Leadership Theories in Practice: A Critical Review & Personal Insights

This essay critically analyzes two journal articles on leadership: Caldwell et al.'s 'Transformative Leadership: Achieving Unparalleled Excellence' and Schaubroeck et al.'s 'Embedding Ethical Leadership Within and Across Organization Levels.' The analysis focuses on the theories, values, and assumptions underpinning each article, relating them to leadership practices and personal experiences. Caldwell's article advocates for transformative leadership, emphasizing integrity and ethical conduct to foster employee trust and organizational change. Schaubroeck's article explores ethical leadership's influence on organizational culture and ethical behavior, highlighting the importance of ethical policies and role models. The essay compares these perspectives, considering the impact of different leadership styles on organizational outcomes and personal leadership experiences, ultimately aiming to understand how modern-day leadership can meet the needs and expectations of both leaders and followers.

LEADERSHIP
In recent research that was spearheaded by Maritz Research, it was discovered that the trust
which senior leaders in various leadership positions are enjoying from their employees is going down,
with approximately seven percent of the employees buying into the belief that top officials with
leadership roles and management roles make decisions based on their words. On the same note, 25% of
people are believed to trust their leaders to arrive at the right choices in any times of uncertainty.
Concerning this research and findings, the modern business world is continuously evolving, and leaders
are finding it hard to keep the trust of their junior employees because the majority of these leaders are
applying traditional leadership techniques that might not necessarily use to the present world of business
and management. This is because the modern world of business is more competitive now and more
complex than ever before in the history of the industry.
Transformative leadership, according to the author, Cam Caldwell, is a high level of regarded
leadership which takes into consideration employees’ respect as well as that of the society. The essence of
this article is to assist leaders in incorporating transformative leadership techniques in meeting their
organizational goals as well as getting their employees to trust them. This model of leadership, although
complex and challenging as stated by the author, it is deemed effective because it has included six
techniques of highly regarded leadership views. It is also viewed as how an organization and its leaders
are morally obliged to honor their societal duties and as well as of the stakeholders that are involved,
including employees as the author states.
Through extensive research, as the author says, as a leader, integrity commitment has been
identified as the critical element that any leader should look forward to possessing. This will help them in
their credibility establishment within their organization and earning the trust they need from their
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employees and those who look up to them. In that essence, to ensure that leaders are of high leadership
standards with a commitment to integrity, a transformative leadership approach is suggested by the
author, Caldwell, which in the case will project leaders who are ready to convert employees to action as
well as followers into leaders. This transformative leadership perspective will also aid in turning leaders
into vessels of the change that is needed in their various organizations of operation as the author puts it.
The most effective leaders of this era, as the author says, are the ones who dig deep to come up with a
lasting solution which will make people rethink more about their assumptions instead of trying to go back
to the old solutions that were used to solve the same problem, in trying to solve the current issue. On the
contrary, fellow authors to Caldwell, Caroll, and Bucholtz state that leaders are in a position which
requires them to make decisions that are value-based, normative and also outcome based which are
inclusive of both societal values and also organizational obligations and also aligned with their firms'
strategies. The author goes on to state that as much as leaders are obliged to honoring their duties, they
should also be ready to treat and handle other people who are also stakeholders of their organization as
highly valued partners, as well as going ahead to helping customers do their duties. This way, a leader can
create a pleasant working environment and thereby earning respect and trust of those they serve.
As stated earlier above, transformative leaders are the ones who instill change by ensuring that
new ways of solving problems are devised rather than using old methods to address current issues. So, the
author suggests how a transformative leader should ensure that they achieve employee trust and customer
satisfaction through self or rather a personal transformation and a different mindset that can adapt to
various scenarios of how they view the world from different angles. The structure of this transformative
leadership that the authors are proposing has been able to identify and exploit gaps in administration
through six perspectives of leadership (Banks 2016).
These six perspectives of transformative leadership that the author is talking about are; current
leadership, servant leadership, principle-centered leadership, level 5 leadership, charismatic leadership,
and also transformational leadership. The author focused on the ethical part of each perspective in
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ensuring that each view as to be used by leaders is aligned to stakeholders benefiting and also fast
responses to the required changes in the leadership role.
In explaining each of the perspectives, the author begins with transformative leadership whereby
he states that in this form of leadership strategy, leaders are required to respond to various duties accrued
to them both at a personal level and as well as organizational level. The moral foundation that makes up
this type of leaders as the writer puts it is divided into four key components, which are; inspirational
motivation, idealized influence, individualized consideration, and intellectual consideration. As the writer
goes on about the elements, they assist in pushing an individual to raise their standards and as well as
organizational standards, which makes them improve in their skills all around. Under transformational
leadership, the ethical foundation that incorporates a leader and the application of this perspective
includes multiple integration arrays of commitment to the community, organization, and also the people
working in that organization.
In a charismatic leadership perspective, a leader can create a secure connection between them and
their followers. Charismatic leaders are viewed as imposing a high level or somewhat standard of
leadership, according to the author, which in result makes their followers look up to them in admiration
and hence giving them their full support and trust. (Northouse 2018) Charismatic leaders are described as
being able to project good future plans for their followers. It is this future projection that makes the bond
between these leaders and their follower's trust.
On the contrary, level 5 type of transformative leadership is the one that will include an
individual's humility and their desire to achieve goals in the organization that was unable to be previously
delivered by former leaders. As compared to other leaders, as the author puts it, level 5 leaders are
aggressive enough in coming up with their success, and they are also fond of giving credit of
organizational success to other people. Hewlett Packard laptops founder David Packard has been
described as an example of a level 5 leader by the author. It is in this context that the author has suggested
for the level 5 type of leadership to be integrated into all forms of leadership because of its commitment
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and devotion to the organization's goals and interests as well as its attribute of leaders consisting of
personal humility.
Principle-centered leadership exemplifies and highly regards the duties accorded to them as
highly ethical and know that they have a role to play and fulfill. The author has given an example of
Nelson Mandela. They are leaders who adhere to their principals and moral values that are highly
regarded by the ones they lead. On the same note, in explaining about servant leadership, the author has
described this type of leadership as that which puts focus on doing the good for the people and
organization that they serve. I have managed to come across such a leader in my community volunteer
work, whereby the leader, led us by doing first, then we follow. This taught me that he regards highly the
leadership role he has been accorded and wants people to follow in his actions as he is ready to do them
himself, as he is responsible of this responsibility as a leader.
ETHICAL LEADERSHIP.
Under this model, ethical leadership is viewed as a platform where a leader uses their influence
socially to promote conduct that is ethically upright in various organizations and in that case fitting the
requirements of the organizational hierarchy. The impact these leaders impose as the writer suggested,
can be a direct influence as well as indirect influence. In this model of leadership as the author puts it,
they are trying to impose a foundational framework that has been already instilled in the culture of an
organization, whereby leaders use assumptions and also thinking behaviors as well as feelings of different
groups within the organization. This is a framework that is meant, according to the author, to make us
understand how leaders play a role in influencing ethical outcomes within and outside their setup with a
multilevel system that is complex.
This is because, according to the author, organizational culture and framework are divided into
various components with one deeper part focusing solely on assumptions that leaders derive their
leadership ethics from and another shallow element that represents more observable factors. On the
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contrary, a formal ethical culture system ethically includes policies, which are codes of ethics, training
structures as well as reward systems devised by leaders. These policies are taken into consideration
because when an organization has a good understanding on these policies and are working together in
unity, they are highly expected to be adhesive to these ethical behaviors which discourage unethical
conduct among individuals and other groups that they influence (Bedi 2016).
OUTCOMES OF ETHICAL LEADERSHIP
Thorough research and theory conducted have brought forward findings which indicate that a unit
with informational and normative influences are at liberty of supporting ethical policies and conduct in an
organization as well as curbing members of an organization from severe moral transgressions. As the
author says, collective understanding of a group about ethical policies and conduct, it puts an individual
in a better position of better understanding moral agency and ability to detect and correct moral decay in a
colleague. Apart from trying to promote the moral etiquette of their colleagues, and followers, in
influencing them to forward any moral violations within the organization and their various departments,
ethical leaders also act as moral role models to their followers and those they lead which goes further as
they also encourage these followers to drive an honest, ethical behavior that exceeds the leader's
expectation.
According to the author, there is a notion that leaders do influence their followers through their
ethical policies and conducts, and this directly affects the cultural and other norms of the organization.
However, it is not confirmed from previous research that these ethical conducts by leaders result in how
followers react and respond ethically in organizations that these leaders lead. As much as it is not
confirmed from previous research, the author goes ahead to support the notion as it can create a sense of
belief among followers as well as impacting them to create a common understanding among them which
later influences their outcomes. Therefore, in this study conducted by the author and his team, they have a
conclusion of saying that ethical culture in an organization and ethical leadership go hand in hand in
fulfilling positive belief among people which in turn makes them act well as moral agents in a well-
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articulated organizational ethical conduct (Babalola 2015). Personally, I have had an opportunity to work
with this type of leader, in my former organization as a trainer. My leader was very influential in making
people follow him and his ways whenever he came to assist in my trainings. Something I am also looking
forward to attaining.
From the two articles as presented above, both authors are trying to ensure that modern-day
leadership is what followers and those being led want. This is for the benefit of both the leader and the
one being influenced. That is to say, in the first article, transformative leadership, as the author says,
mainly focuses on employee respect as well as respect for those in society all around. In transformative
leadership, leaders are tasked with a mandate to think hard and come up with solutions to problems. And
these solutions have to be new solutions and not old solutions that were used in trying to solve the same
problem but did not work. This way, these leaders can earn the trust of their followers as well as their
support. Contrary to that, the ethical type of leadership majorly focuses on the ethical influence that a
leader will have or create to their followers. This will involve how these leaders handle themselves in a
moral code of conduct and if they can realign themselves with culture conduct of the organization.
Therefore, leaders of this type can influence a massive following if their ethical behavior is aligned with
the social practice of the organization and can influence followers (Freeman 2016).
This means that in an organization looking for a leader, or an individual aspiring to be a leader or
an actual leader has to consider being a transformative leader, so that they can gain the support and trust
of their followers; and also an ethical leader, a leader who can influence followers into behaving
according to the code of conduct of an organization as well as cultural behavior of an organization. In
agreement of what the authors are saying, it is evident from their articles that for you to be an effective
and influential leader, you need to be transformative and also be ethical. Transformative to gain employee
trust and support, ethical to influence their followers into behaving and acting according to the code of
conduct and moral agency policies. This will see positive outcomes in both scenarios as a positive belief
has been built in both the leaders and the people that they are leading (Montuori 2018). As a leader, I
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could deploy this to my place of work or organization by incorporating both leadership theories. The
transformative technique of leadership for followers trust and support and ethical policies of
administration to influence my followers to behave and adhere to the moral agency and culture of the
organization.
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References
Babalola, M.T., Stouten, J. and Euwema, M., 2016. Frequent change and turnover intention: The
moderating role of ethical leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 134(2), pp.311-322.
Banks, G.C., McCauley, K.D., Gardner, W.L. and Guler, C.E., 2016. A meta-analytic review of authentic
and transformational leadership: A test for redundancy. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(4), pp.634-
652.
Bedi, A., Alpaslan, C.M. and Green, S., 2016. A meta-analytic review of ethical leadership outcomes and
moderators. Journal of Business Ethics, 139(3), pp.517-536.
Freeman, R.E., 2016. Ethical leadership and creating value for stakeholders. In Business ethics: New
challenges for business schools and corporate leaders (pp. 94-109). Routledge.
Montuori, A. and Donnelly, G., 2018. Transformative leadership. Handbook of personal and
organizational transformation, pp.319-350.
Northouse, P.G., 2018. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
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