Transformational Leadership: Theories, Effects, and Criticisms

This report provides a comprehensive overview of transformational leadership. It begins by defining transformational leadership and its role in fostering positive change within organizations, emphasizing its impact on employee motivation, morale, and performance. The main body delves into transformational leadership theories, highlighting the characteristics of effective transformational leaders and their ability to inspire a long-term vision. The report explores the four I's of transformational leadership: Idealized influence, Inspirational motivation, Individualized consideration, and Intellectual consideration, along with an evaluation of its effectiveness. It further examines the effects of transformational leadership on organizational culture, human resources, and employee engagement, while also addressing criticisms of the theory. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the importance of transformational leadership in achieving organizational goals and fostering a positive work environment. The report is a valuable resource for students seeking to understand and apply leadership principles.

TRANSFORMATIONAL
LEADERSHIP

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY.................................................................................................................................................1
Transformational Leadership Theories....................................................................................................1
Its Concept, evaluation and conclusion...................................................................................................1
Effect of Transformational leadership in terms of Culture, HR, Employee engagement and
implementation of Strategy.....................................................................................................................2
Criticism gained by Transformational leadership theories......................................................................3
CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Transformational leadership can be defined as an approach which is being used by the
leaders so as to bring a positive change in the followers so as to make them work in an effective
manner (Price and Weiss, 2013). It is really effective in developing the motivation, morale and
performance of the followers so that they can help the organisation in achieving the end goal of
the company. This assignment will discuss about various the connection of transformational
leadership theories within Culture, HR, Employee engagement of the company.
MAIN BODY
Transformational Leadership Theories
Since every company wants to achieve success in the market and for that they will have
to conduct all their activities in an effective manner. In order to develop their organisational
performance, various types of new techniques and technologies were applied and one of them
was transformational leadership theory. This theory is found at all level of organisation like its
teams, different departments etc. It is also said that the leader who applies it; is having a long
term vision and is a risk taker as well because then only they will be able to manage all the
activities of the organisation in an effective manner.
If a person wants to become a transformational leader then they are required to have
following characteristics:
 Having a long term vision
 A good motivator so that they can motivate the employees also in an effective manner
 Building a strong relationship with the employees so that they can follow all their rules
and guidelines.
If a person will have all these qualities then they can become a transformational leader in an
organisation and can help them in achieving success as well. This kind of theory is being applied
in all kinds of organisations and if a company is not familiar with it then it is said that they can
not achieve long term success in the market (Odumeru and Ogbonna, 2013).
Its Concept, evaluation and conclusion
If concept of transformational leadership is required to be understood then it is very
important to define the Four I's which includes:
 Idealized influence – Here, the leader acts as an ideal model and is being liked for this as
well.
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 Inspirational motivation – The leaders are having the ability to inspire as well as motivate
the followers so that they perform in a better manner.
 Individualized consideration – They care for their employees genuinely and tries to bring
out the best in them.
 Intellectual consideration – They try to make the followers creative and innovative so that
they can do their work properly.
While evaluating transformational leadership, it has been assessed that the people who are
following this kind of leadership are having big goals in life and they are also aware of the
strategic goals of the company as well (Wang and et. al., 2011). Through this kind of leadership,
a sense of commitment is being encompassed by the followers and makes them trustworthy as
well. It is being implemented in various countries like Korea, Russia, Israel, India etc. and in
various kinds of occupations as well.
The conclusion that can be draw3n from this leadership theory is that it guides and missions a
common objective of the organisation and through this the employees are also motivated to share
their knowledge and develop new learning’s as well. Through this, the organisation also strives
to bring in innovation and creations in the company so that their activities will be complete in an
effective manner as well. Also, they give permission to their professional team to do what they
want to do so that intellectual decisions can be made.
Effect of Transformational leadership in terms of Culture, HR, Employee engagement and
implementation of Strategy
The effects of transformational leadership in terms of various aspects are being considered
as follows:
Culture – From this point of view, it can be defined that culture is very much affected
from the kind of services they are giving it to its customers and that is the main reason people are
entering into this segment as well. If good culture will be followed the they will be able to gain
new customers as well.
HR – This is also an important part of organisation and it is also highly affected by the
implementation of transformational leadership. If these kinds of activities will happen then the
functioning of the organisation will improve and they will not be able to function in a proper
manner as well (Rolfe, 2011).
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Employee Engagement – once, it is implemented then the employees will be able to
perform in an effective manner with one another and the environment inside the organisation will
also improve.
Criticism gained by Transformational leadership theories
There are various types of criticisms that was gained by the transformational leadership
theory and some of them can be described as follows:
 Transformational leadership is considered very difficult to be taught or trained as it is
considered as combination of various kinds of leadership theories.
In this, it is also assumed that the leader might manipulate the followers to do a particular task
and here there is a threat that in spite of gaining new things, followers might lose what they have
currently (Effelsberg, Solga and Gurt, 2014).
 Another criticism which is included here is that it is only for selected individuals and
because of this abusing of power might happen as well.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that transformational leadership theories plays
a very important role in bringing in effectiveness inside the organisation as after its
implementation the followers perform their work in an effective manner and help in achieving
the aims and objectives of the company as well. It is required that the leader must implement this
theory in an effective manner so that it can function effectively. This assignment also discussed
about the implementation and affect of this theory inside an organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Price, M. S. and Weiss, M. R., 2013. Relationships among coach leadership, peer leadership, and
adolescent athletes’ psychosocial and team outcomes: A test of transformational
leadership theory. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. 25(2). pp.265-279.
Odumeru, J. A. and Ogbonna, I. G., 2013. Transformational vs. transactional leadership theories:
Evidence in literature. International Review of Management and Business Research.
2(2). p.355.
Wang, G. and et. al., 2011. Transformational leadership and performance across criteria and
levels: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of research. Group & Organization
Management. 36(2). pp.223-270.
Rolfe, P., 2011. Transformational leadership theory: What every leader needs to know. Nurse
Leader. 9(2). pp.54-57.
Effelsberg, D., Solga, M. and Gurt, J., 2014. Getting followers to transcend their self-interest for
the benefit of their company: Testing a core assumption of transformational leadership
theory. Journal of Business and Psychology. 29(1). pp.131-143.
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