Transformational Leadership According to Bennis and Nanus - Research Paper Example

? Transformational Leadership according to Bennis and Nanus of Transformational Leadership Introduction Leadership is a function of a leader which involves application of the most effective strategies, skills and abilities to motivate the followers with a view of attaining a common purpose or goal for a specific organization, group, agency or institution (Salter, Green, Duncan, Berre, & Torti, 2010). Transformational leadership is a leadership style or approach which basically motivates change within a group, organization, culture or the way of doing things for a common purpose of achieving goals with effectiveness (Nazari & Emami, 2012). Many views have been postulated by researchers on what transformational leadership is, what the characteristics of a transformational leader are, and on the effectiveness of this leadership trait within an organization. In 1985, Bennis and Nanus conducted a research on transformational leadership. Their research resulted in fresh and significant findings on what transformational leadership is (McKee, Driscoll, Kelloway, & Kelley, 2011). This research paper gives a critical analysis and research-based discussion on what transformational leadership is in accordance to the postulates of the study by Bennis and Nanus. The paper will specifically focus on transformational leadership within health care systems and the management of health care professionals. Bennis and Nanus Research on Transformational Leadership Bennis and Nanus noticed that corporations used quantifiable criteria to judge and evaluate their leaders and executives. These criteria included the technical competence of an executive, conceptual skills, people skills, track record, character, judgment and taste. In accordance to Bennis and Nanus, leadership competencies cannot be quantified (Trofino, 2008). In this regard, they conducted a research in large corporations and organizations that were undergoing significant transformation. This is due to the fact that positive transformation is equated to good leadership (Simola, Barling, & Turner, 2012). Through their research, Bennis and Nanus revealed that in addition to the aforementioned criteria of judging effectiveness in a leader, there were additional attributes among transformational leaders. These characteristics contributed to the effectiveness of transformational leaders in motivating change within the organizations which they led (Salter, Green, Duncan, Berre, & Torti, 2010). Four main leadership attributes were identified among leaders in transforming organizations as described below. According to the investigation of Bennis and Nanus, the first and major attribute of leaders within transforming organizations is vision (McKee, Driscoll, Kelloway, & Kelley, 2011). Transformational leaders are visionaries. This means that they have a clear and specific vision. These leaders, therefore, had a picture of the state of their organization at a specified future date. In this regard, transformational leaders are motivated by the need to drive the organization to the envisioned state (Nazari & Emami, 2012). These leaders realize that it is through their employees or followers that the vision can be achieved and, as a result, they communicate clearly what goals they must work to achieve (Thompson, 2012). In health care delivery systems, transformational leadership is, therefore, an approach or style to leadership which motivates healthcare professionals towards achievement of a specified vision. For example, transformational leaders within health care organizations would envision the growth of the health system that will entail the application of modern technologies in care. In this regard, the transformational leaders will ensure that the culture of care providers is changed so that they will accept the implemented technologies. This includes their willingness to attend training programs that will equip them with skills and knowledge of applying technology in care. More specifically, transformational leaders must ensure that the focus of their followers is on the attainment of the vision (McKee, Driscoll, Kelloway, & Kelley, 2011). Bennis and Nanus further found out that leaders within transforming organizations created meaning among employees through effective communication (Nazari & Emami, 2012). These leaders are good communicators of the current situation of the organization with a view of helping subordinates to picture a state where the desired effects and goals are realized (Salter, Green, Duncan, Berre, & Torti, 2010). Through proper communication, transformational leaders create an image among the followers which motivates them and evokes their enthusiasm towards achieving the desired goals and positive effects (McKee, Driscoll, Kelloway, & Kelley, 2011). Through communication, a transformational leader makes employees be committed to achieving the set goals, mission and vision (Trofino, 2008). Communication is a very vital element within health care systems. Such communication includes effective description of the goals of health care programs to employees. Moreover, communication entails making employees aware of the decisions and policies of the organization (Nazari & Emami, 2012). More importantly, communication is used within health care systems to provide feedback to the care providers in regard to their performance in provision of quality and patient-centered care (McKee, Driscoll, Kelloway, & Kelley, 2011). In this sense, it is arguable that it takes a transformational leader to achieve effective management of health care systems and organizations. Through effective communication, the norms and standards of an organization are made known to employees by transformational leaders (Simola, Barling, & Turner, 2012). This leads to the achievement of desired effects through ethical, standardized and client-focused service delivery. According to the findings of Bennis and Nanus, transformational leaders created trust among their followers through clear positioning within the organization (Ozaralli, 2008). This means that these leaders recognize that it is through predictability that trust is achieved. Because of this understanding, transformational leaders make their position and role within the organization clear and well-defined to the employees (Nazari & Emami, 2012). Through positioning, transformational leaders make their position in relation to the vision of the organization known, due to which their followers respect them as visionary leaders (Salter, Green, Duncan, Berre, & Torti, 2010). Health care organizations require that their leaders are reliable and trustworthy. This is because of the social, economic, ethical and legal dilemmas and uncertainties which inevitably characterize health care delivery. Because of this, the healthcare providers must be able to trust their leaders and the decisions that they make. Transformational leaders achieve trust from their followers when they define their position and role in decision-making (McKee, Driscoll, Kelloway, & Kelley, 2011). Nonetheless, these leaders must demonstrate that their decisions and roles are geared towards the achievement of the goals and vision of the organization without negative social, legal, ethical and economic implications (Simola, Barling, & Turner, 2012). Bennis and Nanus further reveal that the manner in which transformational leaders deploy themselves in relation to their followers differentiates them from other leaders (McKee, Driscoll, Kelloway, & Kelley, 2011). This is achieved through a positive regard of self (Duygulu & Kublay, 2011). Transformational leaders have the ability of recognizing their strengths and those of subordinates. More important though is the fact that these leaders make use of these strengths to compensate for possible weaknesses that exist within the human resource and the leaders themselves (Salter, Green, Duncan, Berre, & Torti, 2010). Moreover, transformational leaders deploy themselves as leaders who nurture discipline, skills, creativity and innovativeness. This motivates the capacity of employees for improvement and transformation (Trofino, 2008). The ability of transformational leaders to cause change, however, is argued to lie in their ability to match the skills and talents of employees with roles and work activities which are congruent to these skills (Nazari & Emami, 2012). Furthermore, transformational leaders tolerate failure because they appreciate the fact that achievement is attained through tying (Grant, 2012). As a result of this, employees are encouraged to try new ways of doing things and thus become creative and innovative. The creativity which transformational leaders promote among employees in return causes positive change within the organization. Key Points on Transformational Leadership Through their research, Bennis and Nanus put emphasis on key leadership qualities which characterize transformational leaders as champions of change. It is, however, important to note that the key attributes of a transformational leader as postulated by Bennis and Nanus are an addition to the previous research on leadership (McKee, Driscoll, Kelloway, & Kelley, 2011). Firstly, leadership is an adjunct of character. Therefore, transformational leaders receive admiration from their followers due to the fact that they deploy desirable leadership characteristics such as courage and charisma (Simola, Barling, & Turner, 2012). Secondly, transformational leaders have the ability of keeping the organizations that they lead very competitive within the market (Salter, Green, Duncan, Berre, & Torti, 2010). This is through promotion of creativity and innovativeness in the production of quality and service delivery. More specifically, transformational leaders have the ability to develop a desirable organizational culture. This can be exemplified by a health care organization and system where the desires and interests of health care professionals must be geared towards the achievement of patient-centered and quality care, ethical practice and morality. Furthermore, a transformational leader must illustrate determination in achieving the goals and vision of the organization through the subordinates (Sadeghi & Pihie, 2012). Lastly, transformational leaders exhibit attributes of sociality, relationship with employees, communication, trustworthiness and are driven by the need to meet the vision of their organization (Trofino, 2008). Pros and Cons of Transformational Leadership Transformational leadership is an area of research that has been widely studied since the 1970. This shows that this approach or style is credible as regards leading organizations towards positive change (Duygulu & Kublay, 2011). Moreover, it is argued that there is an intuitive appeal that is associated with transformational leadership style (McKee, Driscoll, Kelloway, & Kelley, 2011). This is demonstrated by the fact that the popular notion of the society concerning what effective leadership means is congruent to transformational leadership research findings (Nazari & Emami, 2012). Transformational leadership is also advantageous because its main emphasis and focus is on the needs, morals and values of the followers (Salter, Green, Duncan, Berre, & Torti, 2010). Furthermore, transformational leadership gives a much broader view on what effective leadership is as opposed to other models of leadership. Nonetheless, transformational leadership has been described as difficult to measure and lacking clarity. Moreover, this form of leadership is limited to organizations which need to change. Conclusion In the light of the above discussion, it should be concluded that transformational leadership has been proven to be an effective style of motivating positive changes within organizations. Through their research on transforming organizations, Bennis and Nanus revealed four main notions which are used to describe transformational leadership. Bennis and Nanus postulate that transformational leaders have a clear and specific vision, which is communicated to their followers, about the future state of the organization. Moreover, transformational leaders are described by the findings of these researchers as social architects within the organizations that they lead. This is due to their communicational nature, propensity for creating relationships and involving their followers in decision-making. Furthermore, transformational leaders make their roles and position distinctly known to followers, which leads to creation of trust in organizational leadership. Finally, transformational leaders position themselves in relation to their employees with high self-regard and support for creativity and innovativeness. References Duygulu, S., & Kublay, G. (2011). Transformational leadership training program for charge nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 67(3), 633-642. Grant, A. M. (2012). Leading with meaning: Beneficiary contact, prosocial impact, and the performance effects of transformational leadership. Academy Of Management Journal, 55(2), 458-476. McKee, M. C., Driscoll, C., Kelloway, E., & Kelley, E. (2011). Exploring linkages among transformational leadership, workplace spirituality and well-being in health care workers. Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion, 8(3), 233-255. Nazari, K., & Emami, M. (2012). Leadership – a critical review of the concept. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 3(9), 545-553. Ozaralli, N. (2008). Effects of transformational leadership on empowerment and team effectiveness. 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