TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP THEORY - PROS AND CONS

Definition of Transformational Leadership

Burns (1978) defined transformational leadership as" a relationship of mutual stimulation and elevation that converts followers into moral agents".

Burns (1978) defined transformational leadership as " a relationship of mutual stimulation and elevation that converts followers into moral agents".

Transformational leadership is a part of the "New Leadership" paradigm (Bryman, 1992), which gives more attention to the charismatic and affective elements of leadership.

Bass and Riggio (2006) suggested that transformational leadership's popularity might be due to its emphasis on intrinsic motivation and follower development, which fits the needs of today's work groups, who want to be inspired and empowered to succeed in times of uncertainty.  

Characteristics of Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is a process that changes and transforms people, It is concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long term goals. It includes assessing followers' motives, satisfying their needs, and treating them as full human beings. Transformational leadership involves an exceptional form of influence that moves followers to accomplish more than what is usually expected of them. It is a process that often incorporates charismatic and visionary leadership.

Transformational leaders are distinguished by their special ability to bring about innovation and change by recognizing followers' needs concerns, helping them look at old problems in new ways, and encouraging them to question the status quo. They inspire followers not just to believe in the leader personally, but to believe in their own potential to imagine and create a better future for the organization.

List of Pros of Transformational Leadership

1. It allows for quick formulation of a vision - These leaders has the ability to quickly assess an organization's current situation and formulate a vision for it's improvement and growth. They communicate their visions properly to other leaders in their organizations and to all the employees to get everyone board. This would help them deal with challenging situations, as all people can see the big picture.

2. It promotes enthusiasm - By creating an enthusiastic work environment they drive a company with changes  and innovations. As individuals are working through self motivation, this approach would particularly guarantee a higher level of efficiency and output.

3. It uses inspiration to motivate people - These leaders vision aligns with the ability to motivate and inspire. Basically, passion is a common trait that enables transformational leaders to get their members to optimize performance. When getting through difficult times, they would depend on their passion to help sell their vision and get employees headed to a common direction.

List of Cons of Transformational Leadership

1. It can face serious detail challenges - Though these leaders are known for their inspirations and big picture visions, they would struggle with detail orientation at times. Experts say that these types of leaders would need support from more detail oriented and organized people, which mean that other executives, assistants or certain team members would be needed to help maintain a transactional focus that can keep the vision of these leaders moving in the right direction.

2. It might overlook reality and truth - It has been noted that these leaders might fall in the trap of depending too much on passion and emotion that they would tend to overlook reality and truth. This over reliance can also restrict their willingness to delve into research and logical reasoning to face harsh truths about the situation of their organizations.  

3. It carries the potential for abuse - Though this type of leadership is powerful, it is not always used morally and for the common good. Actually, not all of those often associated with approach fit the definition. As we can see, Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden are also cited as examples of those using this type of leadership.


References

Burns, JM 1978, Leadership, Haper & Row, New York.

Mind Tools, Transformational leadership becoming an inspirational leader https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/transformational-leadership.htm assessed on 26^th April 2018, at 7.30pm

Peter G. Northouse 2016, Leadership theory and practice, 7^th edn, SAGE Publications, Inc, USA.

Richard L. Daft 2010 , Management , 9^th edn, South western cengage learning, USA. 

https://futureofworking.com/6-pros-and-cons-of-transformational-leadership/ assessed on 27th April 2018, at 8.05pm.