Leadership Project: Authentic Leadership & Transformational Leadership

This project delves into the concepts of authentic and transformational leadership, examining their characteristics and practical application. The report analyzes the authentic leadership model, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness, skilled capabilities, strong business leadership, motivational leadership, and creating followership within an organization. It uses Richard Branson and the Virgin Group as a case study, highlighting how Branson's leadership style has fostered innovation and growth. The project explores the role of authentic and transformational leadership in fostering employee motivation, building trust, and driving organizational change, including the importance of communication, training, and adaptability in implementing new strategies. The project also discusses the significance of middle managers and leaders in maintaining employee performance and the need for accountability and trust within the organization to improve organizational culture.

LEADERSHIP: THEORY
AND PRACTICE:
PROJECT 2

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
2. Authentic leadership model for encouraging others to follow a leader...................................1
3 Role of authentic and transformational leadership...................................................................3
Meaning and vitality....................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Transformational leadership can be understood as an innovative theory where leader
works with teams to identify needed change with dynamic business standards and create vision
to inspire employees and execute strategies to implement (White, 2018). Authentic leadership is
a form of leadership which can be gained by having an honest relationship with employees and
the people associated in the business to build on an ethical foundation. This report explains the
transformational leadership characteristic traits which are highly important for managers and
leaders to develop in their working standards to keep employees motivated at workplace. It
analyses Richard Branson entrepreneurial skills which has boosted innovative growth in Virgin
Company and the induction of transformational leadership which has brought huge changes in
bringing dynamics in working structure of companies This file explains how new changes can be
brought with efficiency by transformational leadership and the importance of building trust and
motivation among employees for long term sustained growth. Richard Branson is one of the
most successful entrepreneur and leader in digital business world who has inspired millions of
people worldwide with his charismatic style and quick decision taking ability.
2. Authentic leadership model for encouraging others to follow a leader
Authentic leadership is a process for leaders to accentuate on building the leader's
authenticity with the help of honest relationship which is going to value their input for building
an honourable foundation. It is very important for the business owners to have a better
functioning and be able to have a better leadership quality for themselves so that the company
will be able to function better (Storberg-Walker and Madsen, 2017). Richard Branson has used
this theory in his organization, Virgin Company which will make the organization function
better.
 Self-Awareness
Richard Branson is very aware about his own organization and that is a very good factor
for them which is why they are having a better functioning for themselves. Richard Branson
knows how to make the people work in the organization and how the organization can have a
better functioning for themselves. There are more than 200 companies which come under Virgin
group which is why Richard has to be very sure and aware about the decisions he must make for
the future. Richard has to know how to make the employees understand the changes he is making
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the organizations culture should be fun and employees must accept the changes and be always
ready to learn. This fun environment has been provided by Richard in the organization and
making the impossible possible is the root culture of the organization (Riggio, 2018). Self
awareness has to be strong in the owner so that they can work accordingly which is going to be
very beneficial for the company.
 Skills Capabilities
Skilled employees in Virgin Company are stable the organization even if they are not
being paid well because they are having a good culture in which they can work which is a very
good advantage for Virgin Group. Richard himself is very educated and experienced which is
why he is being able to understand the employees and help them get motivated from time to time
which is a very important factor for the company. The company is expanding and has a lot of
products and services under Virgin group which is a good advantage for the company but having
met the satisfaction and demand of customers is a very important factor for them. Richard has
increased his learning and taking lessons from all the experiments which are taking place in the
company so that the company can grow better.
 Business Leadership
There must to a good leader in business only then the organization will be able to
function effectively which is a very important factor for the company (Irving, 2016). Richard
Branson is a very good leader which is why the Virgin company is being able to have a such a
good market for themselves. Expanding themselves in all the products and services and having
more than 200 companies under one brand is a great success and advantage for Virgin Group.
Richard does take a lot of time to make a decision because he wants to be sure of the decision
which he is going to take so that the decision can have a positive impact on the company. There
should be no blind following but have their own creative ways to follow it so that there are better
ideas which can come out of it which is going to be helpful for the company.
 Motivational Leadership
Richard Branson is not paying the employees equal to the other organizations which are
there in market but they are having a culture environment which is present in the company which
make the employees stay in the organization. In today's world there are a lot of employees who
are shifting from one business to another if they are not having a good wage. This is not so in
Virgin Organization because there are a lot of changes which are taking place in organization
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because Richard keeps learning and expanding the business but he does not take the credit for it
and gives the credit to the employees which is a great advantage for the managers and employees
(Mendenhall and et.al., 2017). Richard is a silent motivator or captain which is he allows his
team to play the game in market so that the company can have a better success.
 Distributed Leadership
There is no distributed leadership in Virgin Group because all the decisions are made by
Richard Branson so that the organization can have one direction for the functioning which is a
very important factor for them. Richard has a trust in the company he is running in market which
is why he prefers taking decisions for himself which is a very important factor for them. Credit is
taken by the employees of the company even after Richard puts in his best to make the company
work and when it does he hand's it over to the managers and sits in the back seat and enjoys the
success. Distributed leadership is not a good method for Virgin group because they will not be
able to function effectively if they do not have a clarity in organization.
 Creating followership
Richard has such a followership for themselves in market and organization because there
are a lot of factors which are in favour of Richard because of the strategies which are being used
by him. Richard has used free publication for making his company get the best outcome from it
like he did not have money to do publicity for the airlines he started there he used another way of
attracting the media towards himself. He used conference dressed like “Biggles” which was very
successful and made the company have good success and attract a lot of customers in the
company. He is as famous as the Hollywood actors and he also took an adventure trip in hot-air
balloon so that media could get attracted even if his life was at risk which is a very good factor
for the company (Popli and Rizvi, 2017).
3 Role of authentic and transformational leadership
Meaning and vitality
Transformation leadership is one of the most important aspect in an organization where
leaders develop dynamic factors in motivating employees to increase their performance
standards according to competitive business world for reaching high profit margins efficiently. It
is imperatively important to cultivate transformation leadership in organizational culture where
leaders are conscious of dynamics in business environment to create effective change for
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enabling company to reach benchmarks in performance standards (Jackson, C. J., 2020).Richard
Branson is one of the most effective visionary larder in modern business world who has emerged
as strong corporate leader example by the great success of Virgin company.
Alignment for execution of new changes
Ledaership alignment to bring change in organization mission can be efficiently
implemented in business culture by encouraging employees with proper training sessions and
seminars of employees. Richard Branson has given high attention to boost creativity among
employees by providing support and recognition to them through dynamic leadership delivery
where innovation aspects are highly given importance. Transformation leaders lays importance
in developing strong communicative standards where employees have high interpersonal skills
among them and work dynamic flexibility tio reach company goals and set their growth
accomplishment goals (Kaluza, Buengeler and van Dick, 2020).
Changes needed in organization can be understood employees in virgin group are less
paid as compared with other companies in industry which can lead to demotivate employees and
effect on their performance standards. Extrinsic motivational factors are highly important to
bring efficiency standards in employees performance as it keep them sustained and motivated to
be in company for long term. This enables management to keep human resources satisfied and
cost efficiency in turnover targets where capital expenditure on training of new employees is
largely saved. Financial rewards keep employees motivated to enhance their skills and build
dynamics technicality in their performance standards to reach company goals through
production. Richard Branson believes business operational stricture in company should
emotionally connect the team members by their superiors and team leaders to bring innovative
synergy and develop strong interpersonal skills among them. Virgin group lays high emphasis to
boost employees working in company by handling group team sessions and training them to
build efficient working standards (Klar and Huggins,2020).
Middle managers and leaders function to motivate employees for increasing performance
Middle managers and senior leaders of team should maintain strong connectivity with
employees by creating innovation platforms for them to showcase their potentialities and
determine paths where they can upgrade their skills. Company larders should highly value their
skilled employees and motivate them highly to keep them sustained for long term, in company
by giving their problems high priorities and resolving their issues concerning production.
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Attentiveness should be given to employees technical issues by leaders where they face difficulty
in production levels it highly important factor for sustained production levels (Nieminen, 2020).
Transformational leadership enables mangers and leaders of teams to manage fear of
fatigue, conflicts among team members and other unforeseen issues with great dynamic
flexibility and attentiveness. It enables employees to keep their productivity levels high and give
strength to leaders to bring specific changes related to larger transition in company. It is
extremely important for employees to build dynamic skills and work with advanced technology
in production departments to enhance their productivity levels (Buil,Martínez, Matute,2019).
Maintaining trust and accountability
Employees in company should be given strong platforms and opportunities by leaders to
showcase their talents and build trust among team members for reaching the set goals with high
profit margins (Novak,Breznik and Natek, 2020).Leaders should hold accountability towards
employees actions and their performance standards through cultivating transformation leadership
where high focus is given on building contingency situational strengths. Virgin group of
companies keep the employees highly aligned with company goals and build strengths to gain
strong trust and accountability standards from them.
Aspects to improve organizational culture during transformation process
Transfrormation process of bringing new technology and equipment for higher
productivity levels in company can bring resistance from some employees, and disturbed
coordination which should be highly given importance to resolve them immediately by leaders
(Park and Pierce,2020). Employees should be given proper training of new changes
implementation in company structure where there shall be exchange of knowledge and research
points by leaders to team members. Innovation and creativity tools should be developed among
group members to bring high productivity and efficiency. Richard Branson us an enthusiast
leader whose vision and keen creativity has kept employees quest to keep their fundamental
knowledge highly up to mark with the latest standards of organization functioning. Companies
should determine their threats and weaknesses areas where they can increase their capacities to
improve their position in industry among other brand competitors, Transformation leadership
enables leaders to build dynamic strength in functioning structure here employees are highly
determined with knowledge of the key arenas and parameters to increase their market share
positioning (Wardani and Eliyana,2020).
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Transformation leadership imply the role of adaptability and dynamics to entertain new ideas by
team members and subordinates. They should encourage their talents and give them innovative
platforms to showcase theirs kills and harness new creative learning capabilities. Self
management is also highly important as the leader has to update his working standards with the
changing business environment where there is high competition among companies and brands
(Zuraik and Kelly,2019).
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that there are a lot of roles which Richard
Branson is playing to make Virgin group reach the success it is on today. There has to be trust
and hard work and smart work which is required to make the business have a better functioning
and effective working so that they can have a competitive advantage in market which is a very
important factor for virgin group. A lot of factors which have to be considered before making
any decision in the organization by the leaders in business which have to be analysed properly so
that the company can have a better functioning for themselves.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Leadership. Servant Leadership: Theory & Practice. 1(1). p.5.
Jackson, C. J., 2020. Transformational leadership and gravitas: 2000 years of no
development?. Personality and Individual Differences. 156. p.109760.
Kaluza, A. J., Boer, D., Buengeler, C. and van Dick, R., 2020. Leadership behaviour and leader
self-reported well-being: A review, integration and meta-analytic examination. Work &
Stress. 34(1). pp.34-56.
Klar, H. W. and Huggins, K. S., 2020. Developing Rural School Leaders: Building Capacity
through Transformative Leadership Coaching. Routledge.
Mango, E., 2018. Rethinking leadership theories. Open Journal of Leadership. 7(01). p.57.
Mendenhall, M.E and et.al., 2017. Global leadership: Research, practice, and development.
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Nieminen, J. J., 2020. Transformational leadership and measuring emotional intelligence with
AHP tool.
Novak, A., Breznik, K. and Natek, S., 2020. How leaders can initiate knowledge management in
organizations: Role of leadership style in building knowledge infrastructure. Human
Systems Management. 39(1). pp.37-50.
Park, T. and Pierce, B., 2020. Impacts of transformational leadership on turnover intention of
child welfare workers. Children and Youth Services Review. 108. p.104624.
Plakiotis, C., 2017. Psychodynamic leadership approach and leader-member exchange (LMX): a
psychiatric perspective on two leadership theories and implications for training future
psychiatrist leaders. In GeNeDis 2016 (pp. 97-111). Springer, Cham.
Popli, S. and Rizvi, I.A., 2017. Leadership style and service orientation: the catalytic role of
employee engagement. Journal of Service Theory and Practice.
Riggio, R.E. ed., 2018. What’s Wrong With Leadership?: Improving Leadership Research and
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Storberg-Walker, J. and Madsen, S.R., 2017. The women and leadership theory think tank report
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Swanwick, T., 2017. Leadership theories and concepts. ABC of clinical leadership E, 2, pp.9-13.
Wagner, W. and Pigza, J.M., 2016. The intersectionality of leadership and service‐learning: A
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Wardani, N. K. and Eliyana, A., 2020, February. The Influence of Transformational Leadership
on Employees Performance with Communication Satisfaction Mediation (Case Study of
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Yammarino, F.J. and Dionne, S.D., 2018. Leadership and levels of analysis: clarifications and
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Zuraik, A. and Kelly, L., 2019. The role of CEO transformational leadership and innovation
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Online
White, S., 2018. [Online]. Available Through: <https://www.cio.com/article/3257184/what-is-
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