Transformational Leadership in Social Work 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.
Research on management and leadership in organizations over the past century shows there are still no clear definitions or answers about what counts as effective and successful leadership; the field remains varied and argued. Actual studies of leadership began in the early twentieth century. The research and studies on leadership have resulted in defining what characters, traits and attitudes are considered to be significant for leaders to possess. The early studies of leadership theories focused on the person and their behaviors, currently known as leadership trait theories and behavioral theories. It is important for organizational leaders and managers to understand what characteristics, traits and actions of an individual mark a great leader when forming a strong diverse workforce.
The Trials & Tribulations of a Transformational Leader Brandon Kent ASU, PAF-410 September 22, 2016 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.
Transformational leadership consists of four components, being charisma or idealized influence, inspiration and vision, intellectual stimulation and individual consideration (Marshall, 2011). All of these components are of equal importance when employing transformational leadership, but the component that I find most personally applicable is charisma or idealized influence. As a student nurse, my surroundings are always changing, one moment I am on the labor and delivery unit with a group of peers and the next week I am with a totally different group of peers in a mental health facility. Being surrounded by an ever-changing group with ever changing goals and objectives I feel as though it is a challenge to emerge as a leader. It is my personal belief that in order to become a leader, some sort of personal connection must be forged, and this can be difficult with a revolving schedule. Conversely, it is also my opinion that despite how well one knows the people that they are surrounded by, if one knows themselves and their beliefs and values, their charisma will be evident. Being charismatic is about being a role model and inspiring others to follow based on the personal qualities that one exemplifies (Marshall, 2011). A charismatic leader knows who they are and where they are going and does everything with a
Transformational leaders must have a high level of self-confidence. It is this self-confidence that gives them the power to take action and lead. However, if they rely on their own thoughts, ideas, and actions alone, rather than collaborating with their followers, they are likely to fail as leaders.
Background 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
****Granted, every quality associated with transactional and transformational leadership may not easily serve the needs of the ethical public-sector leader. For example, risk-taking and commitment are elements of transformational leadership; however, Dobell (1989) argues that there are systemic reasons as to why public-sector leaders tend to avoid risk and sustain the status quo, and also that the attempts by public officials to satisfy various groups may be perceived as a lack of commitment and inconsistency. Nonetheless, other qualities such as honesty, optimism, fairness, inner direction, and the motivation of followers can add to the ethical climate of public-sector organizations. Thus, a public-sector leader who focuses on specific aspects of both
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).
Executive Summary of “Transformative Leadership: Achieving Unparalleled Excellence” For , MGT 3110 February 6, 2015 Abstract 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
Transformational leadership theory creates a positive change in their followers. This type of leadership takes care of the organizational interests and acts in the welfares for overall group as a whole. With this type of leadership, the leader increases the motivation, self-esteem and performance with their team (Kovjanic et al., 2012). Transformational leadership theory exceeds transactional leadership and rather than explaining a set of particular behaviors; it charts a continuing process by which "leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of morality and motivation" (Antonakis & House, 2014). Transformational leadership theory is based on leadership with morals and significance, and a purpose that exceeds short-term objectives
Describe the role of leadership types within teams. What are some of the primary reasons teams fail? What can be done to ensure team success? Give a personal example of team success. Support your discussion with appropriate leadership theories that apply.
Since transformational leadership is such a powerful force for change, history has seen its fair share of transformational leaders. Leaders in sports, politics, religion and business have used the transformational style to implement their visions and change the structures around them. Examining these leaders can help understand the frameworks and characteristics of this leadership style in detail.
Assessment of a study of the relationship between transformational leadership, empowerment and organizational commitment Introduction and Purpose of Study The implications of transformational leadership on a firm’s employees and the success of the firm overall are areas of ongoing research according to Ismail, Mohamed, Sulaiman, Mohamad, and Yusuf (2011). The authors make the case that in a changing global environment transformational leadership styles, rather than transactional styles, are a means organizations are using to meet their strategies (p. 90). They argue previous research suggests that some aspects of transformational leadership, such as empowerment, may motivate the followers to unite, change their own goals, and
As a leader and a manager, I continued to read a lot of articles on transformational leadership. I subjected myself to taking a lot of questionnaires on leadership prepared by popular leaders such as Blanchard, Gladwell, Maxwell, Burns, Riggio and Bass.
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