"Transformational Leadership in Organizations in the 21st Century"
Prepared by: Tanya Wilson 9912771
MBA3 Saturday Group
A paper submitted for the Leadership and Strategy Implementation Course in partial fulfilment of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) Programme
University of Technology, Jamaica
July 17, 2010
Table of Contents
Page
Title Page 1
Table of Contents 2
Introduction 3
Management versus Leadership 3
Are Great Leaders Born or Made? 5
The Role of Transformational Leadership in Organizational Performance 6
Conclusion 7
References 8
Introduction
Globalization along with
…show more content…
2) Inspirational motivation – articulating appeal visions, focusing followers’ efforts and modelling appropriate behaviours to energize followers. 3) Individualized consideration – supportive behaviour (encouraging, caring, complimenting, taking interest in follower’s development). 4) Intellectual stimulation – frame alignment behaviours (realignment of thinking/ perspective, promotes creative thinking).
Are Leaders Born or Made?
The phrase “great leaders born not made” has been popularized by many psychologists and sociologists. The Great Man Theory of leadership associated with the nineteenth century historian Thomas Carlyle argued that “heroes shape history through the vision of their intellect, the beauty of their art, the prowess of their leadership, and, most important, their divine inspiration”. (Hirsch, Kett and Trefil 2002). This thinking that great leaders are born, not made has evolved over time as leadership becomes more widely researched and understood. Although we may agree that leaders can be made, the most effective transformational leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, our own Michael Manley and Marcus Garvey been known to produce extraordinary results possessed the innate personality traits of a great leader. Some of the most distinctive characteristics of a
Leadership is the most essential aspect of a successful operation; without a leader there is no concise direction or defined power in charge. A leader’s intangibles and instincts must be sharp, knowing that everything hinges on their ability to place their people in the best possible situations to thrive. For as long as humanity has existed, man has always had a leader; both good and bad leaders, qualified or unqualified. People are divided on the concept of what a leader is. Are leaders naturally born? What makes up a leader? How do we determine a leader?
From the vantage point of the present, it is easy to look back at the tenure of any great leader and draw conclusions about just what it was that made him/her great. We can examine the circumstances under which their leadership flourished; piece together what we know of their character and personality traits; delve into the factors that may have driven them; and dissect their leadership style all in an effort to pinpoint the source of their success. The ‘Great Man’ theory, popular in the 19th century and now thoroughly debunked, held that leaders are born, not made; suggesting that men like George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., and Winston Churchill were born with the innate capacity to change the world (Landis,
19). Still a part of the Great Man Leadership era, these trait theories just went a step further in attempting to pinpoint exactly which traits of these “great men” were consistently associated with the leaders, in an effort to more clearly define what a great leader was. This was again a further attempt to be able to identify a leader early on and predict which individuals were born to become leaders. It is thought that a major flaw with these theories was the failure to account for external factors, such as the environment in which the individuals were brought up in, as well as the situations they experienced (Horner, 2007, p. 270). Still today we do continue to study the characteristics of leaders in order to better define and understand what makes someone a good leader.
What is leadership, and how do we attain the best and most effective leaders? These are questions that are as old as civilization itself. Bass (1974) wrote that, “from its infancy, the study of history has been the study of leaders” (as cited in Wren, 1995, p. 50). Since the study of history in the West is commonly held to begin with Herodotus of ancient Athens, it is not surprising that we should examine the historical views of leadership through the eyes of two titans of Greek thought: Plato and Aristotle.
Our world is filled with many successful leaders. The gift of being a leader can be learned; however some individuals have a natural born talent to be a leader. Each leader has his or her own unique leadership style. The gift of being a leader can be learned. Certain individuals are born with a charismatic style and can easily be a leader. A successful leader is one who can inspire and motivate people towards a goal. Martin Luther King Jr. was an individual with a born gift to lead people. The following paper will discuss how Martin Luther King Jr. was able to inspire and motivate people with his effective leadership style.
It is easy to presume that that person is in the position they are in because of money, connections or an extraordinary intellect. We may suppose that any adversity or problems that this type of person has encountered are on another level to those that we face. Perhaps we don't imagine that there were private obstacles to overcome, personality traits that needed adjustment or adaptation, that private insecurities or personal failings had to be surmounted. It is simplest to assume that the role of leadership was cut out for him/her alone. More often than not, one imagines that the "leader" in an individual emerges early on in life, apparent from an early age: a bright child with above average intelligence, active in all walks of life, successful in anything that he puts his/her hand to, popular with peers and admired by elders. But nothing is that simple.
In Lesson 6, Dr. Fischer explores the ideas of whether leaders are born or made. In some cases certain traits such as extroversion, conscientiousness, openness, and emotional intelligence can suggest that leaders can in
103). According to Goleman, empathy is another self-management skilled required for a good leader. He had a strong intelligence of dealing with others. He took into account their feelings as opposed to taking on their issues. Mandela characterizes the five transformational leadership behaviors. As a transformational leader he was creative, interactive, visionary, empowering, and passionate. Together using these five behaviors he was able to use his moral authority and inspired a nation to rise above its past and to attain goals that seemed impossible. His vision was to see build a society of non-racists, and used his position as a leader to create opportunities to show South Africa that it was achievable. He became the change he wanted to see from his followers. It was his plan to influence and then convert his followers into the type of leader he was. Mandela did this by picking up the phone and calling people on their birthdays and going to family funerals. These are the moments where he saw opportunity.
In the Leadership Challenge, 4th edition, it is Kouzes & Posner (2007) intention to present a road map for individuals to follow on their leadership journey. The authors stress that “leadership is not a gene and it’s not an inheritance.” Leadership they assert is “an identifiable set of skills and abilities that are available to all of us” (p. 23). They make clear that the “great person” theory of leadership is “plain wrong.” Leaders are our everyday heroes who do extraordinary things on a regular basis (p. 23).
When being asked if a leader is “born” or “made”, I always say it is both. I believe a person needs to be born with certain personality traits in order to be effective leader, but also they have to be taught different skills so they know how use their personality traits. By combining the different theories, I believe we can see what it takes to be leader. They must have the traits of emotional stability, open to experience, conscientious, and intelligence. They also need to go through different experiences and situations in life in order to be taught more leadership skills. I think an excellent example of a leader was the first United States President, George Washington. I will use George Washington’s life to show a leader needs to be both
As a growing debate, the question at hand is whether great leaders are born with specific leadership traits, or if one can be taught certain traits over time. According to (Wikipedia.com) the approach of listing leadership qualities, often termed "trait theory of leadership", assumes certain traits or characteristics will tend to lead to effective leadership. I believe that leadership traits such as honest, competent, initiative, inspiring, hardworking, intelligent, and the ability to lead the masses, are some of the leadership traits one should possess. Within this paper, I will examine the overall concept of leadership traits, while observing the traits that were, or can be associated with successful leaders.
Winston Churchill, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Jr. – all possessed such leadership traits as ambition, self-confidence, and intelligence. These cannot be learned; they are innate. Two well-respected research studies that support the notion that personality traits can predict leadership were published in the Journal of Applied Psychology and in the Leadership Quarterly.
Inspirational motivation leaders give their staff inspiration to motivate them to work to their full potential. They encourage them to help the organization grow and advance into the future (Gardner, 2010).
In modern day business, leadership has become an issue that is given far more attention and investment than ever before. Leadership involves establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with others so that they will follow willingly, providing the information, knowledge and methods to realise that vision, and coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members and stakeholder. This essay will discuss whether leaders are born not made, with varies of theories being compared and contrasted and the strengths and limitations of leaders itself. Further this essay will analyse the future aspects of theories which would establish whether a leader was born with leadership qualities or made into a successful leader.
LEADERS ARE BORN NOT MADE There have been an age long debate, and humans since beginning of time, have tried to come up with an answer to this question – Are Leaders born or are they made?. This question has generated an age long debate, which in turn has resulted in various school of thoughts, some believe that leaders are born, while others think otherwise. My contribution to this lifelong debate will serve as a pointer to my position on this issue. I strongly believe that leaders are born and not made. Who is a Leader? - “A leader is a person who guides others toward a common goal, showing the way by example, and creating an environment in which other team members feel actively involved in the entire process. A leader is not the boss of