Tranformtaion Leadership Theory

One of the present and most widespread approaches to leadership that has been the focus of much research since the early 1980s is the transformational approach (Northouse, 20150211, p. 161). As its name infers, transformational leadership is a process that changes and transforms people. It is concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals. It includes assessing followers’ motives, satisfying their needs, and treating them as full human beings. Transformational leadership involves an exceptional form of influence that moves followers to accomplish more than what is usually expected of them;

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.

According to critics, the model places too much emphasis on the transformational qualities of the leader, thereby reinforcing the notion that the principal is the sole source of leadership at the school (Evers & Lakomski, 1996; Stewart, 2006). However, according to Leithwood and Jantzi (2006), their transformational leadership model does not assume that the principal will be the only source of leadership within the school and is consistent with the sharing of leadership with teachers and other stakeholders. Similarly to the views of the mentioned critics, Yukl (1999) has drawn attention to several conceptual weaknesses in transformational leadership theories, which include ambiguity in indentifying the processes for transformational leadership, which he suggested are used to explain the effects of the leader (principal) on school community. Given that scholars have had limited success in measuring the effects of a single leader on outcomes, the measurement of the effects of transformational leadership is even more challenging since it does not assume that leadership is concentrated on the principal alone (Hallinger, 2003). His most important finding concerned the fact that the transformational leadership behaviour of vision/inspiration was negatively associated with student learning culture. Barnett, McCormick and Conners (2001) suggested that visionary/inspirational principals may direct teachers’ efforts to wider school initiatives, thereby distracting them from their teaching and learning goals. If correct, this interpretation has negative implications for the transformational leadership model in relation to its presumed effects on student outcomes and turnaround

What distinguishes a transformational leader is the combination of head and heart, and the ability to understand and apply values effectively to connect with and influence the teachers and staff. Transformational leadership results in wide-ranging changes wherever it is introduced and is effective in solving problems in the school environment. The belief, commitment and the passion to ensure that Hawaii students experience the highest quality education and they soar above the rest when competing in the global economy, are what motivates me to serve as a transformational school

Transformational leaders engage with other people and create a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and follower. A transformational leader can protect herself or himself from the temptation to rely on their own thoughts, ideas, and actions by being open minded and consider

For instance, rather than focusing on the value of the person to the leader, the transformational leadership style inspires the follower to do better on a personal level, often resulting in an increased value among coworkers and leaders alike.

I have been requested to lead a Task Force to include myself and hospital staff, community leaders, and law enforcement. With the recent death of two intoxicated inmates and jail overcrowding, law enforcement are now giving arrestees an option of being transported to our local emergency room or to be taken to jail. Prior to the two inmates’ death, our hospital’s emergency room has not been involved with the issue of overcrowding jail cells. With this new implementation, our hospital and staff members have expressed concerns that we would like addressed. To resolve this conflict, I propose that we identify and analyze the underlying factors that have caused the change, for each of us to offer ideas to modify and change the current situation,

Transformational leaders express a clear vision, inspire others and work together with their team to identify common values and goals (Marquis and Huston 2009). They also recognise followers’ potential, assist them to develop their strengths and identify individual differences (Bass 2008).

The purpose of this study was to investigate how principals’ transformational leadership, teacher dispositions of efficacy, testing integrity, receptivity to change and job satisfaction predicted teacher placement in a higher or lower math achieving middle schools in suburban environments.

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.

Transformational leaders motivate and inspire followers to achieve extraordinary goals (Avolio and Bass, 2014), are process-oriented, and focus on being a leader (van Linden and Fertman). FRLT posits that transformational leadership is comprised of five factors (Antonakis, Avolio, and Sivasubramaniam, 2013; Avolio & Bass, 2014): (a) Idealized influence (attributed) refers to the perception that the leader is charismatic, confident, ethical, idealistic, and trust worthy; (b) Idealized influence (behavior) refers to leadership behavior that results in followers identifying with and wanting to emulate the leader; (c) Inspirational motivation refers to leadership that communicates high expectations, inspires commitment to a shared vision, and motivates

Transformational leaders poses a variety of skills that “motivates followers to do more than expected, by (a) raising followers’ levels of consciousness about the importance and value of specified and idealized goals, (b) getting followers to transcend their own self-interest for the sake of the team or organization, and (c) moving followers to address higher level needs” (Northouse, 2013, p. 190). Besides having specific skills to motivate followers, transformational leaders possess dominant personalities, have a desire to influence others, are self-confident, have high moral values and exhibit charismatic behavior (Northouse, 2013).

During the 1970’s leadership expert James M. Burns came up with the idea of transformational leadership. He believed that both leaders and followers should motivate each other to achieve a higher level of success. The concept of transformational leadership was then expanded on by Bernard Bass when he developed the Transformational Leadership Theory, which is comprised of four components. Those components are: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation (Cherry, 2016). Personality traits that transformational leaders possess are being a good communicator, charismatic, inspirational, trustworthy and influential (Smith, 2016).

Burns (1978) defined a transformational leader as “one who raises the followers’ level of consciousness about the importance and values of desired outcomes and the methods of reaching those outcomes” (p.141). According to Warrillow (2012) Transformational leadership theory is all about leadership that creates positive change in the followers whereby they take care of each other’s interests and act in the interests of the group as whole. By providing inspirational motivation to followers, it develops a less stressful environment and inspires them by taking individual responsibilities, challenges and positive view for the goals to achieve. It was described by Bass & Riggio (2006) Enthusiasm and optimism are key characteristics of inspirational motivation. Transformational leadership major focus is to provide coaching, individual attention and personal assistance to fulfill their needs and reaching their

“Transformational leadership is a newer leadership approach which creates valuable and positive change in their followers. Transformational leadership enhances motivation, morale, and performance as well as stimulates and inspires followers to achieve extraordinary outcomes and in the process develop their own leadership capacity. Transformational leaders also focus on “transforming” others to help each other, to look out for each other, to be encouraging and harmonious, and to look out for the organization as a whole.” (Bass, 2006)