Leadership Styles : Transformational Leadership

As Northouse (2015) explained, transformational leadership is a process that can change and transform the emotions, values, ethics, standard, and long term goals of the people. It also involves transforming followers to accomplish more than what is expected of them. The four factors that are closely associated with transformational leadership includes being an idealized influence or charisma leaders who act as strong role models, have a high standard of moral and ethical conduct, and deeply respected by his or her followers. A leader who can inspire and motivate their followers to be part of a shared vision of the organization. A leader who can also stimulate followers to become more creative and innovative, and provide the necessary coaches and advice to the followers (p.167).

It has come to notice that the theory of transformational leadership is relatively a primitive concept that did not emerge until the recent century. Nevertheless, the characteristics attributed to transformational leadership style have existed and come under

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

The transformational leader needs to direct people towards where they want to go and where they need to be in order to achieve the vision (Luzinski, 2011, p. 501). According to Luzinski (2011), success occurs when followers and leaders learn from each other, coming to a common understanding and establishing shared values, not because followers dutifully agree to listen (p. 502). Successful transformational leadership has four components: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration.

Have you ever had a leader that inspired you to develop your own leadership traits? “A leader is someone who demonstrates what’s possible” (Mark Yarnell, 2015). There are numerous leadership styles. Each of the numerous leadership styles can be beneficial if utilized in an appropriate means. I have chosen three leaders and their unique leadership styles to discuss in this paper. The unique styles that will be discussed are situational leadership, transformational leadership, and laissez-faire leadership. I will also discuss each leader’s approach, their fundamental leadership principles, and how each leader used their style within their profession.

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

Transformational leadership is described as a person who has the ability to make followers into leaders and promote change (Roussel & Swansburg, 2009). Transformational leadership encourages staff empowerment (Roussel & Swansburg, 2009). It is thought that if staff feels empowered then they will work harder by collaborating with each other instead

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.

During the past three decades, transformational leadership has helped to transform the workforce. The need for this type of inspirational style was recognized and explored in an original work called Leadership by James Macgregor Burns (1978). Burns believed that transformational leadership was a collaborative process that served to raise the morals and motivations of everyone involved (Leadership, 1978, 19). This type of leader works to inspire others with a goal or plan for the future. According the Marquis and Huston (2015) one of the key aspects of this style is the ability to empower others

Transformational leadership is a simple but revolutionary theory of leadership. According to Burns, the purpose of leadership is to motivate followers to work towards transcendental goals instead of immediate self-interest (Burns, J,M. 1978). No longer are simple day to day tasks the motivation to work but being inspired and intellectual stimulation. Management becomes an active force instead of a passive one.

Leadership comes in many different styles. Depending on the type of mission or goal one has each style of leadership can be helpful or harmful. One leadership style that has been found to work well in a career setting is transformational leadership (Doody and Doody, 2012). Transformational leaders are described as having a deep set of internal values that they encourage those under them to take part in, in the end the ultimate goal for transformational leader is to help the greater good (Doody and Doody, 2012). This type of leadership is especially important in a hospital setting, as everyone should have the health of his or her clients as their end goal. Transformational leadership is one of the most important leadership styles in regard to nursing, as it allows the employees to care about the people and encourages them to take risks and be creative with the ultimate goal of helping others. Becoming a transformational leader is an important aspect for me to learn as a nursing student and can only benefit me in the future. In order to become a transformational leader I must first learn about the qualities this leadership style entails and the effects it has on nursing.

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).

A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER is a person who stimulates and inspires followers to achieve extraordinary outcomes (Robbins, 2007)It has been shown to influence organisational members by transforming their values and priorities while motivating them to perform beyond their expectations (Rowold, 2007)Increased levels of job satisfaction & reduced turnover intentions are consequences of transformational leadership. It is all about leadership that creates positive change in the followers whereby they take care of each other’s interests and act in the interestsof the groupas a whole (Warrilow, 2012)

James Macgregor Burns, the man who first introduced the idea of Transformational leadership defined it as follows, “leaders and followers help each other to advance to a higher level of morale and motivation.”