Contemporary Views of Leadership: Nigerian Context

Over the past twenty years, an abundant body of researches have been done to review transformational leadership and transactional leadership. Burn (1978) was the first person to introduce and conceptualize the concept of transformational leadership and transactional leadership. Bass (1985) based on Burn’s concept and deepen his notion with modifications, which stated that one of the best frameworks of leadership is transformational or transactional, but not opposing to each other. Followed by Bass and Avolio (1994), they provide the idea of these two leaderships and generalize them into the development of global economic world. Bass and Avolio (1997) also suggested that there was no need to view transformational and

Lynch and Friedman (2013) express that “Servant leadership is a valuable approach in politics and industry. Adding the spiritual component−striving to build a spiritual workplace and working to improve society− completes the paradigm and makes it more valuable as a leadership theory” (p.

Unquestionably, the greatest of leaders have always been guided by a vision and gathered follows to share in that vision. Transformational leadership was created by presidential biographer and leadership expert James MacGregor Burns as a way to categorize the traits and leadership style which most visionary leaders posses. According to Burns, transformational leadership is apparent when, “’leaders and followers make each other advance to a higher level of morality and motivation (Burns).’” It is a transformational leader’s nature and

“This book is a call to leadership by the Book, that, is the Bible.” The essential elements of biblical leadership are discussed in detail in the book, the most indispensable being “teaching the Word of God as the life-changing power of God.” The crucial function of the biblical leader is teaching God’s Word clearly, in context to those willing to receive it. In doing this, the ideas of business leadership, will not always be the best model to use (Bredfeldt 2006,15). In the first chapter, Bredfeldt, discusses the basic principles of great biblical leadership, these principles find application in almost any leadership role. If one wishes to be an effective leader, the maximum leadership principles of influence, bringing great change, and

Transformational leadership was a concept initiated by Dr. James Downton in 1973, a Sociologist (Ph.D.) from Berkeley, following his research into modern activism and novel new religious movements (NRM). James Macgregor Burns cemented the concept of transformational leadership in his 1978 work, Leadership. Burns, a military veteran, and Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard had a strong conviction to run for political office but found success as a presidential biographer. Transactional leadership gained popularity with the premise of charisma as a means to influence people or actions. For Burns, the positive side of intrinsic motivation for an organization’s followership was intended to fit the needs of the group, no matter the level of uncertainty present. He also posited that leadership is distinct from power in that followers have a human need for leadership (Northouse, 2013). The controversy of transformational leadership may stem more from Downton’s work regarding

The organization that I am apart of requires both transactional and transformational leadership skills and traits. Throughout the paper I have explained the effectiveness of leadership for the purpose of organizing and influencing followers in order to achieve organizational goal. The theories of transactional and transformational leadership expounds on the aforementioned by further “ explaining the

In 1985, Bernard Bass expanded upon the work of Burns by attempting to determine and define how transformational leadership impacts follower outcomes. Bass postulates that transformational leaders are able to share their vision with followers and resultantly influence inspirational outcomes, and he identified four elements of transformational leadership: individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence (1985). In a departure from Burn’s belief that transactional and transformational leadership are mutually exclusive styles (1978), Bass suggests that truly effective leadership must demonstrate both transformational and transactional style (1985).

The domain of leadership theory and research has had many conceptualizations proposed over the last few years (Avolio & Bass, 2003). These conceptualizations seem to have generated recent interest in the distinction among transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership research (Bass, 1990). Yukl (1998) noted that transformational leaders get followers to do as they desire by transforming them or changing the followers themselves. According to Barlow, Jordan, and Hendrix (2003), a transformational leader generates an image that awakens trust from subordinates and develops relationships that enable subordinates to move toward goal attainment using their knowledge, skills, and material resources to accomplish that end. Unlike transformational leaders, transactional leaders pursue a cost benefit exchange approach that does not change subordinates and uses portion or organizational resources to meet subordinates needs in return for contracted needs rendered by the subordinates (Bass, 1990). Although these forms might appear diametrically opposed, most theorists agree with Bass that they are not mutually exclusive. While transformational, transactional, and passive/avoidant leadership are conceptually distinct, the same individuals on a continuum might display these leadership behaviors by different amounts and different intensities (Bass & Avolio,

Transformational leadership. Burns (1978) is recognized as one of the earliest theorist on transformational leadership, who introduced transformational leadership over 30 years ago. Transformational leaders are perceived as leaders who uplift their employee morale, subsequently uplifting the entire organizational. Transformational leaders are known by their capacity to inspire followers to forgo self-interests in achieving superior results for the organization (Clawson, 2006). Avolio and Yammarino (2002) shared Bass’s explanation of transformational leadership as leaders who act as agents of change that stimulate, and transform followers’ attitudes, beliefs, and motivate from lower to higher level of arousal.

This study also seeks to understand how these women incorporate spirituality into their leadership practices and role as a leader.

Drucker (2005) discussed leaders with values that fit with the organization. At PONAZ, as a Christian organization, leaders must demonstrate characteristics that identify them as Christ followers. Evans (1996) discussed leaders needing to “walk the talk” (p.2). Some of the Christ-like characteristics include loving people, listening to

Over the past twenty years, an abundant body of researches have been done to review transformational leadership and transactional leadership. Burn (1978) was the first person to introduce and conceptualize the concept of transformational leadership and transactional leadership. Bass (1985) based on Burn’s concept and deepened his notion with modifications, which stated that one of the best frameworks of leadership is transformational or transactional. Following Bass and Avolio (1994, p. 4) provided the idea of these two leaderships and generalized them into the development of global economic world. Bass and Avolio (1997) also suggested that there was no need to view transformational and transactional leadership as

Transformational leadership is a leadership style that promotes change as well as improves performance in the organization as a whole as well as on the individual employee level (Phaneuf, Boudrias, Rousseau, & Brunelle, 2016). James MacGregor Burns first introduced transformational leadership in his book titled Leadership that he authored in 1978. Burns defined transformational leadership as leadership that stems from one’s core unchanging values and beliefs. Burns believed that transformational leaders not only bring together their followers, but also positively influence their follower’s values and beliefs in a way that brings about positive change (Humphreys & Einstein, 2003).

Transformational Leadership Theory was developed by political sociologist James Mac Gregor Burns. In this theory, he differentiated two styles of leadership: transformational leadership and transactional leadership. In transformational leadership, it is a process where both the leaders and the followers elevate motivation and morality. The transformational leaders pay attention to the needs and motives of followers and help them achieve their fullest potential. They influence their followers’ behaviors by appealing to the ideas and values and enhance the followers’ commitment to their vision.

However transformational leadership is a process of gathering higher levels of motivation and commitment. Bass (1992) theory of transformational leadership firsts focused on ‘’compering effects of transformational and transactional leadership on individual performance, satisfaction and effectiveness’’ (Ozaralli 2003:335). However it was also linked to effectiveness, innovations and improvement (Bass, 1995). Bass (1995) have given four dimensions of transformational leadership: Charisma, Individual consideration, intellectual stimulation and inspiration.