Transformational Leadership And Leadership Theory Essay

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

For centuries leaders have been analyzed in order to determine what the traits and characteristics of a successful leader are. Leadership, as defined by Koontz and Weihrich (2008) is “the art or a process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals” (p. 311). Leadership plays an important role in employee’s participation, creativity, recruitment to an organization, their commitment to the organization, and productivity levels. Over the years, there have been a number of theories surrounding leadership such as the “Great Man” theory, which, according to Riaz and Haider (2010), “assumes that leaders are born and have innate qualities, therefore, leaders

There are many models of leadership that exist across a range of fields (e.g. social work, education, psychology, business, etc.). The ability to transform an organization successfully requires a different set of attitudes and skills. Transformational leadership is an approach where a leader utilizes inspiration, charisma, individualized attention, and intellectual stimulation with their employees (Iachini, Cross, & Freedman, 2015, p. 651). Transformational leadership helps to clarify organizational vision, inspires employees to attain objectives, empowers employees, encourages employees to take risks, and advocates the seeking of alternative solutions to challenges in the workplace (Transformational Leadership, 2015). It allows the leader to engage and motivate each follower identify with the organization’s values and goals.

A Transformational Leader is a person who assesses a country, or organization/company, and recognizes the need for a change in the entity and is able to envision what this change should be. The transformational leader not only envisions the necessary change but has the required personality and strength of character that will enable them to influence others to buy into their vision and make it their own, and hence be willing to follow the leader in the quest to bring about the vision.

Throughout time, many books and papers have been written to study the birthplace of leadership failure, its causes, results, and ultimately, the best way to oversea these situations to avoid future failures. Some leadership experts, may argue that the best way to learn how to lead, is to study successful leadership outcomes and more importantly, how former miscalculations were committed and as a result, what gran plan was used that resulted in the leaders turnaround success. To be a great leader, the individual has to be cognate of what elements, including external and internal impact, resulted in their failure, as well as, how to avoid leadership oversight in the future. In this paper, I will attempt to do just that, as I will incorporate the transactional and transformational leadership theory from this course and apply them to the leadership failures of one of the most entertaining leadership failures of all time: the DeLorean Motor Company.

Some think shiny jets like the F-22 Raptor or the F-35 Lightning II make the United States Air Force (USAF) the best in the world. I don’t. The USAF as we know it wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for transformational leaders. We, by ‘we’ I mean Airmen, tend to think of ourselves as employed in a technical occupation, turning wrenches or pushing buttons or adding up figures. But we are in the Service of Ideas, ideas like “man can fly” and “air superiority is critical to national defense.” But flying itself didn’t create an air force. Having the idea that mastery of the “Wild Blue Yonder” would make the United States (US) military the best and most lethal in the world, and that the US Army did not fully appreciate that idea, was a job only a transformational leader could accomplish.

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.

Transformational LeadershipTransformational leadership is a style of leadership model that identifies needed change, creates vision through inspiration, and executes the change with the commitment of members to revitalize the organization (Olden 2015). The term transformational leadership was first coined by James M Burns in 1978, based on the idea that leaders and followers can make each other advance to a higher level of morality and motivation. In which the leader focuses on the beliefs, needs, and values of their followers. Transformational leaders are generally energetic, enthusiastic, and passionate. Not only are these leaders concerned and involved in the process; they are also focused on helping every member ofthe group succeed as

This paper summarizes the article written by Cam Caldwell, Rolf D. Dixon, Larry A. Floyd, Joe Chaudoin, Johnathan Post, and Gaynor Cheokas regarding the need for a new type of leadership in today’s social work environment, defined as Transformative leadership. The article itself varies in the definition, however in a broad sense Transformative leadership is maintaining good moral standing and sound business ethics among employees and individuals inside and outside the workplace. However, in order to reach this theoretical level of business related moral and ethical leadership known as

There are many leadership theories that discuss how different leaders lead within their agency. Transformational leadership theory says that these type of leaders have the ability to provide “innovation and change by creating an inspiring vision, shaping values, building relationships, and providing meaning for followers” (Daft, 2014). This is similar to a charismatic leader but transformational leaders recognize the follower’s needs and concerns and lead the followers to not only believe in the leader but also believe in themselves. (Daft, 2014). In Transformational Leadership and Change: How Leaders Influence Their Followers’ Motivation Through Organizational Justice they learn through their research and

An author that is consistently referred to by Yukl, 2013 is James M. Burns, 1978 on transformational leadership. According to Burns, transforming leadership is a process in which "leaders & followers help each other to advance to a higher level of morale and motivation" (Burns, 1978). Burns (1978) informs the readers that the purported difference between leadership and management is in the character and behavior. Burns’s (1978) perspective on leadership has been used by others to develop leadership theories and influence on followers for positive performance (Yukl, 2013). Burns (1978) is said to have developed the idea that transformational leaders change the behavior and motivations of followers. In other words, influence on followers can be determined by the leadership method, behavior, and style. Transformational leaders strive to motivate and change followers’ mentality to redirect energy into action to complete the goals and mission of the organization (Burns, 1978). The argument is that the character and traits of the leader transforms and motivates subordinates to perform better and better (Yukl, 2013).

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 can play a role in creating a successful team. It can also be the process that changes and transforms people dealing with emotions, values, ethics, and standards. Transformational Leadership is the process whereby a person engages others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower (Northhouse , 186). This applies to a team because you always have to be able to connect and motivate others

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).

Being able to lead a group or someone is a very powerful action. Being a leader in general is very powerful. Leadership is an art that is painted, sculpted, and displayed in all sorts of ways. There are many different styles of leadership that correspond with different tasks. From transformational leadership to laissez-faire leadership, there are various styles throughout the continuum. A transformational leader is one of the best, more successful leadership style. When going down the continuum, the leadership styles only become less effective. Everyone also falls in distinctive categories when it comes to leading others. The leadership style that is displayed depends on the person leading and those who are being led along with the task.