Critically examine transformational Leadership a Case Study
Key Learning Outcomes
By the end of the case, students should be able to:
- Understand the meaning of leadership, the several leadership approaches or methodologies that are used in an organization, and their impact on employee welfare
- Understand the meaning of transformational leadership, its various approaches, and how they lead to employee welfare
- Learn how to apply the various leadership models to any organization
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Leadership is defined as a process of leading an organization or a group of people toward achieving a common objective. The leadership of an organization is the ability of the management to safeguard the company’s welfare by realizing its employee’s wants and the company’s targets by providing a safe working environment so that they can both achieve their goals and objectives. Organizational leadership is the most fundamental part of any company's strategy since it describes and clearly explains its vision and the goals it is intending to achieve. This paper is going to examine the various leadership styles though more attention will be paid to transformational leadership and how it helps organizations in achieving sustainable organizational growth and development.
There are a number of organizational leaderships namely; Participative or Democratic Leadership, Transformational Leadership, Transactional Leadership, Delegative or Laissez-Faire Leadership, and Authoritative or Autocratic Leadership.
1) Participative or Democratic Leadership: This is a leadership style in which employees participate in the decision-making of an organization. Such leaders value teamwork and encourage open communication among team members.
2) Transformational Leadership: Transformational leadership refers to a leadership style that transforms individuals through its strategic influence and technique that empowers and enhances employee self-worth through changing their values, norms and attitudes, to be compatible with the vision developed by the leader which is believed to eventually enhance their overall wellbeing.
3) Laissez-faire Leadership: under this leadership style, the employer lets his subordinates make their decisions i.e. setting their own policies and rules to abide by in an organization among others.
4) Authoritarian Leadership is where an employer makes decisions based on his own knowledge without making any consultation whatsoever.
5) Transactional leadership is the style that focuses more on the end results, obeys the existing structure of an organization, and defines the success of an organization according to its system of rewards and penalties.
Transformational leadership refers to a leadership style that transforms individuals through its strategic influence and technique that empowers and enhances employee self-worth through changing their values, norms, and attitudes, to be compatible with the vision developed by the leader which is believed to eventually enhance their overall wellbeing. As its name suggests transformational leaders aim at changing and transforming employees therefore it is concerned with trust, emotions, values, standards, and long-term goals.
It is believed that transformational leadership greatly boosts the motivation, morale, and performance of employees through a number of mechanisms such as the employee’s sense of identity, being their role model, challenging them to take greater responsibility for their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses so as to align them with tasks that improve their performance.
However, this leadership style has a number of criticisms which started off in the 20th century as a result of industrial revolutions, and rise of the capitalism among others. For example, it is presumed that such leaders may misuse their power and privilege and may neglect their employees.