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Transformational Leadership Essay

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A Call for Transformational Leaders in Today’s Corporate Structures Leadership styles have evolved with mankind since the beginning. Tribal leaders in the past were responsible for almost every facet of their clan’s well-being, including basic life necessities. As times evolved leaders took on more of a political role and the ruled kingdoms and became responsible for their civilizations continued existence. These leaders demanded loyalty from their subjects as their empire’s very existence relied on it. In today’s corporate landscapes, leadership demands innovation as this is the life source which propels a company forward and guarantees its existence in the future. The ability to engage and captivate a workforce is only something true …show more content…

68) This organization often times is represented by one’s own manager or leader. It is therefore incumbent on them to embody these characteristics of a highly emotionally intelligent individual. Two main categories of leader exist in the workforce: transformational and transactional. Both have the ability to develop high levels of emotional intelligence and perhaps an emotionally intelligent super star will default to one leadership style over the other depending on the situation. Each style has its own characteristics but this however doesn’t mean that one is right or wrong or that they are completely unrelated. In actuality “This means a leader can be both transactional and transformational and that hat transformational leadership builds on transactional leadership” (Bryman, 1993, p. 459) Does this then imply that a transformational leader outperforms and is more desired by a corporation and subordinates than a transactional leader? According to a study by Hartog, Muijan, and Koopman (1997) “Transformational leaders when compared to transactional leaders were shown to have subordinates who report greater satisfaction” (p. 23) This in turn leads to higher functioning groups who consistently show increase performance and effectiveness scores. This implies that transformational leaders are more pleasant to work with but lacks the backing to definitively state that they always produce

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