Evolution of Transformational Leadership - Assignment Example

 Evolution of Transformational leadership Abstract Evolution of Transformational leadership is probably too old but the main consideration and educational debates on the nature and efficacy of Transformational leadership has been developed since 1970. Initially the idea of Transformational leadership was developed by Bernard Bass, who opposed the Burns’ conception of transactional and Transformational leadership. Bernard Bass recommended that a good leader exhibits characteristics of both types of leaderships because these are different approaches. This is a concise article which discusses the questions about Transformational leadership. What are main characteristics of Transformational leadership? How it is different from transactional leadership and how the transformational leaders apply it on their subordinates? Lastly, it describes its role in organizational life and its influence on individuals. Characteristics of Transformational Leadership Transformational leadership is perhaps the modern category of leadership which not only conceives from the point of view of leaders but it also attempts to renovate the followers or subordinates into leaders. Transformational leaders have three basic characteristics. These characteristics facilitate them to turn their subordinates into leaders. These are explained as below: - (a). Vision This is the talent and effect of the personality of leaders to bind people with an idea e.g. Subhash Chander who initiated KBC, Super Lotto etc. (b). Framing It is actually a process by which leaders define the purpose of their movement with perfect significant terms. (c). Impression Management It is the leader’s attempt to control the impressions that others think about a leader. Thus the Transformational leadership is that which: “… facilitates a redefinition of people’s mission and vision, a renewal of their commitment and the restructuring of their systems for goal accomplishment. It is a relationship of mutual stimulation and elevation that converts followers into leaders and may convert leaders into moral agents. Hence, Transformational leadership must be grounded in moral foundations.” (Leithwood, as cited in Cashin et al., 2000, p.1). Some key attributes of Transformational leadership can be summarized as below. 1. Genuine Transformational leadership builds indisputable trust between leaders and followers. They believe that without constant commitment, enforcement and modeling of leadership, standards of business ethics cannot be attained in organizations. 2. Transformational leaders focus on terminal values such as integrity and justice. They analyze the responsibility for their organization’s development and impact on society. 3. They increase the awareness of what is right, important, and beautiful, when they help to elevate followers’ needs for achievement and self-actualization, when they foster in followers higher moral maturity, and when they move followers to go beyond their self-interests for the good of their group, organization, or society. The truly transformational leader is that who seeks the greatest quality for the greatest number and thus sets an example to followers about the value of valid and accurate communication in followers. 4. In organizations where Transformational leadership has a broad influence, at times both leadership and follower-ship are equal but they perform different activities at different times. Individuals who assume leadership roles have sound visioning, interpersonal and organizational skills, and the desire and willingness to lead. Effective followers are distinguished by their capacity for self-management, strong commitment and courage (Kelley, 1995). 5. Transformational leadership is elevating. It is moral but not moralistic. Leaders engage with followers, but from higher levels of morality; in the enmeshing of goals and values both leaders and followers are raised to more principled levels of judgment. Difference between Transformational Leadership and Transactional Leadership In order to obtain the maximum output, generally administrators and faculty use all leadership forms in carrying out their duties. But only a few are adept to use all forms of leaderships. The reasons are the differences in interpersonal skills, determination, conceptual capability and enthusiasm to accept the challenges of risk. Transactional and Transformational leadership are being adopted meticulously because of the increasing use of transactional methods and the novelty of Transformational leadership. In 1978, Burns presented the concept of Transformational leadership in his classic book “Leadership”. According to Burns, the difference between transformational and transactional leadership is what leaders and followers offer one another. "Transforming 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. Their purposes, which might have started out as separate but related, as in the case of transactional leadership, become fused. Power bases are linked not as counterweights but as mutual support for common purpose. Various names are used for such leadership, some of them derisory: elevating, mobilizing, inspiring, exalting, uplifting, preaching, exhorting, and evangelizing. The relationship can be moralistic, of course. But transforming leadership ultimately becomes moral in that it raises the level of human conduct and ethical aspiration of both leader and led, and thus it has a transforming effect on both." (p.20) After Burns, numerous writers subsequently expanded the Burns' basic concepts of leadership that Transactional leadership is generally defined as highlighting the transactions or exchanges that occur among leaders, colleagues and subordinates while Transformational leadership deals with transformation or change in an organization (Bass, 1996).Bass and other authors highlight that Transformational leadership is an extension of transactional leadership. It does not replace it. Further they focus on the idea that this kind of leadership can be applied to miscellaneous fields as the military (Bass, 1996), business, cooperative extension, community colleges and nursing. Transactional and Transformational leadership have major cognitive differences (Wofford and Goodwin, 1994). Transactional leaders have the tendency to be more concerned about specific objectives, work proficiency and fair knowledge and they desire to achieve the targets through work assignments and various reward interactions. As far as Transformational leadership is concerned, it puts more concentration upon intellectual ability and creativeness. Similarly major components of both leaderships are also different (Avolio and Bass, 2002) and (Bass, 1996). Transactional leaders follow the "conditional rewarding" policy by providing rewards to their subordinates if they meet the performance of desirable standards. They monitor the performance of their followers and take any required corrective measures when production rate falls below or exceeds. On the other hand, Transformational leaders are change oriented. They emphasize more on executive transformation and behavioral changes in individuals. The interpersonal approaches of Transactional and Transformational leaders are quite different with their colleagues and followers (Bass, 1996, p. 66). One of the major differences is that transformational leaders emphasize on the modification of organizational structure and culture by applying new alternatives. Further they delegate the limited powers to their colleagues and followers in this change process. It is the proven fact that a cultural modification can only be materialized through a continuous process of productive changes in leader, colleagues, followers, and organizational expertise and principles. As far as Transactional leaders are concerned, they work within the organizational traditions. How Do the Transformational Leaders Reflect Their Leadership on Followers? How do leaders develop the bonds necessary to make Transformational leadership possible? Bernard Bass and most other authors in the field propose that four interrelated components are essential for leaders to move followers into the transformational style whereas Leithwood (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2000) suggests six. These are set out in the following Tables. Dimensions of Transformational leadership The Four Common I’s 1.      Idealized influence. Charismatic vision and behaviour that inspires others to follow. 2.      Inspirational motivation. Capacity to motivate others to commit to the vision. 3.      Intellectual stimulation. Encouraging innovation and creativity. 4.      Individualized consideration. Coaching to the specific needs of followers.  Sources: Barbuto (2005); Hall, Johnson, Wysocki & Kepner (2002); Kelly (2003); Simic (1998). Leithwood’s Six 1.      Building vision and goals. 2.      Providing intellectual stimulation. 3.      Offering individualized support. 4.      Symbolizing professional practices and values. 5.      Demonstrating high performance expectations. 6.      Developing structures to foster participation in decisions.  Source: Leithwood & Jantzi (2000). These abovementioned aspects have been confirmed practically because their additive effect is summarized as below: Idealized influence (attributes and behaviour) + Individualized consideration + Inspirational motivation + Intellectual stimulation = Performance beyond Expectations Source: Hall, Johnson, Wysocki and Kepner (2002, p. 2). Idealized influence is about building confidence, integrity and trust as well as to provide a role model that subordinates seek out and try to be like (Simic, 1998, p. 52). Leaders are trusted, cherished and admired, and so the confidence in the leader provides a foundation for radical organizational change. That is, followers who have no doubt about the intrinsic worth of their leader will be less likely to dare against the leader’s orders. Evidently the idealized influence is linked to charisma (Gellis, 2001, p. 18). Charismatic leadership is a characteristic of Transformational leadership and depends on leader as well as followers for its expression (Kelly, 2003). Inspirational motivation is associated with idealized influence but whereas personality is held to prompt the individuals, inspirational leadership is about motivating the whole organization e.g. follow a new idea. Transformational leaders present a clear vision of the future, issue clear instructions to the followers about the purpose of their work and challenge them with high standards. By using this technique, the transformational leaders encourage the subordinates to become part of the overall organizational culture and environment (Kelly, 2003). Such desirable results are attained through motivational speeches and conversations and other public displays of confidence and eagerness, emphasizing positive outcomes and inspiring the joint efforts (Simic, 1998, p. 52). Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech and US President John F. Kennedy’s vision of putting a man on the moon by 1970 stand out as exceptional examples of this characteristic (Yukl, 1989, p. 221). Intellectual stimulation technique is used by Transformational leaders to arouse and change followers’ understanding about problems and manage their capability to solve those problems (Kelly, 2003). They give confidence to the subordinates to be innovative and creative to approach old problems in new ways (Barbuto, 2005). They delegate the authority to followers by convincing them to suggest fresh and controversial ideas without hesitation or fear of punishment or ridicule. They enforce their own ideas judiciously and definitely not at any cost (Simic, 1998, p. 52). The leader’s vision provides the framework for followers to see how they connect to the leader, the organization, each other, and the goal. Once they have this big picture view and are allowed freedom from convention, they creatively overcome any obstacles in the way of the mission. Individualized consideration involves responding to the specific and distinctive needs of followers to make sure that they are integrated in the transformation progression of the organization (Simic, 1998, p. 52). People are treated independently and differently on the basis of their capacity and knowledge (Shin & Zhou, 2003, p. 704) and with the intention of assigning them the opportunities to achieve higher levels than might otherwise have been accomplished. This definitely takes expressions e.g. through exchanging the words of thanks or praise, reasonable workload distributions and individual career evaluating, mentoring and professional development activities. Besides having an overarching analysis of the organization and its route, the transformational leaders also comprehend those things that motivate followers individually (Simic, 1998, p. 52). Role of Transformational Leadership in Organizational Development Transformational leadership plays a vital role in organizational development. Transformational leaders make use of process surveillance and a lot of techniques of organizational development and better understanding of group dynamics. Normally, on occasions statistics may be misused and falsification arise in the organizational development progression. This parallel encourages the leaders who take a broad view of their messages or use exciting plea. In such cases, personal benefits may be neglected for organizational improvement. The ethics of authority is assessed in two ways i.e. by the recognition of the reality of organization through independent processes and by differentiating the authoritarian character and the directive leader. When it is applied to the common good of an organization, the leader in numerous ways may be commanding as a well-intentioned manager of the principles. The authoritarian personality is inflexible, anti-democratic, submissive to superior authority, conservative in thinking, and have a preference of low risk and highly planned situations. Directive leaders enlighten what are mandatory to be done, usually with details, give instructions, and make decisions for self and others. In functional organizations conflicts in principles is a long-term incident. Which is more important? Numbers of parameters are considered. For example safety, productivity, cost reduction, efficiency, employee and manager well-being, profitability, survival and growth etc. Some insist that stockholder benefits are paramount. Some argue that moral values require maximizing the well-being of the workers. Transformational leaders discover the ways to align such apparent conflicting issues. One of the significant qualities of Transformational leadership is that it fosters competence progress and brings higher levels of individual contracts between followers to organizational objectives. According to Bass (1990b, p. 21): “Transformational leadership occurs when leaders broaden and elevate the interests of their employees, when they generate awareness and acceptance of the purposes and mission of the group, and when they stir employees to look beyond their own self-interest for the good of the group”. Transformational leaders promote people from low levels of need to higher levels (Kelly, 2003; Yukl, 1989). They may also prompt their subordinates to excel their own interests for some other joint purpose but characteristically help followers by satisfying as many of their personal needs as possible as well as they create faith, appreciation, reliability and respect amongst their followers. (Barbuto, 2005, p. 28). Leithwood finds that transformational leaders pursue three fundamental goals in organizational development. The first one is leader’s norms of responsibility and continuous improvement to encourage the subordinates to do better by keeping them involved in mutual goal settings and share the leadership by delegating their authorities. Secondly the followers' motivation for development is enhanced when the transformational leaders internalize the objectives for professional growth. This process remains smooth for progress when they remain strongly dedicated and realistic to the organization’s mission. Lastly Transformational leadership is well-regarded by others because it excites the followers to stay in new activities and put extra efforts. Transformational leaders primarily help staff members work smarter, not harder. "These leaders shared a genuine belief that their staff members as a group could develop better solutions than the leader could alone" (Leithwood: 1992). Conclusion The merits of Transformational leadership should speak for themselves. In light of the ambiguous strategic environment, it would appear to be obvious that most large organizations, the federal government, the military, and other armed forces agencies require leaders and followers steeped in the same core values and energized to tackle the tough issues together. When transformational leaders are connected with their followers, great things can happen. When leaders and led are on the same strategic page, all their energy is focused to achieve maximum results with less oversight because the leader has articulated the target so everyone understands the direction to move toward. When leader and led values synchronize, followers don’t have to be supervised. They will know what to do when the time comes, and isn’t that the goal of good leadership? References Avolio, B.J. and Bass, B.M. (2002). Developing potential across a full range of leadership; Cases on transactional and Transformational leadership. Mahwok, NJ: Laurence Erlbaum Associates Barbuto, J.E. (2005). Motivation and transactional, charismatic, and Transformational leadership: a test of antecedents. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies. 11(4), 26-40. Bass, Bernard M. (1997). The Ethics of Transformational leadership. In Kellogg Leadership Studies Project. 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Transformational leadership, conservation, and creativity: evidence from Korea. Academy of Management Journal. 46(6), 703-714. Simic, I. (1998). Transformational leadership - the key to successful management of transformational organizational changes. Facta Universitas, 1(6), 49-55. Wofford, J.C. and N.L. Goodwin. 1994. A cognitive interpretation of transactional and Transformational leadership theories. Leadership Quarterly (5), 161-186. Yukl, G.A. (1989). Leadership in Organizations (2nd Ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Read More