Transformational Leadership: Definition, Concept, and Application

This article discusses transformational leadership, its definition, concept, and application in the workplace. It also explores how this theory can help managers overcome problems and improve performance. Additionally, it includes a personal experience of using transformational leadership to revive a business.

Running head: TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Transformational leadership
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Part 1:
Definition of transformational leadership:
Transformational leadership can be explained as a leadership approach that can
effectively cause various changes in social systems and also in individuals. It is seen that in the
ideal form of inspirational leadership it manages to create positive and valuable changes among
the followers of transformational leadership with Colgate developing more followers into
business leaders. When this relationship is inactive needs genuine phone with can effectively
increase the level of moral education and the level of performance of the followers of this
leadership by a range of mechanisms (Deschamps et al., 2016). This may include aligning the
activities of the followers of identity and the same to the mission and also the collective identity
of the business organisation being a model for the followers of this theory, that can potentially
inspire them and talents day to take ownership and responsibility for their work by understanding
the weaknesses and strengths of the fall was so that the business leaders can assign their
followers where does that can optimise their level of performance.
Overview
The concept of transformational leadership was initially introduced by James Mcgregor
Burns in his research based on the political leaders. Burns opened that transformational
leadership is a process where the followers and their leaders help each other to attain a higher
level of motivation and moral in the workforce. It is seen that bonds aligned difficulty in
differentiation amount leadership and management and subsequently stated that the differences
are in the behaviours and the characteristics. In this regard It is worthwhile to mention that there
are two basic concepts related to transformational Theory of leadership and those are

2TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
transactional leadership and transforming leadership (Van Wart, 2015). It is seen that
transforming approach Mai create substantial change in the life of business organisations and the
people associated with those business organisations. Thus transforming approach can redesign
the values and perceptions and can change the Expectations and aspirations of the general work
force. Quite Unlike the transactional notion transforming approach is not dependent on give and
take relationship bath on the business leader’s great personality and the capability to introduce a
change in the organisation (Walsh, Dupré & Arnold, 2014). For an example it can be saved that
articulating and energizing vision and the challenging goals within the workplace. Transforming
leaders are often idealized in the sense that they are the model exemplar of working for the
benefit of the entire workforce. It has been theorized that transactional leadership and
transforming leadership are mutually exclusive styles. In this regard it can be seen that
transactional leaders do not strive for cultural change in the workplace but they work under the
existing culture when the transformational leaders may try to change the culture of the business
organisation where they work (Hentschel et al., 2018).
Concept
Bernard M bass is another theorist who extended the works of dance regarding the
psychological mechanisms which were significant aspects of transactional and transforming
leadership. In this regard It is worthwhile to mention that was used the term transformational
instead of using that down Transformer leadership and he added to the primary concepts
theorized by bands in order to explain how transformational leadership might be measured and to
determine how it can impact the followers of this leadership by increasing their level of
motivation and performance within the workplace (Carter et al., 2014). It can be said that the
followers of transformational leadership can feel admiration respect and loyalty and trust for the

3TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
leader due to the qualities of transformational leaders who are generally willing to work harder
than it is expected. This is because the transformational leaders provide their followers with
something which is more than working for self-interest and they provide their followers with an
inspiring Vision and Mission along with giving them and identity. The transformational leaders
motivate and transform their followers by their idealized influence individual consideration and
intellectual stimulation (Deschamps et al., 2016). Apart from that transformational leaders
encourage their followers to come up with unique methods to challenge the status quo and to
modify the situation in order to support the organisation to experience success. Does it can be
said that leadership can simultaneously display both transactional and transformational type of
leadership (Martin, 2017). It can be said that full range of leadership has 4 aspects of
transformational leadership and those are mentioned below.
Intellectual stimulation
The extent to which the business leaders challenge assumptions solicit the ideas of their
followers and take risks can be explained as intellectual stimulation. It is seen that with this time
the leaders encourage creativity and stimulate their followers and not only that they develop and
not sure the followers who think independently in the workplace which can be said that for this
type of leaders unexpected situations can be looked at as opportunities to learn and learning only
is certainly value (Deschamps et al., 2016). The followers of this type of leaders think deeply ask
questions about things and then figure out the best possible methods to execute their tasks.
Individualized consideration
The extent to which the business leaders at the end the requirements of his followers and
act as a coach or a mentor to their followers and listen to their needs and concerns can be
explained as individualized consideration (Ramsey et al., 2017). It can be seen that this type of

4TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
leaders provide support and empathy and enhances the communication in the workplace and
places various challenges before their followers. Does it can we say that followers of this type of
leaders in generally have aspirations and we for self-development all purposes and they have
intrinsic motivation for executing the tasks assigned to them.
Inspirational motivation
The extent to which the business leaders articulate aviation which may be inspiring and
appealing to their followers can be termed as inspirational motivation (Breevaart et al., 2014). It
can be said that the leaders who have expertise with inspirational motivation generally challenge
their followers with higher standards and communicate optimism regarding the future targets and
provide necessary assistance for the tasks. The followers of such lm leaders tend to have strong
sense of purpose when the leaders motivate them. seen that in this case is the followers then to
invest more effort for executing their tasks and they are of an optimistic and encouraged
regarding the future and they have full faith in their capabilities to take out a task assigned to
them (Ross et al., 2014).
Idealized influence
Idealized influence provides a standard model political behaviour with in the workplace
and in Steels Pride and along with that attains trust and respect. Idealized influence as a
developmental tool is already widely accepted in various industrial sectors and that includes the
government organisations also for an example it can be said that Finland’s defence forces is
currently using deep leadership model as a fundamental solution for their leadership training and
developmental purposes (Bottomley, Burgess & Fox, 2014).

5TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
How this theory helps the managers to overcome problems in the workplace
It can be said that in recent times the business leaders face various challenges in the
workplaces such as distributing the responsibilities among the workforce, being honest and
transparent regarding the information shared in the workforce and while creating various ways to
test and raise unique ideas. In this regard, it can be said that developing new ideas is the key role
or the transformational leaders and they need to have a strong cultural intelligence along with
intrapersonal skills (Effelsberg & Solga, 2015). At times being honest and transparent in the
workplace may bring in various challenges for the business leaders and at that point of times, the
leaders should encourage the employees to look at the future and consequently improve the
situation in the workplace. Thus, it can be said that transformational leadership is one of the
important and effective style of leadership that can effectively ensure a sustainable growth and
profitability for the business organization along with increased productivity.
Part 2(a):
I have had experiencing of using transformational leadership when I joined as the branch
manager at one of the branches of a multinational bank. The previous branch manager had put
extreme pressure on the subordinates which led burnout of the branch staff. They lacked
motivated and as a result the branch was performing badly. It was in this situation that I used
transformational leadership to improve the performance of the branch.
The branch of the multinational bank where I was posted as the branch was earlier led by
an authoritative branch manager. The previous manager only informed the branch staff members
about the target which they had to achieve and did not involve them while taking the target. The
manager threatened some of the branch staffs with termination if they did not achieve the targets.
The branch staff were as a result lacked motivation and worked under insecurity which were in

6TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
the poor branch performance. They often miss-sold financial products to customers to achieve
their targets which repelled existing customers. The neighbouring area was mainly composed of
upper and middle class customers, both domestic and business. However, this profitable
customer base attracted several other banks some of which were multinational banks. This made
the sourcing customers extremely competitive which posed challenge to the multinational bank
which I was employed in. The staff members in the bank lacked motivation and owing to losing
customers’ support, the branch performed very badly. The branch then started experiencing high
employee turnover which further affected its business. I was posted as the new branch manager
with the responsibility of transforming the branch performance which was a part of new
customer acquisition project under the leadership of circle head.
I, as the new branch manager used specific steps to bring about improvement in overall
performance of the branch following the transformational leadership theory. I as the new branch
manager held meetings with the branch staff both as a team and individually. The outcome of
these meetings provided me with several important information that every branch manager needs
to know to bring about positive changes in the performances of their branches. I can reflect that
came to know that the previous branch manager took the target without consulting the branch
staff. He pressurised them to sell high value premium products irrespective of the needs of the
customers. I also came to know about the main customers of the branch and their requirements. I
came to know about the insecurity and stress the staff members suffered from due to these
unrealistic business pressure.
The next transformational step which I took was taking appointments from the customers
and visiting them to develop a relationship with them. I also met customers at the branch to know
about their requirements. I then held meetings with the branch and made changes in the targets to

7TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
be achieved to transform the business acquisition of the branch, both on long term and short
term. For example, the branch staffs were not pressurised to sell high value products but instead
take the needs of the customers to offer them with appropriate products for sale.
The third transformation initiative which I took was that the branch staff members were
offered additional training on customer relationship building. The staffs were advised to
concentrate on building long terms relationships with customers instead of forcing products on
them. This initiative helped the branch to win bank some customers at had lost to its competitors
due to authoritative leadership style of the previous branch manager. These transformational
business practices helped the branch to acquire new high net worth clients. These existing and
new clients were provided with products of their needs which created high level of customer
satisfaction. These clients also provided with references which promoted future business
generation of the branch. These steps led to overachievement of the targets which own the
branch an award as well. Two of the branch staffs were promoted to higher posts which boosted
the motivation level of the entire branch, thus reducing its employee turnover.
I can conclude from this experience of mine that transformational leadership can enable
business organisations to boost their performances using specific steps. This style of leadership
can enable organisations to bring about drastic changes in their businesses and revenue
generation.
Part 2(b)
I can reflect upon an incident when I displayed my leadership qualities when I joined a
British consumer goods company as the regional head. The consumer goods company was based
on London and was operating in Sri Lanka. The previous regional head did not incorporate

8TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
policies to adapt to the tastes of the Sri Lankans. This limited the business generation of the
company compared to its competitors which made the apex management post me in Sri Lanka to
revive the business of the company in the region.
The Sri Lanka branch was located in Colombo and catered to the South Asian market.
The main consumer products the company manufactured were skincare products like soaps, skin
creams and face washes. The company also had a sizeable consumer base in China and India.
The company distributed its products online and through a network of distributors in these
countries. It had its manufacturing facilities in Sri Lanka to cater to its Asian markets. The
consumers in these markets wanted skin products suited to the weather conditions. The
distributors in India and China had communicated these market needs to the company but the
then regional head of British origin refused to incorporate these needs. He instead blamed the
suppliers incapable of meetings the needs of the company and held their dues back. The
company consequently lost distributors’ support to other multinational companies which offered
skincare products suited to the needs of the consumers in Asia. The company started incurring
huge losses in the Asian market which ultimately compelled the apex management to post me as
the new regional head to prevent further business loss of the company in Asia.
I as the new regional head used transformational leadership to revive the Asian business
of the FMCG company and came to know new business tactics from the experience. I could
judge that the company was incurring business losses because it had lost support of stakeholders
like consumers and distributors. The first step which I took was to hold meetings with the sales
representatives and distributors of the company in the Asian region to gain information about the
customer preferences. I then held meetings with the Asian production head to manufacture
products suited to the Asian weather conditions. For example, the new skin products would dry

9TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
oil free to keep dirt and heat off the skin of the users since Asia experiences higher temperature
compared to Britain. New ingredients like sandalwood was added to the products since
sandalwood has been used in the region for skincare since ages. These decisions of mine
exhibited my ability to take decisions in the face of stressful situations. The outcome of the new
product strategy was regaining of consumer and distributor based in Asia which resulted in
profits. I learnt from this experienced that leaders of companies should frame policies keeping in
view the expectations of stakeholder groups like distributors and consumers in order to gain
success in the host markets.
The third step which I took to cement the position of the British FMCG company in the
Asian market was acquisition of an Indian organic skincare products manufacturing company.
The acquisition was expensive and came after competing with several other FMCG companies.
The acquisition has led to stronger presence in the Asian market and boosted profit generation
form the market. This showed the risk taking and adaptive abilities of mine as a transformational
leader.
I learnt that transformational leaders in order to take appropriate business decisions
should take into account the market situations. They should them adapt their leadership skills to
operate and take advantage of the prevailing market situations.

10TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
References:
Banks, G. C., McCauley, K. D., Gardner, W. L., & Guler, C. E. (2016). A meta-analytic review
of authentic and transformational leadership: A test for redundancy. The Leadership
Quarterly, 27(4), 634-652.
Besieux, T., Baillien, E., Verbeke, A. L., & Euwema, M. C. (2015). What goes around comes
around: The mediation of corporate social responsibility in the relationship between
transformational leadership and employee engagement. Economic and Industrial
Democracy, 0143831X15614914…
Bottomley, K., Burgess, S., & Fox III, M. (2014). Are the behaviors of transformational leaders
impacting organizations? A study of transformational leadership. International
Management Review, 10(1), 5.
Breevaart, K., Bakker, A. B., Demerouti, E., Sleebos, D. M., & Maduro, V. (2014). Uncovering
the underlying relationship between transformational leaders and followers’ task
performance. Journal of Personnel Psychology.
Breevaart, K., Bakker, A., Hetland, J., Demerouti, E., Olsen, O. K., & Espevik, R. (2014). Daily
transactional and transformational leadership and daily employee engagement. Journal of
occupational and organizational psychology, 87(1), 138-157.
Carter, M. Z., Self, D. R., Bandow, D. F., Wheatley, R. L., Thompson, W. F., Wright, D. N., &
Li, J. (2014). Unit-focused and individual-focused transformational leadership: The role
of middle leaders in the midst of incremental organizational change. Journal of
Management Policy and Practice, 15(5), 44.

11TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Deresky, H. (2017). International management: Managing across borders and cultures. Pearson
Education India.
Deschamps, C., Rinfret, N., Lagacé, M. C., & Privé, C. (2016). Transformational leadership and
change: How leaders influence their followers’ motivation through organizational
justice. Journal of Healthcare Management, 61(3), 194-213.
Effelsberg, D., & Solga, M. (2015). Transformational leaders’ in-group versus out-group
orientation: Testing the link between leaders’ organizational identification, their
willingness to engage in unethical pro-organizational behavior, and follower-perceived
transformational leadership. Journal of business ethics, 126(4), 581-590.
Hentschel, T., Braun, S., Peus, C., & Frey, D. (2018). The communality-bonus effect for male
transformational leaders–leadership style, gender, and promotability. European Journal
of Work and Organizational Psychology, 27(1), 112-125.
Martin, J. (2017). Personal relationships and professional results: The positive impact of
transformational leaders on academic librarians. The Journal of Academic
Librarianship, 43(2), 108-115.
Matis, C. D. (2015). The Leadership: A Creative Item of the Organizational Culture; A Brief
Focus on Banking System in Romania. In MIC 2015: Managing Sustainable Growth;
Proceedings of the Joint International Conference, Portorož, Slovenia, 28–30 May
2015 (pp. 315-325). University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper.
McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and
leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), 117..

12TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Meyer, C. R., Skaggs, B. C., Nair, S., & Cohen, D. G. (2015). Customer interaction uncertainty,
knowledge, and service firm internationalization. Journal of International
Management, 21(3), 249-259.
Obeidat, B. Y., Tarhini, A., & Aqqad, N. (2016). The impact of transformational leadership on
organizational performance via the mediating role of corporate social responsibility: A
structural equation modeling approach. International Business Research, 10(1), 199.
Ramsey, J. R., Rutti, R. M., Lorenz, M. P., Barakat, L. L., & Sant’anna, A. S. (2017).
Developing global transformational leaders. Journal of World Business, 52(4), 461-473.
Ross, E. J., Fitzpatrick, J. J., Click, E. R., Krouse, H. J., & Clavelle, J. T. (2014).
Transformational leadership practices of nurse leaders in professional nursing
associations. Journal of Nursing Administration, 44(4), 201-206.
Roueche, P. E., Baker III, G. A., & Rose, R. R. (2014). Shared vision: Transformational
leadership in American community colleges. Rowman & Littlefield.
Van Wart, M. (2015). Evaluating transformational leaders: The challenging case of Eric Shinseki
and the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Public Administration Review, 75(5), 760-
769.
Walsh, M., Dupré, K., & Arnold, K. A. (2014). Processes through which transformational
leaders affect employee psychological health. German Journal of Human Resource
Management, 28(1-2), 162-172.

13TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Yuan, L., Pangarkar, N., & Wu, J. (2016). The interactive effect of time and host country
location on Chinese MNCs’ performance: An empirical investigation. Journal of World
Business, 51(2), 331-342.