Origins

Transformational leadership has its foundations in the concept of charismatic leadership, which is linked with the work of Max Weber in his description of the leader as a charismatic person (Weber, 1947). The concept of transformational leadership has origins in the writings of Burns (1978) and Bass (1985); others who built on the theory were Bennis and Nanus (1985, 2007) and Kouzes and Posner (2002, 2017) (Northouse, 2018, p. 192).

Definition

Transformational leadership has been described as, “a process that changes and transforms people” (Northouse, 2018, p.163). Transformational leadership happens when a leader can inspire, empower and provide resources that leads followers towards achieving a shared vision and also developing personal potential (Smith, Montagno, Kuzmenko, 2004, p. 80). 

Behaviours

A transformational leader emerges from a motivation and “a sense of mission to recreate the organization to survive in a challenging external environment” (Smith, Montagno, Kuzmenko, 2004, p. 86). This comes out in four key behaviours: 1) idealized influence, 2) inspirational motivation, 3) intellectual stimulation and, 4) individualized consideration (Bass, 1996). To describe these behaviours more in depth we see that a  transformational leader: encourages creativity and innovative thinking, is tolerant of followers making mistakes, open to  problem solving and new ideas, pays attention to individual needs in the areas of: growth, achievement, learning opportunities, acts as coach or mentor and lastly creates two way, personalized communication with followers (Smith, Montagno, Kuzmenko, 2004, p. 81). 

Strengths & Results

Strengths of the Transformational leadership approach have been found to be the following: 1) has been the focus of much research, 2) is attractive because of its visionary and intuitive appeal, 3) treats leadership as a process between both followers and leaders, 4) wider view or scope of leadership than other leadership models, 5) focuses on followers personal and professional growth and places a strong emphasis on morals and values 6) substantial evidence that it is a very effective leadership model for many different contexts (Northouse, 2018, pp. 178-180).

An individual who stood out to me as a transformational leader is Nelson Mandela. My father is South African and I have quite a few relatives over there and have visited many times. Through the years I have learned about the incredible impact of Nelson Mandela’s leadership and have seen its affects first hand in South Africa. Learning about the sad and destructive history of racism and where the country was at when Mandela came into leadership, shows me that he was an incredible leader. His leadership emerged from a motivation and sense of mission to recreate a country to survive a challenging external environment (Smith, Montagno, Kuzmenko, 2004, p. 86). When the apartheid regime ended, South Africa was on the verge of a blood-bath, but Mandela led with a vision for unity, equality, peace, freedom and healing and the people were inspired and followed. He embodied forgiveness and led as an example to the people to pursue peace and reconciliation, rather than revenge. South Africa’s leaders afterwards, sadly have not carried out or embodied the same vision and mission to the degree that Mandela  desired. However, South Africa would be a very different place today, if it was not for Mandela’s transformational leadership in those difficult years in their history.

References

Bass, B.M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York, NY: Free Press.

Bass, B.M. (1996). New paradigm of leadership: an inquiry into transformational leadership. Alexandria, VA: U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioural Social Sciences.

Bennis, W.G., & Nanus, B. (2007). Leaders: The strategies for taking charge (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Harper & Row.

Burns, J.M. (1978). Leadership. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

Kouzes. J.M., & Posner, B.Z. (2017). The leadership challenge: How to get extraordinary things done in organizations (6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Smith, B.N., Montagno, R.V. and Kuzmenko, T.N. (2004). Transformational and servant leadership: Content and contextual comparisons. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies 10(4), 80-92.

Weber, M. (1947). The theory of social and economic organizations (T. Parson, trans.). New York, NY: Free Press.