum Clay Products, where a gas buildup in a tunnel kiln caused an explosion that hospitalized two workers. Employees had complained about a faulty sensor for months. Bass's 1985 book sets out four ways leaders raise followers' aims, from serving as a trusted model to coaching each person, and contrasts them with leadership by exchange and correction. Judge and Piccolo's Journal of Applied Psychology meta-analysis found transformational leadership had an overall validity of .44, with contingent reward close behind at .39. Liden and colleagues' Leadership Quarterly article identifies seven servant leadership dimensions and links them to commitment and performance. A table maps both approaches to actions such as visiting the injured workers, rebuilding safety with employees and setting a new direction. The recommendation puts servant behaviors first for three months, then adds a transformational vision.
MGT 424 Module 5 rubric: what earns full marks
Comparative leadership papers are assessed on accurate descriptions of both theories, use of evidence, a real comparison rather than two separate summaries and applications that name specific actions. This example describes each component of transformational leadership and each servant dimension in plain terms. Judge and Piccolo's meta-analysis brings evidence, including the surprising strength of contingent reward. The comparison focuses on whose interests come first, the main difference between the theories. The table links concepts to concrete actions. The recommendation explains sequencing, which shows judgment about context, and is grounded in what employees said in listening sessions.
MGT 424 Module 5 help from the desk
Papers comparing transformational and servant leadership often describe each theory and stop, leaving the comparison to the reader. State directly where they agree and differ, especially on whether the organization's goals or the followers' needs come first. Another weakness is treating transformational leadership as inspirational speeches; include intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. Use evidence, including findings that complicate the theories. Apply both approaches to specific actions a leader could take. Consider context, since a crisis may call for one approach before the other. Finally, set measures, such as trust or safety reporting, that show whether the leader's approach works. Listen to followers before choosing an approach.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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MGT 424 Module 5 questions, answered
What does MGT 424 Module 5 usually ask for?
Aspen's MGT 424 covers transformational and servant leadership in this module, so comparing the two and applying them to a leader is typical. Read your classroom prompt.
What are the four components of transformational leadership?
Bass described idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration.
How does servant leadership differ from transformational leadership?
Transformational leaders focus followers on organizational goals, while servant leaders focus first on followers' needs and growth, trusting that organizational results follow.
Where can I find a free MGT 424 Module 5 sample paper?
The example above compares transformational and servant leadership through a brick manufacturer's chief executive after a kiln explosion.
Does transformational leadership work better than transactional leadership?
Judge and Piccolo's pooled evidence put the two close together: rewarding agreed results predicted outcomes almost as well as transformational behavior did.