Leadership

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Leadership
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Introduction
Leadership is the ability to unite influence and power. This means that leadership is not
only based on the power that comes from a given position but also it needs the influence to
attract followers, shape their behavior, instill performance, and attain the goals of an
organization. Scholars have developed various theories that try to explain the different leadership
scenario. Among the theories, transformational leadership and leader-member exchange (LMX)
have been considered important in facilitating creativity. In the contemporary rapid changing
work environment, it is important for an organization to adopt the think out of the box approach
to leadership styles. Extensive diverse workforce requires the managers to lead not only
individuals but the team as a whole (Effelsberg, Solga and Gurt, 2014, pp.139). Leaders play a
critical role in influencing the workers through two major leadership approaches that are
transformational leadership that is leader-focused and leader-member exchange theory that is
relationship based. However, little is known about how these two theories can be applied to
interact with each other and influence employees for creative performance. This study will,
therefore, focus on analyzing transformational leadership and LMX for creative performance.
The leader-member exchange theory was first coined in the 1970s. It was established to
analyze the relationship that exists between members in an organization with their managers. The
theory establishes that all the relationship between managers and the employees undergo the
steps of role-taking, role-making, and routinization (Loi, Chan, and Lam, 2014, pp.50). Role-
taking is developed when a new team member first joins a group. The managers are able to
assess the skills and abilities of the employee. Role-making is when new members takes on work
projects and the manager evaluates them to establish whether they are loyal, hardworking, and
trustworthy in their new roles. At this stage, the manager subconsciously sorts the new members

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into groups. The groupings consist of in-group which has loyal, skilled and trustworthy
members. The manager gives a lot of attention to this group and offers them opportunities and
challenging tasks and work privileges. The out-group is made up of incompetent and
unmotivated employees. This group have less access to the manager and are not considered for
work privileges. Routinization is whereby routines are established. The in-group members strive
to maintain a good impression with the manager while the out-group members develop mistrust
and dislike for the manager. Transformational leadership inspires positive changes in an
organization setting. This type of leaders is passionate, enthusiastic, and energetic (Breevaart, et
al., 2015, pp.762). Transformative leadership style employs the use of personality, vision, and
strength by the leader to motivate the workers towards a common goal (Anderson and Sun, 2017,
pp.80). Some of the components of this leadership style include intellectual stimulation, where
the leader foster creativity among the team. Individualized consideration is another component
that offers support and encouragement to the individual employee (Ghasabeh, Soosay and
Reaiche, 2015, pp.465). Inspiration motivation helps the employees to follow their passion
through motivating them to fulfill their goals. Lastly, idealized influence uses role modeling to
mentor the employees. The workers can emulate the persona of the leader.
Some of the similarities that have been established between LMX and transformational
leadership theory is that both of the theories involve the employees in the organization culture.
The LMX theory groups the workers into two distinct groups based on their characteristics,
loyalty, and trustworthiness (Martin, et al., 2016, pp.102). The high performing employees are
involved in the day to day running of the organization. Additionally, the out-group team is
offered a simple task to participate in organization operation. Transformational theories are all
about encouraging the employee to perform better in work situation. This type of leader is a