Precis:
Transformational leadership, coined by Downton (1973) and rooted in the writings of Burns (1978) and Bass (1985), is the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower. Transformational leadership, always mixed with charismatic leadership by most people, contains two elements: charismatic and affective elements of leadership; emphasizes on intrinsic motivation and follower development; is concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals; includes assessing followers’ motivation, satisfying their needs, and treating them as full human beings (Northouse, 2016).
There are seven factors illustrated on the Full Range of Leadership model that can be divided into three parts: transformational factors, transactional factors, and the nonleadership factor. These seven factors can also help understand and distinguish transformational leadership from transactional leadership and other leadership styles. The four factors included in transformational leadership are idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. Transactional leadership comprising contingent reward and management-by-exception focuses on expected outcomes, while transformational leadership results in performance that goes well beyond what is expected (Northouse, 2016).
Transformational leadership is stressed by many scholars that it is more of a bunch of behaviours can be learned and developed than a set of traits the leaders possess naturally (Kouzes & Posner, 1987). Transformational leaders usually empower followers and nurture them in change; become strong role models with high moral values for the followers (Avolio & Gibbons, 1988); create a meaningful vision; become social architects; are effective at working with people. Also, The most widely used measure of transformational leadership, Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Bass & Avolio, 1990b), can help leaders pinpoint the weak areas and leadership attributes they could improve.
Discussion:
I would like to present my teacher of Leadership 490 in the last semester, professor Carol C. Molcar, as the transformational leader for this blog. There were other choices. But considering the four typical factors of transformational leadership, I thought my professor Molcar was the perfect one.
Professor Molcar has very high standards of moral and ethical conduct on teaching. She devotes a lot to teaching and is the favourite teacher among us. She is my role model, and the teaching method presented by her is what I would like to incorporate in my teaching career. She always assigned the students into teams with novel themes and let us work something out within the team. The sense of teamwork, collaborating with team members, and breaking the limitations of our imagination were the most useful thing we had learned from her class. Also, She likes to talk with her students. I always found her chatting with the students on the campus happily and warmly. I had talked with her several times after the class. She patiently listened to my situation, my dreams, and my worries, and provided with very useful and inspirational thoughts to help solve my issues. She not only offered generous help to me but also taught me to take wider perspectives into account during decision-making process. Even till now, we are regularly writing Email to each other, and she is willing to reading my concerns and help me to make the best decision for myself. The most impressed thing for me is that she mentions many times she has also learned a lot of things from me and other students. This is an important reason that motivates her to be a teacher, learning from the students and carrying these beautiful traits of the previous groups with her to the next group of graduates.
References
Avolio, B. J., & Gibbons, T. C. (1988). Developing transformational leaders: A life span approach. In J. A. Conger, R. N. Kanungo, & Asssociates (Eds.), Charismatic leadership: The elusive factors in organizational effectiveness (pp. 276-308). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectation. New York: Free Press.
Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1990b). Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row.
Downton, J. V. (1973). Rebel leadership: Commitment and charisma in a revolutionary process. New York: Free Press.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (1987). The leadership challenge: How to get extraordinary things done in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage publications.
https://create.twu.ca/ldrs500/unit-4/unit-4-learning-activities/
Hi Layla, it is very much interesting to read your blog and get to know about how you quoted a discussion about your role model. I think that sometimes, if we get more familiar with our workers we started exploiting them and they started taking benefit of our warm nature towards them, is this really happens ?
what are your thoughts about this.
thank you !