TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP: THE TRANSFORMATION OF MANAGERS AND ASSOCIATES
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP: THE
TRANSFORMATION OF MANAGERS AND ASSOCIATES
Figure 1. Credit: linetic/iStock/Thinkstock.com
INTRODUCTION
The role every manager must fill in the
workplace is leadership. Northouse (2001) defines leadership as a process
whereby one individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common
goal. A transformational leadership approach can help managers become
exceptional leaders. This article will explain the transformational leadership
approach by discussing its strengths, weaknesses, and steps for application.
There are four factors
to transformational leadership. Each factor will be discussed to help managers
use this approach in the workplace.
Each of the four
components describes characteristics that are valuable to the
"transformation" process. transformational leadership were more
effective leaders with better work outcomes.
STRENGTHS AND
WEAKNESSES OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
As with any theory or
approach to leadership, strengths and weaknesses become evident. Northouse
(2001) identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the transformational
leadership approach as follows:
- Strengths are widely researched
(using well-known leadership strategies), and effectively influence
associates on all levels (from one-on-one to the whole organization); strong
leaders identify and emphasize associates' needs and values.
• Weak leadership may have too many
components that focus superficially rather than identifying appropriate depth
of engagement and treat leadership more as a personality trait than as a learned
behavior; they have the potential for abusing power.
APPLYING
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
According to Northouse
(2001), a transformational leader has the following qualities:
- empowers followers to do what is
best for the organization
- is a strong role model with high
values
- listens to all viewpoints to
develop a spirit of cooperation
- creates a vision, using people in
the organization
- acts as a change agent within the
organization by setting an example of how to initiate and implement change
• helps the organization by helping
others contribute to the organization
CONCLUSION
Transformational leadership is a vital role
for effective managers because leader effectiveness determines the ultimate
success of the organization. According to Hesselbein and Cohen (1999, p. 263),
organizations that take the time to teach leadership are far ahead of the
competition. By becoming familiar with the transformational leadership approach
and combining the four I's, managers can engage as effective leaders in the
business world.
REFERENCES
Hesselbein, F., and Cohen,
P.M. (1999). Leader to Leader. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Publishers.
Northouse, P.G. (2001) . Leadership Theory and Practice, second edition. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Walton, S.( 1996) Sam
Walton: Made in America: My Story. Canada: Bantam Books.
Workers can feel engaged to their organization thanks to transformational leadership. Transformational leaders inspire followers by enhancing their self-efficacy, facilitating social identification within a group, and connecting organizational values to the values of their followers. This increases followers' confidence in their job and increases their sense of empowerment (Lynch, 2016).
ReplyDeleteImportant topic for every company & I think transformational leaders know how to encourage, inspire and motivate employees to perform in ways that create meaningful change. The result is an engaged workforce that's empowered to innovate and help shape an organization's future success.
ReplyDeleteTransformational leadership is a leadership style in which leaders encourage, inspire and motivate employees to innovate and create change that will help grow and shape the future success of the company. This is accomplished by setting an example at the executive level through a strong sense of corporate culture, employee ownership and independence in the workplace.
ReplyDeleteTransformational leadership, focuses on the needs of others, rather than the needs of the leader. Similar to servant leadership, but differs because in each style the leader has a different focus.
ReplyDelete