Transformational Leadership: A Review

This assignment delves into the concept of transformational leadership, examining its theoretical foundations, characteristics, and impact on organizational performance. It analyzes various perspectives on transformational leadership, including its role in knowledge management, distributed leadership models, servant leadership, and transformative pedagogy. The assignment also discusses the influence of transformational leadership on top management teams and public sector organizations, drawing upon relevant research and case studies.

Leadership and
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK A...........................................................................................................................................1
1..............................................................................................................................................5
2..............................................................................................................................................5
3..............................................................................................................................................6
4..............................................................................................................................................7
TASK B...........................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Leadership can be defined as a process of leading group of people within organisation.
Leading activity involves a clear cut vision, sharing the same with other organisational members,
providing related knowledge and information to group members and lastly, coordinate or balance
interests of all persons and stakeholders. On the other side, management is also the most
important aspect of every business enterprise. Without proper management, no organisation can
manage its workers, activities and future performance. So, it can be said that success of any
organisation depends upon their managers. Most important responsibility of business leader is to
make effective decisions and make sure that organisational success is moving in the right
direction. With the help of highly skilled leaders, company can face the worst problems and
situations (Küpers, 2016). This project report is based on a case study in which Angela is an
Associate director in a non-profitable agency. This firm provides skill building programs to
various families and children. At present, Angela and her agency are facing various work related
problems as many of its managers have left. So, she has appointed two new managers. To solve
these work related problems, Angela and new managers can take the help of various leaderships
well as management theories, strategies and concepts so that they can manage their
organisational activities and practices which are explained in this report.
TASK A
Leadership is the most essential skill of an individual which help him in accomplishing
his organisational goals and objectives. In simple words, it is the most important trait of business
manager through which he can lead and guide his employees or subordinates. So, it can be said
that leadership works as a foundation system of organisation. Through this, individuals can make
a strong position at the workplace. To resolve the business problem, every leader uses his own
leadership style and strategy.
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Business person chooses his/her leadership style on the basis of organisational challenges
such as changes in financial market, regulatory bodies, digitalisation, enlisting and retaining
talent, etc. These factors affect the business organisation and its performance. To tackle with the
above mentioned challenges, company needs highly skilled leaders. Meaning of leadership in the
context of organisation can be explained by following points:
Improves working environment: Leader is a person who can identify organisational
problems and solve then in an effective and systematic manner. Powerful managers make good
relations with their employees so that they can provide them healthy and safe working
environment. If there will be healthy relationship between managers and employees then they
can work together to accomplish the organisational goals and objectives.
Helps in understanding people: Leadership skill of managers help them in
understanding employees and their feelings. It is very much important for the leaders to make
healthy relationship with their workers. Without making good relations with employees, leader
cannot lead his/her team.
Giving people the tools to succeed: By effectively leading and guiding workers,
mangers can help their employees in achieving their personal as well as professional goals
(Dumdum, Lowe and Avolio, 2013).
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Illustration 1: Leadership functions.2017

Being the solution to problems: Different business problems are solved by their leaders.
So, it is very much important for them to have unique and special skills so that they can help
organisation in solving their problems.
Building follower-ship: The most important task of every leader is to build follower-
ship. It is the responsibility of business managers to motivate and support their subordinates.
Leader should focus on its team members. Also, leaders should give attention to goals of their
followers.
As per the given case study, Angela is facing various work related problems and so, she
needs to improve her leadership skills so that she can lead his managers and employees in an
effective way. There are various leadership theories and concepts which can help her in
improving the organisational performance. These are:
 Great man theory: This theory of leadership was introduced in the mid of 19th century.
At that time, business managers used to give least importance to leadership skills and
competencies. As that time leadership was not that much important concept for business
enterprises. But in the recent scenario, this concept has become the most important
aspect of every business enterprise. Leadership skills cannot be taught over time but by
reading books, this concept can be understood. According to Great man theory, people
get leadership trait by their birth. In simple words, leaders cannot be made; they are born
(Jackson and Parry, 2011). Moreover, successful leaders have leadership skills but they
show them when they are required. Great man theory was firstly introduced by Thomas
Carlyle who was the teacher as well as a writer. His theory was inspired by the study of
influential heroes. This leadership theory does not suit to given case study because
Angela did not get leadership skills by her birth.
 Trait theory: According to this theory, every individual has some skills and abilities,
they get these qualities from their birth or they can develop them in a given time frame.
These skills and abilities can help them in their leadership roles. Some qualities are
creativity, intelligence and sense of responsibility which help a leader in solving his work
related problems. With the help of trait theory, individuals can analyse their social,
mental and physical characteristics. This theory was introduced by Gordon Allport. He
was the first person who have brought behavioural approach of leadership. According to
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this concept, leaders should have some unique skills and abilities so that he can
understand different situations and identify the solutions for them.
 Behavioural theories: This concept of leadership provides new perspectives. First is
that, behaviour of leaders are equally opposite to their social, physical and mental
characteristics. As per this approach, people can build their leadership skills within
specified time period. In simple words, leadership skills can gain, improve and develop.
It is not compulsory that leaders get their leadership skills only by their birth, they can get
leadership skills by reading books of successful leaders. According to behavioural theory,
leaders can be categorised into two categories first are who give importance to their tasks
and second are those who give importance to other people.
 Contingency theories: According to this theory, Leadership styles should be adopted
according to the requirements of situation. There are many people who can solve any
kind of problem or situation. Contingency theory is extension version of trait theory. As
per this theory, traits of an individual are related to the situation in which he is
performing his leadership skills. According to contingency theory, leaders should express
their leadership skills when subordinates are responsive to him.
 Transactional leadership theories: This theory is also known as exchange theory of
leadership. According to this, leadership involves two individual leader and follower. In
simple words, transactional leadership theory gives importance to effective and positive
relationship of leader and follower. As per this theory, leader should reward or punish his
followers according to their performance. Manager with this leadership style force his
subordinates to operate their assigned tasks (Chang, 2011). The most important
responsibility of transactional leader is to develop mutual reinforcing environment within
organisation. In this kind of work environment, leaders and followers work together to
accomplish their personal and professional objectives. As per this theory, human being
prefer enjoyable occurrence and try to avoid UN-pleasurable experience. In simple
words, it is a human tendency that people like to repeat those things which gives them
positive experience and they do not like to experience those activities which gives them a
negative occurrence. So, it can be said that people like to associate with those individuals
who provides them more strengths.
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 Transformational leadership theories: It is the last theory of leadership.
Transformation leadership theories can be defined as a process in which people come
together and interact with each other so that they can make a healthy relationship with
each other. This type of bonding can help them in accomplishing their organisational
objectives. It also creates trust between two or more people. Through this concept,
leaders can enhance intrinsic as well as extrinsic motivation between them and their
followers.
Hence, these are some most important theories of leadership which can help leaders in
leading their followers or subordinates. With the help of effective leadership skills, managers can
determine the organisational goals and share them with other members of organisation. This also
helps in inspiring employees so that they can contribute more in accomplishing organisational
goals and objectives. As per the given case study, Angela is facing various problems due to her
poor leadership and management skills. As she is not sharing organisational information with
other staff members. Without sufficient information, finance department cannot operate its
activities and practices. Below are the answers of some questions asked in given case scenario:
1
Angela is an associate manger of non-profitable organisation (Mc-Kimm and Swanwick,
2011). It is the responsibility of her to manage and lead her staff members so that she can
provide healthy working environment at the workplace. She can play the role of manager as well
as leader. In the given case scenario, she has hired two managers for research and social science
research department. But, currently they are facing various work related problems, due to poor
leadership and management skills. Both managers are good in their skills and abilities. They also
have ability to solve the work related problems. At this point, Angela should work as a leader
and lead their staff members in an effective and systematic manner. To improve the
organisational situations, she can delegate her managerial power to both managers. By getting
some important responsibilities and power, Kelly and Linda can get motivated to work hard. This
motivation can help them in solving all business problems. In other words, delegation of power
can help them in enhancing their confidence level to resolve the organisational situations.
Through this, Angela can also get free from his some responsibilities and can concentrate on
other important issues. With the help of this, staff members can commit to their organisational
vision and mission. This can also help in building positive relations among all staff members.
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2
Employee involvement and empowerment plays an important role in every organisation.
Through this, workers can get motivated to accomplish the organisational goals and objectives.
So, it can be said that for better growth of company, it is very much important to build
confidence among employees as this can result in high profitability and productivity of
organisation. Highly confident workers can also perform risky tasks. There are some guidelines
through which Angela can build confidence among her staff members:
 By being transparent with staff members, she can build confidence in them. By being
transparent she can give all important information to her other staff members.
 By making providing working environment, she can also make her employees
confident. For providing healthy environment, she needs to communicate with her staff
members. Healthy communication can make effective relationships between top and
lower management (Brundrett and Rhodes, 2013).
 By providing training and development programs, Angela can improve skills and
abilities of her staff members. Highly skilled workers can contribute more in
accomplishing the organisational goals and objectives.
 By providing good reward system, she can satisfy her employees. For Better
improvement and development of company employee satisfaction is very much
essential.
 By getting learning and professional development opportunities, workers can improve
their standard of living. This can help them in enhancing their confidence and also lead
to enhance the commitment of employees towards achieving organisational goals and
objectives.
 By increasing employee’s involvement and empowerment, company can enhance their
confidence and also can increase their contribution in organisation development.
 By involving workers in recruitment and selection procedure, organisation can also
build their confidence.
Moreover, these are some important steps through which company can build confidence
among the staff members.
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3
With the help of administration/leadership evaluation, Angela and both the managers can
improve their leadership and managerial skills. Through this, they can:
 Identify their own skills and abilities which are highly required to attain organisational
goals and objectives.
 Angela and managers can learn effective ways through which they can support their
workers (Nam, Nguyen and Mohamed, 2011).
By evaluating strong points of everyone, they can operate organisational functions in a
better way. For example, one manager is using style approach to complete a task and another one
is using relationship style, they both can accomplish organisational goals in two different ways.
To enhance current strengths, Angela can take the help of leadership skills. Along with this,
Angela can re-evaluate duties and responsibilities of every staff member to understand that
organisational goals and objectives are accomplishing in an appropriate manner. By doing this,
she can take corrective actions if required. Through enhancing leadership and managerial skills,
she can communicate with her staff members and motivate them in an effective way so that they
can get motivated to achieve desired goals and objectives effectually.
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According to me, in the given case scenario, company is facing various work related
problems. To solve them, Angela should choose transformational leadership style. As per this
style, she should treat her staff members very well. With the help of this, she can make good
relationships with her employees and can motivate them to contribute their sincere efforts in
attaining organisational goals and objectives. She can also work as a social architect and enhance
social welfare. Angela can also go for path goals in which she can motivate her staff members by
making them clear about the desired goals (Gayle, Tewarie and White, 2011).
TASK B
With the help of appropriate strategies and policies, leaders or mangers can solve every
organisational problem and situation. This will can also help them in attaining different goals and
objectives of organisation. Most important responsibilities of mangers are to make business plan,
direct them and use available resource in most effective manner. Apart form this, leaders should
provide better satisfaction to their employees and also provide good working environment to
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them. For better performance of company, mangers should evaluate and control all
organisational activities and practices. Through this, they can determine that business activities
are performing in appropriate way. With the help of effective leadership and administration skills
managers can prioritise their tasks and also can utilise organisation resource in most systematic
way so that they can increase profitability and productivity of business enterprise. Company can
not solve its various problems if it does not have powerful leaders (Waterman, 2011). They can
improve and develop of organisational performance by their own leadership style and concepts.
Powerful leaders make various strategies and policies to remove organisational problems and to
guide their employees in achieving desired results.
As this project report is based on a case study in which Angela is a associate mangers of a
company Which is non profitable in nature. Currently, her organisation is going through from
many business problems. As she does not share important information with other staff members.
These information is arising because she have less leadership and management skills, which are
highly required for organisational development. Apart from this, there are also some other
problems or issues which is decreasing organisational performance. These are mentioned below:
Poor employee relationship: The biggest problem of given organisation is that there is no
good relationship between employer and employee, which is affecting organisational
performance. Employees are known as most important assets of company without them it can not
accomplish its desired results. It is responsibility of leader and manger to make good
relationships with their employees.
Employee retention: This problem has also identified by summering up given case study.
For better growth of company it is very much important for employer to retain their staff
members. Angela is facing some trouble as its mangers are leaving her organisation.
Less transparency: Organisation is a place where many people come together to achieve
their personal as well as professional goals. So, it is very much important for them to coordinate
with each other and do not hide anything about organisational matters otherwise, they will not be
able to accomplish their desired results of company (Drysdale and Gurr, 2011). In given case
study, Angela is facing business problems as she is not transparent with her other staff members.
Being a leader she should be transparent with her staff members.
High competition: It is very much important for mangers to make most effective
strategies so that they can compete their competitors. As per given case scenario, organisation is
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facing problems due to increment in its rivalry firms. Managers with high managerial skills can
solve this kind of problem by making better strategies as compare to their competitors.
Hence, these are some problems which are affecting organisational performance. All
these problems are rising because of less leadership and managerial skills. To improve and
develop performance of company it is very much important for mangers to have high leadership
and engagement skills. Angela and her mangers can improve their skills and abilities by taking
help of leadership and management development strategies. Also, these concepts can help them
in enhancing organisational performance.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
With the help of leadership development, leaders can enhance their skills and abilities to
guide and lead employees in most appropriate way. For such need, mangers should discover
strong reason that why they want to develop their leadership skills. Most leaders improve their
skills for three major reasons which are following as under:
1. Whenever they want to enhance organisational performance by their leadership skills
2. To remove leadership related problems
3. When employer wants to hire new leaders
Moreover, these are some most important reasons which influence employer and mangers
to enhance their leadership skills. Apart from this, business person improve their skills and
abilities so that they can solve work related problems within organisation. With the help of
leadership development, leaders can enhance accomplish their personal as well as professional
objectives, also can enhance effectiveness of their organisation (Meredith-Belbin, 2011).
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To become high skilled leader people should take help of leadership development
strategies. Employer can enhance growth of his organisation by providing various leadership
development plans to their mangers. Through this, leaders can operate their functions or
activities in most effective manner. So, it can be said that for organisational growth development
aspect is very much important. As developed organisation can increase its market share and also
can make strong position in competitive market place. Leadership development can be defined as
a procedure which helps employer and employee in their personal and professional
development. Through this, employer can provide substantive training to their leaders so that
they can lead employees in most effective manner to accomplish organisational goals. Without
good working environment, leadership development can not take place. For this, it is very much
required to have good relationship between employer and employee. Contribution of top and
lower management can result in high profitability and productivity. If mangers and employees
will work together then it will results in minimisation of organisational conflicts. Leadership
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Illustration 2: Leadership development model.2017

development can be considered as most effective and future orientated scheme which can
improve working environment of organisation.
The most important aspect of every business organisation is its leadership concept,
because it helps in leading and guiding people so that they contribute their efforts in
accomplishing organisational goals and objectives. As per given case study, Angela is facing
various work related problem due to poor leadership skills (Carmeli, Schaubroeck and Tishler,
2011). So to develop her leadership skills she can take help of various leadership development
strategies which can help her in resolving work related problems. Some schemes have explained
below:
 Mentoring and Coaching for leadership: The most important assets of every
organisation is their employees. So, it is responsibility of mangers to retain their workers
by providing them satisfaction. For this employers can provide them skills development
programs which can help employees in their personal as well as professional life. In
simple words, by providing mentoring plan, mangers can enhance their ability and skill to
guide other people. It can also develop and improve work experience of managers within
organisation. By evaluating performance of subordinates, employers can identify their
major strengths and weaknesses as well. Through giving proper feedback to employees,
managers can help them in improving their performance. With the help of mentoring and
coaching plans, mangers can identify and improve their working skills within work place.
Through this, they can also develop their personality.
 Self-driven improvement: If company will hire most talented human resource then it
will help organisation in its future growth and development. As talented mangers can lead
business enterprise to higher level of success. Apart form this, company can provide
training and development programs to their mangers which can help them in improving
and developing their skills in most effective manner (Dimmock and Goh, 2011).
Hence, these are some most important leadership development strategies through which
Angela can help herself and her staff members in developing their leadership related skills.
Above mentioned points, can also help her in solving work related problem which have raised
due to poor leadership competencies.
MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT
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Management is that essential part of organisation which helps it in managing its human
resources and Utilise them in most effective and systematic manner. Through this, company can
achieve its desired results and also can make good strategies to compete with market
competitors. According to given case scenario, Angela and her staff members have poor
management skills. With poor managerial skills they can not resolve work related problems. So,
for that they need to develop their management skills. For this, they can use various management
development strategies which are given below:
 Management improvement plan: With the help of this kind of development plans,
mangers can improve their managerial skills. Development of management skills is
highly required because without them leaders can not mange human resources and also
can not operate organisational functions in appropriate manner (Bush, 2014). Through,
conducting administration development program, mangers can resolve management
related problems within organisation.
 Management education: For better growth of company, employer should hire those
mangers who have high qualifications in administration filed. By their own management
knowledge they can resolve organisation problems and also can lead company to next
level of growth.
Henceforth, these are some most popular leadership and management development
strategies which can help mangers and leaders in improving their leadership and managerial
skills. Without these traits leaders can not resolve work related difficulties. So, with the help of
these strategies Angela and her mangers can solve their organisational issues in effective manner.
Furthermore, with the help of development strategies managers can improve their
leadership and management skills, which can help them in resolving business problems and also
can help them in making most effective plans. This can also help organisation in gaining
competitive advantage. High skilled mangers can make most effective business strategies (Kark
and Shamir, 2013). This can help company in making its strong corporate image within
marketplace. If organisation will have high qualified and skilled people then it can help it in
competing with its competitor firms.
CONCLUSION
By summering up this project report, it has been determined that leadership and
management plays an important role in every organisation. For making good position in business
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enterprise it is very much important to have good leadership skills. In simple words, leadership is
a practical skill of individual which help him in leading or guiding groups, individuals or whole
organisation. Management system is a integral part of every organisation. This is the major
concept through which organisational goals and objectives can be achieved in effective and
systematic manner. Its foremost functions are planning, organisation, directing and controlling.
Leadership and management are both most essential aspect of business enterprise which can
leads it to higher level of success. A successful leader can lead and manage its organisation
members. Which is highly important for accomplishing organisational goals and objectives.
Above mentioned report is based on a case study in which Angels is playing a role of associate
manger of a agency which helps many Children and families by providing them skill building
programs. In this case study various work related problems has been mentioned which is
currently facing my Angela and other mangers. By using various leadership and management
skills, theories and strategies she can enhance her leadership skills and mangers can improve
their managerial skills.
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Bush, T., 2014. Instructional and transformational leadership: alternative and complementary
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