Transformational Leadership - Research Paper Example

Running Head: Leadership & Change Leadership & Change [Institute’s Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Literature Review 4 Discussion - Linking Theory with Practice 6 Limitations of Leadership Behaviour 8 Reflection 9 Conclusion 9 References 12 Introduction Change situation: Downsizing Downsizing is the process of decreasing the employees on the operating payroll and indicates a reduction in the employee headcount. This situation is selected because it is a leading change management strategy of choice for a large number of businesses all over globe. The main drive for the majority of downsizing activities is the need to get better levels of competence, efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness. The implementation of downsizing has significant effect on the company as well as on its stakeholders (Anderson & Anderson, 2010). To manage the employees during the process of downsizing, transformational leadership approach should be adopted. Transformational leaders have the capability to encourage others, supporting their followers to respect and trust them. Companies require leaders who are capable of coping with this massive change, maintain day to day functions, and offer a competitive gain even at the time of downsizing. Transformational leaders can motivate and encourage their followers, uniting them for a combined cause, causing better productivity, performance, as well as job significance. The second section - Literature Review - will highlight the theories and concepts of transformational leadership. Third section will explain why transformational leadership is the appropriate approach to adopt at the time of downsizing. Fourth section will discuss the limitations of this leadership approach. Fifth section will reflect on the needs to develop the appropriate leadership skills, and sixth chapter will conclude the paper by providing the summary of the findings. Literature Review The theory of transformational leadership has its origins with leadership scholar James MacGregor (Bass & Riggio, 2012). He presented the preliminary framework for the theory of transformational leadership by recognizing what he believed two opposed aspects - transactional leadership and transformational leadership (Bass & Riggio, 2012, p. 102). In transactional leadership, leaders keep a rapport with their team as a series of “exchanges or bargains” (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013, p. 82) to satisfy existing requirements. Transformational leadership bypasses the conventional form of exchanging incentives and attains preferred performance by intellectually motivating, and encouraging followers to go beyond their self-interests for a better mutual objective. Leadership has exceeded beyond the basis of simplifying the necessary performance of staff to boost the value of the productivity. Kearney & Gebert (2009) significantly developed on the original theory of transformational leadership suggested by MacGregor. They conceptualized the transactional and transformational aspects separately and implied that leaders should be capable of using either of the two-leadership aspect as suitable for given change situation - downsizing in this case (Nielsen et al, 2009). Therefore, a leader can be transformational as well as transactional both, and it is feasible for transformational leader to adopt this leadership approach separately from transactional leadership. Transformational leaders are capable of encouraging workers to commit to and achieve performance that surpasses individual anticipations. Transformational leaders make use of three standards to get enhanced performance as well as organizational accomplishment: first, they highlight the significance of objectives as well as the necessary way for their success; second, they encourage staff to go beyond self-interest for the mutual advantage; and third, they motivate the higher order requirements of staff. Transformational leadership is incorporates four behavioural factors or aspects: idealized power, encouraging inspiration, intellectual motivation, and individualized concern. Idealized power is the extent of social recognition that leaders form among their staffs creating the aspiration to directly identify with them. Increases in idealized power can be caused by leaders sharing risk, developing conviction and admiration, and showing self-sacrificing attitude. The encouraging aspect indicates to the level to which leaders are capable of encouraging as well as motivate staff to maintain a positive approach even at the time of downsizing (Michaelis et al, 2010). This aspect can be increased by having practical anticipations and showing dedication towards mutual goals. Intellectual inspiration signifies a leader’s capability to encourage staff to find out fresh methods of carrying out tasks. Individual concern is a leader’s capacity of classifying as well as develops the higher order requirements of staffs while offering the required response to attain organizational objectives. Oreg & Berson (2011) argue that the most common four factors for defining transformational leadership are ‘power’, ‘motivate’, ‘encourage’, and ‘converse’. In addition, Oreg & Berson (2011) also argue that inspiration and motivation are the factors of effective communication. Therefore, effective communication abilities are a necessity for a transformational leader since without these abilities; it would be difficult or impracticable for a transformational leader to carry out any of the three standards of transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is focused on connecting people on a common point via self-reinforcing attitudes that staff get from productively completing a task and from a trust on intrinsic returns. Besides acting positively in response to downsizing, transformational leaders dynamically construct change, help and instruct staff and promote traditions of resourceful change as well as development. Transformational leadership develops and expands the concept of “charismatic leadership” (Liu et al, 2010, p. 461), which equally highlights encouraging behaviours by leaders and positive acknowledgment by staff, but did not clearly incorporate “consideration for employees and intellectual inspiration” (Liu et al, 2010, p. 462). Discussion - Linking Theory with Practice This section examines the importance and need of transformational leadership at the time of change due to downsizing. Transformational leaders direct a business “experiencing a crisis event through the sense making process by providing structure in the shape of a convincing vision” (Liu & Yang, 2010, p. 199). This process focuses on the ongoing traditional progress of reasonable models that rationalize what individuals are doing. Birasnav et al (2011) explain the practice of “organizing and turning situation into a comprehensible framework” (Birasnav et al, 2011, p. 113), which then acts as a catalyst for action. Transformational leaders give power to staff and, while doing this, can encourage the higher order requirements of the followers - such as self-actualization - and prompt combined action, successfully acquiring the three standards. In addition, crisis conditions can increase the requirement for leadership, and leaders perform a crucial part during downsizing. Ensuring a situation of empowerment as well as guiding staff during the process of downsizing. Even though it can be argued that aspects like a troubled financial system and deceased consumer expenditure were contributors to the failure of most of the companies going through the process of change, bad leadership, administration and decision-making when functioning within an unsure situation were also the major factors of failure. Moreover, a few of these organizations also showed bad adaptations to cost cutting and downsizing. Transformational leaders show commitment while fostering friendliness and trust of staff via self-sacrificial attitude during the process of downsizing. Besides, trust can be fostered via behavioural reliability, equality, and empowering staff. When there is an apparent incongruence among message framing and activities, dependence can damage and it can lead to problems. This sort of incongruence can be evaluated via the lens of signalling theory, which refers to information irregularity and is mostly employed to express the decision-making procedure when two groups have access to separate sets of information. García-Morales et al (2012) state that there are two traits of successful signals: signal observability and signal cost. Observability means the level to which external viewers can observe the signal, whereas cost means the level to which a company is capable of absorbing the cost of the signal. Signals do not just influence investors, but also the other stakeholders of the business. By their activities, leaders send signals to staff that can be inferred as either positive or negative at the time of change. When a leader’s actions are different from the message framing, it may make the staff to face a level of cognitive conflict. The consequential conflict can potentially make followers feel disempowerment as well as lacking in enthusiasm to positively face the change through downsizing (Quinn, 2010). Transformational leaders can encourage and motivate staff by setting practical anticipations and showing dedication towards a mutual vision. The formation of a persuasive vision is a key aspect in the majority of theories of transformational leadership. It can be a combined attempt that concentrates on contrasting issues that a business may be facing. A convincing vision acts as a significant, progressive objective to staff, serving as a “roadmap for the future direction of the company” (Quinn, 2010, p. 144). By means of the articulation of a vision, a transformational leader is capable of inspiring staff and making them to support a common cause - betterment of organization and fulfilment of organizational objectives - and work to their maximum potential without getting disheartened from the change caused by downsizing in the company. The vision can act as an idealized representation of the future and a rational model for the preferred state of the company. It should be an “expression of complex ideas in an understandable as well as convincing way” (Quinn, 2010, p. 162). As a result, a vision must communicate a picture of what can be attained, why it is valuable, and the approach must be adopted to get it done. Limitations of Leadership Behaviour For the most part, power of the transformational style depends on the standards and individuality of the leader. Other theories of leadership - for instance, contingency or situational - indicate that leaders can modify their style according to the requirements of the group to enhance efficiency. Transformational leadership might not be viable for individuals who lack encouraging communication skills even if they have the expertise and knowledge required to be in control. In the same manner, the transformational leadership theory assumes one leader, which disregards the fact that several coalmines use more than one leader to encourage a group to arrive at the objective. Transformational leadership theory describes “what” but provides no detail regarding the “how” (Michaelis & Sonntag, 2009, p. 403). Insufficient information is provided regarding the way a leader should communicate his idea and give power to the staff. Moreover, descriptions of policy and mission are also missing in the theory. Transformational leadership does not integrate “situational dynamics” (Michaelis & Sonntag, 2009, p. 405) and believes that employees would like to collaborate toward a bigger objective. Transformational approaches are not as successful in change situations where staff is lacking the expertise or knowledge required to finish a task. Reflection There are certain skills that I have to learn to show the transformational leadership behaviours. First of all, I should learn to act as a role model and develop qualities that I would like to see in my group members. Secondly, I should develop my communication skills together with clear discussion about my vision, objectives, expertise, goals and expectations from others. This as well incorporates working on the ability to pay attention to what team members are saying. Moreover, I should start setting SMART objectives to pursue solid action plans, and should involve the team members in strategic planning meetings, request for their feedback and incorporate their ideas in decision-making. I should develop quantifiable goals with suitable deadlines, prepare action plans that lead to the desired outcomes, and encourage the staff to do well because the successful leaders identify each individual’s worth. Most importantly, I should identify my own faults and limitations and learn from them. Conclusion At the time of a change situation, it is significant for leaders to give the essential assistance, encouragement, and inspiration to the employees. Individuals who share group membership are encouraged to dynamically develop a “sense of shared meaning”. The social structure of “reality and role systems are developed eventually and strengthened within the minds of the workers” (Purvanova & Bono, 2009, p. 348). Social constructions as well as role systems can act as a guiding force or control on the activities of individual members. It is likely that the seriousness of change situation can lead to collapse of the workforce morale, which can then cause workers to panic. Leaders should take steps to prevent this situation, because failing to do so can cause the questioning of formerly established social functions and provoke further apprehension. In addition, low morale can cause a loss of structure and introduce a feeling of egoism or self-defence. When employees start to lose structure, they lose the related implications with the structure, potentially creating pressure as well as vagueness. This may make employees to involve themselves in actions that are encouraged by egotism, instead of adopting the behaviour that would be beneficial for the whole organization. Transformational leaders can deal with this situation by applying idealized control and role modelling actions. By means of behavioural reliability and proper congruence, transformational leaders can assist to signal positive behaviour, handle negative influence of the downsizing, and retain structure and group membership. During the change caused by downsizing in the company, individual view of a leader as well as the leader’s influence on group performance is better. According to Purvanova & Bono, (2009), transformational leadership can make a major difference for workers and organizations both in conditions of change. However, only because a leader is intellectual and has done well during steady functioning times does not signify that the leader will react in the same way at the time of change. Even though a number of studies have revealed a connection between intellect and leadership, it is essential to consider that this connection is moderated by the framework of leadership conditions. Purvanova & Bono have revealed that in a number of situations “critical thinking, or the generation and execution of a new idea, is linked with leader performance and achievement” (Purvanova & Bono, 2009, p. 351). Given that transformational leaders empower the workforce, it may be possible that they are capable of drawing on the collective intellect of workers and assist in creating new solutions to deal with a problems arise due to organizational change. References Anderson, D., & Anderson, L. A. (2010). Beyond change management: How to achieve breakthrough results through conscious change leadership. John Wiley & Sons. Avolio, B. J., & Yammarino, F. J. (Eds.). (2013). Transformational and charismatic leadership: The road ahead (Vol. 5). Emerald Group Publishing. Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2012). Transformational leadership. Psychology Press. Birasnav, M., Rangnekar, S., & Dalpati, A. (2011). 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