Eevaluating the Concept of Transformational Leadership - Term Paper Example

?Term Paper Business organizations in the current scenario are struck by changes in the commodities and services demand scenario of the external market. This spontaneous flux observed in regard to market demand happens to jeopardize the profitability and productivity paradigm of the business concerns. Therefore, the leaders of business organizations involved focus on bringing about changes or alterations in the supply chain systems and manufacturing and production processes to help the concerns gain on profitability and market shares. In this regard, the paper attempts to evaluate the concept of transformational leadership and derive potential solutions for the problems involved. 1. Supply Chain Problems in Business Organizations The external environment of business corporations is countering large amount of changes in regard to alterations in demand for the products and services by the consumer sphere. Therefore, business organizations feel the requirement of strategizing the business operations in strict adherence to changing market demands. Supplies of goods and services must reach the end consumer on time. Furthermore, the manufacturing and supply chain operations need to be carried out with a focus on the changes in the demand sphere. Absence of demand driven supply chain systems for business organizations tends to make the production activities obsolete, leading to a loss of productivity, profitability, and blockage of working capital (Tai, Ho, and Wu 5397-5398). 2. Concept of Transformational Leadership Transformational leadership or the ability to transform focuses on incorporating a visionary approach in dealing with a change or alteration of the present state of operations or conduct. Such visionary approach implies that the transformational leader focuses on generating key strategies based on objectives the organization is to achieve. A transformational leader is required to work on effective communication to help people working at different levels to receive a clear understanding of their way of approach. Such enhancement of the communication activities helps in generating confidence in the minds of the people to work collaboratively in the atmosphere of change. The change leader is required to reflect on the benefits the people and the concern will accrue in regard to the change process. Such transparency in communication between the leader and the subordinate groups instills confidence and, therefore, motivates the people to work more productively (Chen, Preston, and Xia 258-259). The transformational leader in regard to business organizations is found to incorporate the systems of information technology to enhance the working potential of the firm. The incorporation and use of information technology on a mass scale helps the firm to augment the level of resource utilization in achieving key managerial objectives. The transformational leader observes that the use of information technology in regard to business operations helps enhance the skills of the employees and efficiency of business processes. The alignment of information technology with the firm’s operations helps the concern enhance the operational and business processes, helping them to meet market demands effectively. The transformational leader gains efficiency in aligning the information technology incorporated with human and other organizational resources in different departments and levels. Transformational leaders are thereby required to effectively train, and communicate to, the people based on new objectives and skills to be gained to achieve the objectives underlined. Therefore, transformational or change leadership is a demand-centric approach which works best when focused on changes or alterations in the market demand for the services or commodities (Grant 471-472; Defee, Stank, Esper, and Mentzer 70). 3. Transformational Leadership in Generating Business Solutions The following segments reflect the transformational activities involved in supply chain systems, which an organizational leader can effectively incorporate to achieve both organizational and market productivity. It reflects the changes in the technological and business processes used by the organizational manager through effective incorporation of information technology. 3.1 Incorporation of Electronic Commerce Applications in Supply Chain The parameter of transformational leadership in regard to supply chain operations involves the business manager in effectively communicating with the supply chain group to share business and market information. Changes in market demand aptly communicated based on electronic commerce techniques help the firm to produce the required quantity and pattern of commodities. This fact helps reduce costs of production and also effectively counter business risks in regard to shift in market demands. The transformational leader reflects that incorporation of electronic commerce applications based on market demands helps to augment the number of stock turns for the concern (Dedrick, Xu, and Zhu 66-68; Wong, Lai, and Cheng 187-188). 3.2 Creation of Agile Supply Chain Systems The transformational leader aims to relate the supply chain activities of a concern to the different levels and types of orders placed by the end consumers. Hence the production activities of the company are driven by the effect of changes in market demand. The supply chain and production systems of the company are transformed, as products are produced in small quantities depending on market demand. High amount of value addition is rendered to the products belonging to large assortments aimed at satisfying the needs of consumers. As the number of varieties produced along each product range is small, market hype is created for the styles involved. Again, the price for the products is set at an economical range to help satisfy the needs of consumers. The above transformational approaches are held to help the business organization gain on profitability enabled through cost reduction and market productivity (Towill 38; Borgstrom and Hertz 364-366). 3.3 Devising Supply Chain Systems based on Market Demand The business transformational leader focusing on changes in the market demand can focus on enhancing the supply chain system through the incorporation of point-of-sales system and ERP Approaches. The incorporation of point-of-sales system in the different stores helps to create a large database of the demand styles of consumers in regard to the products produced. Such system guides the business house to produce such products which are in high demand and remove those whose demand has become obsolete. Furthermore, the incorporation of ERP systems helps the business corporation to rightly align the different organizational resources to produce the right commodity at the right time. It enhances the optimization and efficiency level of the supply chains and production systems of the company (Gosain, Malhotra, and El Sawy 9-12; Zeier et al 59-61). 4. Summarization The act of transformational leadership focuses on acting based on a visionary approach, which implies that a transformational leader guides subordinate groups to operate based on setting a particular vision. The leader is required to effectively inform the people of the benefits that would be gained by them and the concern due to the incorporation of the change process. In this regard, the paper discusses the transformational process used by the organizational leader within the paradigm of supply chain activities. Owing to major shifts occurring in the market demand of the products, business organizations tend to incur abrupt losses both in the productivity and financial paradigms. The paper discusses different transformational processes that can be ushered in by the business manager through the incorporation of information technology in a supply chain. Technological processes like the point-of-sales system help the business concern to gain hold of effective databases pertaining to consumer demand and aligning key resources to achieve organizational goals. Works Cited Borgstrom, Benedikte, and Susanne Hertz. “Supply Chain Strategies: Changes in Customer Order-Based Production”. Journal of Business Logistics 32.4 (2011): 361-373. Business Source Premier. Web. 7 June, 2012. Chen, Daniel Q., David S. 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Grant, Adam M. “Leading With Meaning: Beneficiary Contact, Prosocial Impact, and The Performance Effects Of Transformational Leadership”. Academy of Management Journal 55.2 (2012): 458-476. Business Source Premier. Web. 7 June, 2012. Tai, Yi-Ming, Chin-Fu Ho, and Wen-Hsiung Wu. “The performance impact of implementing Web-based e-procurement systems”. International Journal of Production Research 48.18 (2010): 5397-5414. Business Source Premier. Web. 7 June, 2012. Towill, Denis. “Decoupling for Supply Chain Competitiveness”. IEE Manufacturing Engineer 84.1 (2005): 36-39. Business Source Premier. Web. 7 June, 2012. Wong, Christina W.Y., Kee-Hung Lai, and T.C.E. Cheng. “Value of Information Integration to Supply Chain Management: Roles of Internal and External Contingencies”. Journal of Management Information Systems 28.3 (2012): 161-199. Business Source Premier. Web. 7 June, 2012. Zeier, Alexander et al. “Integration of RFID Technology Is a Key Enabler for Demand-Driven Supply Network”. The IUP Journal of Supply Chain Management 6.3 (2009): 57-74. Business Source Premier. Web. 7 June, 2012. Read More