Transformational Theory
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Transformational Theory
The transformational leadership theory was first introduced by a leadership expert, James McGregor Burns, in his Leadership book of 1978 (Nguyenet al., 2017). Burns defined the theory of transformational leadership as an active process where transformational leaders in their teamsbuild one another to better levels of motivation and morality.The leadership expert discussed four critical components of this theory of Transformational Leadership, whereby he considered Individualized Consideration, Inspirational Motivation, Intellectual Stimulation, and Idealized Influence, as these main components positively relate to both organizational and individual performance(Nguyenet al., 2017).Therefore, the Transformational leadership concept depicts a leadership model in which the leaders tend to encourage, motivate and inspire workforces to innovate while creating change that can support growth and shape the success of both the workers and the organization in the future.
In the transformational leadership model, the leader can retain bothworkers and customers hence making this leadership concept fully engaging with people while seeking to satisfy people’s needs direct along with the needs of the organization. For instance, Williset al. (2017) suggest that by considering individualized consideration, a leader is in a position to attend to each team member’s needs while mentoring, coaching, or guidingeachstaff member. The leaderscan listen to each worker’s needs and concerns and provide support while being empathic with each individual’s background and situation(Nguyenet al., 2017).Besides, the transformational leader tends to prioritize an individualizing workforce view. The transformational leaders treat staff memberseach as a distinct person with unique talents, skills, and motivations.
Further, through inspirational motivation in transformational leadership theory, this aspect gives the leaders the degree to which they can articulate appealing visions that inspire and motivate teammates to perform pastthe expectations. Hence leaders using inspirational motivation possess high standards and expectations for their teams.Besides, inspirational motivation keep works inspired, which is vibrant for the transformational leaders seeking to create large-scale positive changes to organizational operations(Williset al., 2017).Common motivational tactics include encouraging teamwork, articulating the company vision in a way that appeals to an employee’s objectives, and developing a shared goal that provides meaning to daily tasks.
Transformational leaders seeking todemonstrate an idealized influence tend to be role models for their teams since they tend to engage in higher standards of vital ethical behavior. According to Nguyenet al. (2017),the team membersgenerally identify with the leaders, while emulating their performance.Therefore,idealized influence in transformational leadership is a crucial way that inspires change and engenders loyalty and trust among the staff through positive behavior and charisma(Williset al., 2017).Thus, buildingsuch a sense of theidealized influence in a workforce can be attained, leading by vision articulation and explaining goal-reaching strategies.
Additionally, the intellectual stimulation in transformational leadership enables transformational leaders to challenge the assumptions, solicit staff’s ideas, and take risks. Therefore, the workforce is recognized through stimulation, innovation, and creativity (Williset al., 2017).Transformational leadership encourages innovation and effect change. It requires the staff to further re-examine the entrenched beliefs, processes, and notions in an organization while the basic introduction of new initiatives.
Ultimately, transformational leadership theory is significant since it enables the quest for new opportunities, a collective visioncreation, and the guidance and motivation of employees. This search for better new opportunities inspires a greater responsibility in the workforce andgreater exploitation of tacit knowledge at the workplace. Hence transformational leadership theory is recommendable since it creates a conducive environment where the workforce develops awarenessof business issues and is encouraged to tackle them as a team rather than transactional leadership approach, which sometimes is not sufficient.
References
Nguyen, T. T., Mia, L., Winata, L., & Chong, V. K. (2017). Effect of transformational-leadership style and management control system on managerial performance. Journal of Business Research, 70, 202-213.
Willis, S., Clarke, S., & O’Connor, E. (2017). Contextualizing leadership: Transformational leadership and Management‐By‐Exception‐Active in safety‐critical contexts. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 90(3), 281-305.