Identification of Transformational Leadership Qualities - Literature review Example

Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Part A 2 1.0 Introduction 2 2.0 Transformational Leadership (TL) 2 2. 1Trust 4 2.2 Charisma 6 2.3 Vision 6 2.4 Influence 8 3.0 Methodology 9 4.0 Overall Results 10 5.0 Conclusion 10 6.0 References 10 Part A 1.0 Introduction Transformational leadership or TL employs a variety of mechanisms that boost morale, enhance motivation and increase productivity in a workplace. It was James MacGregor Burns who first introduced this concept in 1978. Even as his research focused on political leaders, TL, as on today, has gained extreme recognition in corporate organizations and other spheres of work where leadership holds key to success. In order to critique the ideas and methodologies used in TL and to compare and contrast methodologies used in TL, this paper has chosen four articles to assess the approach suggested by various authors and find any limitations or biases in the same. These articles are: Avolio et al (2009), Jandaghi et al (2009) Lievenset al (1997), and Spreitzer, et al (2007). This paper will review the concepts of TL as presented in these four papers, while succinctly looking into positive and negative points emerging out of the same. The paper will also see if there are any limitations and biases that exist within each and how they fit when applied to different contexts. 2.0 Transformational Leadership (TL) While the articles exhibit almost an unequivocal similarities in TL vis-a’-vis their qualities, however what sets apart Lievens et al (1997) work is that it looks at TL from the perspective of multifactor leadership questionnaire for distribution among followers of transformational leaders. This, say Lievens et al, is capable of providing an unbiased and accurate assessment on various leadership dimensions among leaders. Lievens et al regard leadership as a critical factor that leads to the transformations in organizations through initiation and implementation. The transformational leadership is effective only when leaders are change-centred, which means the leaders must have the capability to catch up with a clear vision in order for the development to take place by acting as motivational sources for others to follow. This fosters innovation since this way leaders inspire confidence in followers and encourage them to devise skills for innovation, be risk-takers and enhance creativity. Spreitzer et al (2007), on the contrary, argue that transformational leadership are value-dependent, which means they entirely depend on what values does an individual possess. These values, in turn, culture-dependent. Once the culture of the individual is examined, then only can the six dimension of TL be analyzed. However their opinion echoes the same sentiment that TL is related to overall effectiveness of an organization. Quoting over 100 empirical studies they demonstrate how TL has been examined beyond the American context. Jandaghi et al (2009) lay emphasis on leadership theories. The approach they take is defining TL and its aspects with respect to various connoisseurs in less or more successful organizations. Jandaghi et al lay emphasis on the statistical samples in explaining transformational leadership. Not only does leadership affect the organizations, argue the authors, they also have a greater impact on the society. In organizations leaders create a competitive advantage more often than not by making certain radical changes in the organizations. The changes could be both external and internal to the organizations. Internal changes result in higher performances and external change include adaptability to external environments. Yet another view is presented by Avolio et al (2009) who examine empirical and theoretical development in TL in terms of theory, research and practice. They talk of authentic leadership in context of cognitive science approach and subsequent development. They go a step beyond the conventional approach taken by authors in other papers, as mentioned above, and delve deep into leadership that is collective, distributed and shared. They also examine TL with respect to complexity leadership and new-genre leadership theories. In what could be termed as an in-depth analysis, they argue that leadership cannot be debated only in context of transformational characteristic but also in context of servant leadership, substitutes of leadership, cross-cultural leadership, e-leadership, and spiritual leadership. While the central theme of all four articles is transformational leadership; each goes about explaining it from a different perspective. There are, however, certain concepts which are uniform to all. Notable of these are the transformational leadership qualities explained by each one of them either with a stronger or weaker focus. 2. 1Trust Writing about transformational leadership behaviours, Spreitzer et al (2007) opine that those who follow TL show unrelenting respect and trust towards the leader and in order to demonstrate dedication they do more than that is expected of them to be done. Put the other way around, it can be said that it is the leaders who imbibe in their followers as much trust that they go beyond the minimum requisites of performance that organizations have laid out for them,. This is explained by Spreitzer et al by using Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman and Fetter’s (1990) TL conceptualization since it is well validated, behaviourally-oriented and has been prevalent in cultures like that of China and North America for some time now. An important observation made by the authors is that high traditionality leaders get high levels of trust from their followers and in turn the leaders ensure that their followers are taken due care of, and their needs are understood in the right earnest for the momentum of excellence to go on. Jandaghi et al (2009) vest the responsibility of trust-building in idealized influence and argue that without it all efforts are propelling the organization to achieve its goals will be fruitless. This is because one person can lead others in the group only if they are willing to be led. The leaders, thus, has to communicate to his followers this idealized influence. Followers mitigate the leaders that demonstrate idealized influence. In contrast to what these three papers say on trust, Avolio et al raise a pertinent question about how trust can be mediated in virtual environments. Clearly the authors take TL discussion away from the conventional organizations to those that are technologically-driven. In such cases, assert the authors, leadership style has to be more transactional than transformational. 2.2 Charisma Spreitzer et al (2007) relate charisma as a leadership quality tangentially with leader supportiveness and reveal that in the five countries which they surveyed both had a universal endorsement. On the contrary defectiveness and participativeness fetched positive endorsements only from Western countries. Jandaghi et al (2009) again relate charisma to idealized influence and opine that it is one of the most important components of TL, driven by idealized behaviours and idealized traits. Leaders who have charisma have a power to stimulate others to follow their perspectives. Avolio et al (2009) relate charisma to new-genre leadership and draw its parallels with being inspiring, visionary, ideological and morally-bound. Essential components of charisma include intellectual stimulation and individualized attention. According to the authors being charismatic can be established as one of the transformational leadership theories, which suggests that having charisma means activating followers' higher order values and increasing their aspirations. It also means establishing a synchrony between what both leaders and followers think so that the latter emulate former. Motivational constructs are central to charismatic behaviour and lead to positive outcomes in followers. 2.3 Vision None of the articles undermines the value of vision in an organization's journey towards success. Supported by statistical evidence, Lievens et al (1997) have emphasized the importance of organizational vision and also those of transformational leaders. In absence of the vision, leaders would not have a clear goal in view and would find it difficult to inspire their followers. Vision provides a strong motivational force for any change to take place in an organization. Charismatic leadership, they assert, can be founded on a shared vision, which is capable of instilling faith and pride in the followers. It makes possible for all to overcome obstacles. Previously, it has been demonstrated that in order to study the role of vision in the success of an organization, it has to be understood in conjunction with articulation, unconventional behaviour, environmental sensitivity, not maintaining status quo, personal risks involved and sensitivity to member needs. On the other hand, Spreitzer et al (2007) explain the effectiveness of a vision when applied with TL's other three dimensions of appropriate role model, high performance expectations and intellectual stimulation. Transformational leaders have to articulate a vision while defining the need for change and mobilizing follower commitment. Jandaghi et al (2009) express a difference of opinion and argue that the vision must be factual. When it is factual individuals respond to the organizations demand swiftly than if told by leaders. They want to be a part of the vision if they find it having substance. It is because a factual vision lets them share the insight of their organization's aims. The contrasting point of this paper on vision with other three is that it terms vision as one of many functional attributes; the others include being trustworthy, honest, service-oriented, a role model, empowerment and demonstrating appreciation of others' service. 2.4 Influence Influence is central to each article. Though some put a special emphasis on idealized influence, particularly in connection with charismatic leadership. Though Lievens et al (1997) rue that “influence of social desirability bias on the identification and measurement of transformational leadership dimensions has not been researched”. Spreitzer et al (2007) link influence to nepotism, obligative networks and conformity in traditional societies instead of the performance contingent on punishment and rewards. Basing their arguments on Kenneth Blanchard, Paul Hersey and Johnson Dewey, Jandaghi et al (2009) remark that TL is "an informed influence process in individuals or groups to create discontinuous changes in current conditions and organizational performance as a whole". Quoting few more researchers they seem to second the opinion that transactional leaders use incentives and punishment to influence followers for enhanced performance and transformational leaders use complicated and dynamic processes through which they exert influence over followers. This influence is driven by aims, values and beliefs. Transformational leaders must be gifted with inspirational attributes of conversations, initiatives and speech to create an influence over their followers. They have to evince followers' interest in them so that their transformational leadership can work. Avolio et al (2009) coincide with this view and term it as "patterns of reciprocal influence", which form the cornerstones towards development of further team member relationships and reinforcement. Further, they do not refute influence as being a multidirectional process. The process involves lateral and peer influence and even downward or upward influence. 3.0 Methodology Livens et al (1997) tested their hypothesis on 319 subjects chosen from three organizations, out of which 63 percent were male and average respondent age was 38 years. Average tenure for which respondents had worked in a specific organization was six years, and each organization had a diverse business interest. The study used multilevel questionnaire measuring transformational leadership, laissez-faire and transactional leadership styles. Correlations between various leadership sub-dimensions were computed and an exploratory factor analysis conducted. Jandaghi et al (2009) methodology involved comparing TL in less or more successful organizations at a moulding industry. It studied idealized influence charactersitics, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, ranking transformational leadership and individualized consideration. The aim was to check the main hypothesis that it is leadership model of leadership style that works in successful organizations and transformational leadership model that works in less successful organizations. Spreitzer et al (2007) tested its hypothesis on two samples of leaders with a focus on cultural value effects on leadership effectiveness and transformational leadership. One hundred and fifteen leaders were chosen from an Asian IT company which had operations in North America, Europe and Asia, and the other sample included 150 leaders from a North America-based global automobile company. 4.0 Overall Results Lievens et al (1997) study demonstrated that of the three leadership styles the most frequently opted one was transformational leadership, then transactional leadership and finally laissez-faire leadership. In Spreitzer et al (1997) the results showed that there was consistency across the two samples of leaders on six dimensions of leadership, their intercorrelations and their loadings. Jandaghi et al (2009) concluded that idealized influence was more or less the same in both successful and less successful companies. 5.0 Conclusion After analysing the four texts it can be seen that certain characteristics are central to transformational leadership. These include trust, charisma, values and vision. The study, in one form or another, reiterate that transformational leadership plays an important role in driving follower performance and increasing effectiveness of organizations. 6.0 References Avolio, B.J., Walumbwa, F.O., Weber, T.J., (2009). Annual Review of ]Psychology. 60:421–49. Jandaghi, G., Matin, H.Z., (2009). The Journal of International Social Research Volume 2/6. Lievens, F., Van Geit, P., Coetsier, P., (1997). Identification of Transformational Leadership Qualities: An Examination of Potential Biases. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 6(4), 415-430. Spreitzer, G., Perttula, K.H., Xin, K. (2007). Traditionality Matters: An Examination of the Effectiveness of Transformational Leadership in the U.S. and Taiwan. Michigan Business School, California State University and China Europe International Business School. Read More