Wang, Oh, Courtright and Colbert (2011) did a meta-analytical review that has implications for managers if they want to have a positive impact on individual follower performance, team performance and organizational performance. They found that transformational leaders lead to higher levels of performance in each of these three organizational levels (Wang et al., 2011) which supports “Klein and House’s (1995) argument that transformational leadership…[is] a theory that cuts across organizational levels” (as cited in Wang et al., 2011, p. 251). This implies that if a manager wants to increase performance across organizational levels they should practice transformational leadership.

As an example, “transformational leaders motivate followers by emphasizing the followers’ ties to the collective group, [and] fostering team identity” (Wang et al., 2011, p. 251). One of the five principles of ethical leadership is that an ethical leader builds community, which means that leaders help unite followers around common goals, but that these goals are mutually determined (Northouse, 2016, p. 346-347). Setting goals in this way can only happen if leaders also practice the ethical principle of respecting others, which means that they listen, are empathetic, and are tolerant of views different than their own (Northouse, 2016, pp. 341-342). Through doing this, leaders will be able to help their team set common goals, and through those goals unite followers to the group, and foster team identity, which will help them accomplish these goals.

It is also worth discussing that there are some limitations to transformational leadership. Transformational leadership may be less effective in environments where task performance is the primary goal or where collaboration among employees is not necessary (Wang et al., 2011). In these situations, transactional leadership may be more effective to clarify goals and motivate followers to accomplish necessary tasks, but transactional leadership alone “is not enough to solicit extrarole behaviors and team-level performance” (Wang et al., 2011, p. 253). This seems to imply that managers need to model transformational leadership, especially in settings that involve teamwork and collaboration (Wang et al., 2011), but that this transformational leadership may need to be balanced with transactional leadership depending on the context.

A leader can determine the best course of action through practicing the ethical leadership principle of serving others (Northouse, 2016). By serving others, leaders place their followers’ welfare above their own (Northouse, 2016, p. 342), which will help them determine the best leadership style in a given situation. I would suggest that when transactional leadership is done in tandem with a desire to serve others it can be more effective in some situations, but can still produce transformational results.

This information is helpful to me as a leader because it helps me to remember that different leadership styles may be required in different situations. This review (Wang et al., 2011) proves that transformational leadership increases performance, but it also proves that at times transactional leadership may be more effective in terms of accomplishing tasks. These two styles of leadership do not conflict with each other but rather “transactional leadership is a foundation for transformational leadership” (Bass, as cited in Wang et al., 2011, p. 252). If I remember this, it will help me to be a better leader as I will be able to adjust my style according to the context of where I am leading.

When I think about adjusting my style of leadership, I come to the last two principles of ethical leadership: honesty and justice (Northouse, 2016). Honesty is about more than telling the truth, but also involves “representing reality as fully and completely as possible” (Northouse, 2016, p. 346). Justice is concerned with being fair, part of which means treating followers the same other than when a particular follower’s situation demands otherwise, in which case it should be clear why the follower is being treated differently (Northouse, 2016, p. 344). These two principles will help me as a leader to adjust my leadership style as necessary. Being an honest leader allows me to see reality for what it is; it requires me to admit when things are not going well and when they need to change. Being a just leader means that as I adjust my leadership style for the situation, or for individual followers, I will be able to clearly articulate why my style is different and this adjustment will be rooted in moral values. I think these are the two most important ethical leadership principles not only because of how they together contribute to me being able to gauge the situation and adjust as necessary, but also because it seems to me that these support the other three.

As a final note, thinking about honesty and justice makes me think of Micah 6:8 (ESV) which says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” We have to be willing to take an honest look at ourselves in order to remain humble. As we look at leadership theory and strive to apply it to our lives, careers and various contexts, I think it is imperative that we remember who Jesus is and who He has called us as His followers to be.

In your context, how do you integrate your faith and who Christ has called you to be into your leadership? When you cannot be explicit about your faith what does it look like to exemplify Him as a leader?

References:

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice, Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Wang, G., Oh, I.-S., Courtright, S. H., & Colbert, A. E. (2011). Transformational leadership and performance across criteria and levels: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of research. Group & Organization Management, 36(2), 223–270. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059601111401017