TransformationalLeadership TheoryKathy Achen

Henrietta Maestas

Brandon McIntire

The Change Oriented Leader• Transformational leadership enhances the motivation,

morale, and job performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms.

These mechanisims include:•being a role model for followers that inspires them and makes them interested; •challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work, •and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers, so the leader can align followers with tasks that enhance their performance.

Famous Transformational Leaders

4 Dimensions of Transformational Leadership Model

Geoffrey Canada– Founder and Transformational leader of the Harlem Children’s Zone nonprofit organization. He was also featured in the 2010 film, Waiting for Superman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeCtnWBZRTc

TL’s Major Theorists

James MacGregor Burns

and

Bernard Bass

James MacGregor Burns

• In 1978, Burns first introduced the concept of transforming leadership in his descriptive research on political leaders.

• Burns described transformational leadership as a process where “leaders and followers help each other to advance to a higher level of morale and motivation.”

Bernard Bass

Bernard Bass extends James Burns Theory (1985)

•The extent to which a leader is transformational is measured by their influence on others.

•Followers feel trust, admiration, loyalty, and respect for the leader.

•Leaders provide followers with an inspiring mission and individual consideration.

•Developed the Multifactor Leadership Quiz (MLQ)

Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ)Bernard Bass and Bruce Avolio developed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire© (MLQ) to determine the degree to which leaders exhibited transformational and transactional leadership and the degree to which their followers were satisfied with their leader and their leader's effectiveness. The MLQ measures a broad range of leadership types from passive leaders to leaders who give contingent rewards to followers to leaders who transform their followers into becoming leaders themselves.

The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire© offers a full range assessment of nine leadership factors;

•Transformational Leadership

•Transactional Leadership

•Passive – Avoidant Behaviours

A Transformational Leadership Example Hoosiers (1986)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDJS9rFGCHE

Transactional Theory• Transactional leadership styles

are more concerned with maintaining the normal flow of operations.

• Set disciplinary power and an array of incentives to motivate employees to perform at their best.

• The term "transactional" refers to the fact that this type of leader essentially motivates subordinates by exchanging rewards for performance.

Breaksfast Club (1985)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2WZrxuwDhs

Full Range LeadershipWhen Transactional and

Transformational Theories are blended,

they each play a particular role toward

particular ends of organizational goals and needs. (Bass and Avolio)

Seven Strong Claims On School ImprovementTransformational Leadership in schools was advanced by Kenneth Leithwood, Alma Harris, and David Hopkins (2008). They reported “Seven Strong Claims” regarding the kinds of leadership necessary for transforming schools to the better. “Better,” is in reference to the raising of test scores.

The Seven Claims Are: 1. School leadership is second only to classroom teaching as an influence on pupil learning.

2. Almost all successful leaders draw on the same repertoire of basic leadership practices.

3. The ways in which leaders apply these basic leadership practices – not the practices themselves – demonstrate responsiveness to, rather than dictation by, the contexts in which they work.

4. School leaders improve teaching and learning indirectly and most powerfully through their influence on staff motivation, commitment, and working conditions.

5. School leadership has a greater influence on schools and students when it is widely distributed.

6. Some patterns of distribution are more effective than others.

7. A small handful of personal traits explains a high proportion of the variation in leadership effectiveness.

Self Reflection – Starting With You

Begin with your own reflection what values do you possess to allow you to make and disseminate change within your organization

Reflect on your goals and how they are aligned with the mission or vision of your institution

Set the stage for the change you wish to establish so your follower group is motivated to embrace the change

After the “You Analysis”After Self-Reflection

Once self-reflection is established and a clear focus on your goals, preferences, and capabilities (the text states) “the transformative leader can more carefully craft a vision, understand its potential pitfalls and biases, and transparently ask others to help her or him through such challenges by seeking their expertise”. (pg. 164)

4 Elements of Transformational Leadership

Idealized Influence • Charisma personality traits that support the superhero/superhuman

perception of the leader

• Larger than live perspective many aspects of the leadership style are more than they appear

• Debate/argumentation skills - this trait is not inherent but a learned quality to be more open and deliberate in how leadership is established and carried out to subordinates

• Emotional responses allow for organizations to establish confidence by excitement and adventure in the leadership style – subordinates show enthusiasm for professional and organizational growth

• Displays conviction, trust and remains strong on difficult issues, presentation of the leaders most important values, emphasize the importance of purpose, visible commitment, ethical values and consequences for decisions, leaders generate pride, loyalty and confidence and an aligned purpose or vision is prevalent

Inspirational Motivation Using symbols or images to focus on organizational and member efforts

Displays of what your mission or purpose is for your organization and the population to strive to serve. This outward display of purpose allows subordinates to bring forth the true meaning of service and leadership

Showing your followers that a true visible commitment to the organization or purpose allows for the influx of inspirational motivation – challenges to subordinates or the leaders alone will showcase how well the leader is articulating the mission or vision everyone is collectively working toward

Examples of inspirational motivation Your pastor Your mentor Motivational speakers Your organizational cheerleaders Those to demonstrate, motivation, commitment and excitement for the task

and the organizations mission/vision

Individualized ConsiderationSupporting the one on one relationships with your subordinates/followers

Allow your subordinates and your member leaders to visualize your two-way communication and attention to different needs

Ability to delegate responsibilities to those individuals that are following the same leadership path that you as a leader have established

Recognizing the different needs of individuals Determine what needs those individuals are searching for Determine how to satisfy those needs within the organization Support the complex personalities of future leaders and recognize the

uniqueness of those individuals and what they bring to the leadership dynamic

The ability to consider what differences are supportive to the organization and those supporting and enhancing the organizations overall purpose

This area of transformational leadership works with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Intellectual Stimulation• Allows for the leader to stimulate the creativity hidden within the

followers and subordinates to showcase the exact capabilities

• When faced with challenges these leaders help to support the needed organizational changes regardless of the radical perception

• Followers and subordinates remain on the path to corrective action and foster new changes to extinguish the previous unsuccessful processes within the organization

A Minute With John Maxwell

The Personality Test A personality test of the leader can be found at http://similarminds.com/maslow.html. this test allows for individuals to openly and honestly answer questions about themselves to determine where they fall in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This personality test can help future leaders establish the types of needed change to support and enhance their leadership qualities

Answering these questions accurately requires honest reflection on how you really think, feel, and act in general and maybe taking the test on more than one occasion.  Some of the questions on this test measure personality traits differently than you might guess so trying to answer the test in a way you think would be ideal is just going to screw up your results, so just focus on being honest if you want the most accurate results.

• I have more general knowledge/skills than specific knowledge/skills.

• I am more interested in intellectual pursuits than anything else.

• I am satisfied with my connections to others.

• I am closer to 'tried everything' than 'mastered one thing'.

• I like to be impressive to others.• I relate to wizards.• I (or my guardian) don't have

enough money for food.• I can afford everything I really

need.• Fame is attractive.• I am prestigious or attracted to

prestige.• I am content with the quality of

my friendships.• I would rather be a generalist

than a specialist.

• Answers to the questions are on a scale basis such as below (SELECTING THE MIDDLE ANSWER MEANS A STATEMENT IS AROUND 50% ACCURATE)

• After the assessment results reflective of the Hierarchy of Needs is established in a legend such as below

• The assessment allows you to what you are sufficient in, in terms of needs and what needs more attention or consideration this test can be taken multiple times and can be used as a guide on improving your leadership style

Very Inaccurate

Very Accurate

Physiological Needs |||||||||||||| 57%

Safety Needs |||||| 30%

Love Needs |||||||||||||||||| 77%

Esteem Needs |||||||||||| 50%

Self-Actualization |||||||||| 36%

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

The hierarchy of needs has been established to

show the needs of individuals when they

are motivated for a defined goal.

Transformational Leadership Steps to becoming a transformational leader

Set the agenda Make changes to your mission vision

statements Make them tangible and realistic

Goal connection Should connect to the real world (insert

citation) pg.166 Self-reflection

Potential to create a new mission for the organization

Impacts of Transformational LeadershipImpacts of transformational leadership

Increased commitment among organizational constitutes Increased employee satisfaction Higher degree of trust among leadership and followership Greater organizational productivity (Marion & Gonzales, pg. 170)

Research on TLOne study examined the TL on head (nurse) leadership styles on staff (nurse).

Results: The head nurses that utilized TL styles, received greater employee satisfaction than those who didn’t utilize the TL style.

Medly and Larochelle (Researchers) were unable to pinpoint the exact ways and means of the correlations.

Significant correlations were found between TL and: professional status, interaction, organizational polices, and autonomy (Marion & Gonzales, pg. 171)

School Settings & Transformational Leadership• TL practiced in school settings, does not have the same effects

as in the hospitals.

• TL in schools has a greater impact at the organizational level, as opposed to the individual level. In other words, individual change is usually indirect, coming from other structural circumstances. The work of staff and classroom instruction is more directly

related to student and achievement than the work of principles (TL leaders) (Marion & Gonzales, pg. 171).

• It was found that in schools, distributed leadership, makes the greatest impact.

Complexities of Transformational LeadershipMany scholars agree that it is difficult to measure the impact of transformational leadership. TL leadership plays out in complex ways, because organizations are complex.

A Singapore hospital study showed high levels and commitment to goals and the mission under TL. These results were moderated by two factors:The sense of empowerment that individuals felt in their position.The distance between the individual and the transformational leader.

Critiques of Transformational LeadershipPseudo transformational leaders: They may exhibit TL qualities, but, in the long run, they are only carrying out their own self interests.

Pseudo Trans Leaders are difficult to spot. TL are generally only viewed authentic if they

embody morality, ethical values, and integrity. This theory lacks multidimensionality because

what one person considers moral, another may consider something completely opposite. (Marion & Gonzales, pg. 173)

Transformational Leadership and Founder’s SyndromeFounder’s Syndrome: Influential powers and privileges that the founder exercises or that others attribute to the founder. The use of the word syndrome further suggests unhealthy organizational situations in which founders are more heavy-handed and indifferent about the imbalance of their control over organizations (Bass, 1998, p. 15).

•If the followers look to the TL for the answers, then the opposite process is occurring from the TL theory.

• The followers should not look to the leader in a hero fashion.

Morality under FireMorality of TL has been questioned.

Key criticism’s of TL are:Abuse of powerSome leaders have Narcissistic tendencies

Followers may have dependent characters and form unfortunate bonds

TL lacks checks and balances

Transformational Leadership’s Power Problem• TL’s are supposed to act purely moral, selfless,

and socially responsible.

• TL’s have to be aware that what may be transformational to one group, may not be to another.

• Issues may arise when a follower raises questions in relation to a TL’s power.

SummaryTL’s can shape, move, and inspire large groups of people.

TL’s contribute to an organization's productivity, in unanswered ways.

TL theory’s are not without opposition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60O2OH7mHys

References• Bass, B.M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New

York: Collier Macmillan.

• http://www.langston.edu/sites/default/files/basic-content-files/TransformationalLeadership.pdf

• http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/us/james-m-burns-a-scholar-of-presidents-and-leadership-dies-at-95.html?_r=0

• http://www.centerforleaderdevelopment.com/blog/?page_id=14

• Marion, R. & Gonzales L. D. (2014) Leadership in Education : Organizational Theory for the Practitioner. (2E). (pp. 163-170). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press , Inc.

• McLeod, S. A. (2007). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

• Personality Test. Retrieved from http://similarminds.com/cgi-bin/maslow.pl (2014)