Transformational Leadership

Transformational Leadership

By

Arvind Kumar
MBA (2007-09)
Rakshpal Bahadur Management Institute
Bareilly

In the beginning Max Weber's (1947) defined the story of charismatic leaders, heroes that transformed and changed the world, Like Weber, Burns reasoned that moral values were important to leadership. For Burns, the transforming leaders focused on ends, while the transactional leaders negotiated and bargained over the means.

Bass accused Burns of three atrocities: (1) Burns did not pay attention to the portfolio of followers' needs and wants, (2) Burns restricted transformational leadership to moral ends (3) Burns set up a single continuum from transactional to transformational leadership.

Weber's three frames for the Capitalist Entrepreneur

1. Charistmatic/ Hero (Transformer)

An individual personality set apart form ordinary people and endowed with supernatural, superhaman powers, and heroic Charismatic leadership qualities. In short part Hero, and part Superman/ Superwoman.

2.Bureaucratic (Transactional)

Bureaucracy is "the exercise of control on the basis of knowledge: (p. 339). It is the stuff of rational legal hierarchical power, the

3. Traditional (Feudal/ Prince)

Traditional is an arbitrary exercise of Sultan power bound to loyalty, favoritism, and politics. It is stuff of Princely leadership.

Burns saw four categories in transformational leaders

Intellectual : An intellectual leader is devoted to seeing ideas and values that transcend immediate practical needs and still change and transform their social milieu.

Reformative : leadership of reform movements requires participation of a large number of allies with various reform and nonreform goals of their own, which means dealing with endless divisions in the ranks, and a collective that is anti-leadership.

Revolutionary : Revolutionary leadership demands commitment, persistence, ourage, perhaps selflessness and even self-abnegation.

Heroism (charisma) : The heroic, charismatic is what is today most eferenced as transformational leadership. Yet for Burns, this was just one of four categories.

Four "I" model of Bennis & Nanus

* Idealized Influence (leader becomes a role model)

* Inspirational Motivation (team spirit, motivate, and provide meaning and challenge).

* Intellectual Stimulation (creativity & innovation)

* Individual Consideration (mentoring

Schein Culture Change as Transformation

* Focus of Attention

* Goal-Directed Activity

* Modeling of Positive Behavior

* Emphasis on Human Resources

The transactional leaders works within the organizational culture as it exists; the transformational leader changes the organizational culture. The transformational leader even "changes the social warp and woof of reality. In sum, transformational is hierarchically superior to transactional leadership valuation.

Arvind Kumar
MBA (2007-09)
Rakshpal Bahadur Management Institute
Bareilly

Source: E-mail October 28, 2007