Category: Unit 7

Wang and Oh (2011), detail an abundance of practical research data that, for the most part, shows that transformational leaders have a strong, measurable ability to improve the performance of individual followers as well as a group. Transformational leaders are highly influential on their followers. Transformational leaders accomplish three things:

1. They “motivate their followers to move beyond self-interest and work for the collective good” (Avolio & Yammarino; Bass; Burns, as cited in Wang, Oh, Courtright & Colbert, 2011, pg. 224).
2. They “increase followers’ confidence and the intrinsic value of performance, resulting in higher levels of motivation” (Seibert, Wang & Courtwright, as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 224).
3. They “motivate followers to go beyond the minimum requirements of their job descriptions” (Podsakoff, MacKenzie & Bommer, as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 228).

Bass argues that there are four distinguishable traits of transformational leaders (as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 230):

1. First, transformational leaders “develop and articulate a shared vision and high expectations” (Wang et al., 2011, pg. 230).
2. Second, they “exhibit the behavior of idealize influence, serving as a role model” (Wang et al., 2011, pg. 230).
3. Third, they “intellectually stimulate their followers to challenge existing assumptions and solicit followers’ suggestions and ideas” (Wang et al., 2011, pg. 230).
4. Fourth, transformational leaders “attend to the needs of their followers and treat each follower as a unique individual” (Wang et al., 2011, pg. 230).

Transformational leaders “enable and motivate their followers” (Wang et al., 2011, pg. 230) by doing five things:

1. Transformational leaders “link followers work roles to a compelling vision of the future” (Bono & Judge; Zhu, Avolio, & Walumbwa, as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 231).
2. Shamir et al. suggest that transformational leaders “instill in their followers a belief that they can achieve the goals that are set out for them (as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 231).
3. Howell and Hall-Merenda argue that transformational leader “provide them with support and tools that they need to accomplish their jobs” (as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 230).
4. Bass says that transformational leaders “encourage and intellectually stimulate followers to challenge the status quo, question assumptions, take risks, suggest innovative ideas, and engage in divergent thinking” (as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 231).
5. Bass states they also “positively influence performance through the communication of a vision that serves to motivate employees and align their efforts” (as cited in Wang et al., 2011, pg. 233).

As described, the positive outcomes of transformational leadership are many. For my purposes, the main benefits of transformational leadership in my organization is in the context of our team. My most desired outcomes for my team are:

1. The nurturing of innovative and creative thinking.
2. Development of team problem solving skills.
3. Increased appreciation and understanding of each team members love language, temperament, learning styles and values.
4. A more unified understanding of our organizations potential and future within a rapidly changing industry.

My main “take away” from this article was research that indicated that followers under the leadership of a transformational leader would “go above and beyond” their job description. The fact that followers would improve and “get better,” wasn’t surprising to me, but the fact that they would “go beyond” was a new understanding for me. Another piece of research indicating that innovation and creativity increased under transformational leadership for me was a new insight.

In the context of leadership, Northouse explains that “ethics is concerned with what leaders do and who leaders are. It has to do with the nature of leaders’ behavior, and with their virtuousness. In any decision-making situation, ethical issues are either implicitly or explicitly involved. The choices leaders make and how they respond in a given circumstances are informed and directed by their ethics” (2019, p. 330). Northouse lists five principles of ethical leadership:

1. Respect
2. Services
3. Justice
4. Honesty
5. Community (2019, p. 341)

The two of the five ethical principles of leadership that appeal to me most are respect and community.  In my leadership context respect in a sense overrides service, justice and honesty because If I don’t have respect from our team, a lack of respect to some degree negates all three. A lack of respect “clouds over” team members’ ability to see or appreciate service, justice and honesty. To gain even more respect I have to listen more intentionally, be more verbal in the team to acknowledge individual contributions and successes, be more verbally affirming and talk less emphatically in team meetings.

The second component of the five ethical leadership principles which is most important to me is “community.” In a Christian context, much of the church is about community. Gretchen Rubin, author of the best sellers Better than Before and The Happiness Project, “affirms the centrality of meaningful relationship and important causes to achieving happiness” (as cited in Sasse, 2017, p. 154). Robert Putnam in his book, Our Kids, states, “researchers have steadily piled up evidence of how important social context, social institutions, and social networks-in short, our communities-remain for our well- being” (2015, p. 206). Lukianoff and Haidt argue that “the United States has experienced a steady increase in at least one form of polarization since the 1980s: affective (or emotional) polarization” (2018, p. 141). Here we see the pressing need for community yet on the other hand we see the growing polarization of “community,” therefore I see the great and growing for community.

Question

I wonder if any of you have thoughts about what, if any of the five ethical principles may be more elevated or pronounced in the Scriptures. Is there an order of importance?

References 

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.

Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Putnam, R. D. (2015). Our Kids. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Lukianoff & Haidt. (2018). The Coddling of the American Mind. New York, NY: Penguin Press.

Sasse, B. (2017). The Vanishing American Adult. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

From Avolio and Gardner’s (2005) article, Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership, I derive many intangible morals effects of authentic leadership on followers. The article describes how the morals of “authentic leaders” influence the morals and ethics of their followers. Michie and Gooty (2005) note “self-transcendent values (e.g., universal values such as social justice, equality, and broadmindedness; benevolent values, such as honesty, loyalty and responsibility) and positive other-directed emotions (e.g., gratitude, goodwill, appreciation and concern for others) play a fundamental role in the emergence and development of authentic leadership” (as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 318).

The article promotes the importance of “self-actualized persons . . . who are ‘in tune’ with their basic nature and clearly and accurately see themselves” (Rogers, 1959; 1963 & Maslow, 1968; 1971, as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 319). In addition, Maslow (1971) sees “self-actualizing people as having strong ethical convictions” (as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 319).

Luthans and Avolio (2003) “assert that authentic leadership …encompasses an inherently ethical/moral component” (as cited in as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 324). May et al. (2003) describes how “authentic leaders develop and draw upon reserves of moral capacity . . . to address ethical issues and achieve authentic and sustained moral actions” (as cited in as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 324). Avolio and Gardner say that they “believe the inclusion of a positive moral perspective is crucial to the emerging work on authentic leadership development” (2005, pg. 324). Burns (1978) said that leadership “clearly invoked a positive moral perspective” (as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 324). Self-awareness is a process in which “one continually comes to understand his or her . . . sense of purpose, core values, beliefs and desires” (Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 324). Of the authors’ four elements of self-awareness, “values” is first on the list. They state that “self-regulation is the process through which authentic leaders align their values with their intentions and actions” (Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 325).

Avolio, Gardner et al. (2004), Avolio, Luthans et al., (2004), Gardner et al. (2005), “describe personal and social identification processes whereby followers come to identity with authentic leaders and their values. In addition, . . . a positive moral perspective has been consistently identified as a primary mechanism whereby authentic leadership influence and develop followers” (as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 325). Bass (1998) further states that among other things authentic leaders have a “high moral character” (as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 329). Authentic leaders influence the morals of their followers. Avolio et al. (2004), Avolio et al. (2004), Gardner et al. (2005), and Ilies et al. (2005) argue that “followers come to identify with authentic leaders and their values” (as cited in Avolio and Gardner, 2005, pg. 325).

The moral implications of leadership behaviour is such that the absence of moral convictions and beliefs according to the article would mean great diminishing of the leader’s effectiveness in changing behaviour in desirable ways. The leader who doesn’t convey moral convictions cannot be described as an authentic leader. The absence of moral convictions does not promote trust, transparency or unity.

In the context of moral leadership, in my company, I have historically by design have had no written “management pyramid chart,” no written dress codes, policies, rules, mission/visions statements or ethics code. However, in a practical sense, I have fired someone (and paid them severance) for lying. Someone who has a temper explosion is often in my office with their direct supervisor to discuss the problem and to explain that a repetition of their outburst will have serious consequences. Someone who is exhibiting sexist actions is confronted and changed actions and attitudes are demanded. Looking to future I anticipate writing and posting statements about ethical issues and policies regarding issues like marijuana.

Question

How have you handled unethical behaviour in your leadership context? If the behaviour was address, how was the conversation received?

Reference

Avolio, B., & Gardner, W. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 16 (3), 315–338.