Transformational leadership

About: Transformational leadership is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 18939 publications have been published within this topic receiving 600379 citations.

The importance of transformational leadership style for the well‐being of employees working with older people

Abstract: Title. The importance of transformational leadership style for the well-being of employees working with older people. Aim. This paper is a report of a study to explore the relationships between transformational leadership, followers’ perceived working conditions and employee well-being and job satisfaction. Background. There is some evidence that transformational leadership style is linked to employee job satisfaction and well-being. However, it is not clear whether this is due to (i) a direct relationship between leadership and job satisfaction and well-being outcomes or (ii) whether followers’ perceived working conditions mediate this relationship. Methods. A cross-sectional design was applied to data from a questionnaire study of 447 staff caring for older people in Denmark. Data were collected in 2005. A theory-driven model of the relationships between leadership, working conditions, job satisfaction and well-being was tested using structural equation modelling. Results. The transformational leadership style was closely associated with followers’ working conditions, namely involvement, influence and meaningfulness. Involvement was associated with job satisfaction and meaningfulness was associated with well-being. However, working conditions were closely correlated with each other, and thus the mediating mechanisms may operate through several different working conditions. A direct path between leadership behaviour and employee well-being was also found. Conclusion. Considering working conditions in the absence of studying leadership behaviour (or vice versa) may reveal an incomplete picture of the impact of work and work relationships on well-being. Work re-design interventions focused on influence may benefit from the consideration of training managers to exert transformational leadership behaviours.

Leadership and Employee Engagement Proposing Research Agendas Through a Review of Literature

Abstract: Leadership is one of the most studied topics in the organization sciences, and employee engagement one of the more recent. However, the relationship between leadership and employee engagement has not been widely investigated. As many organizations invest significant resources in retaining, developing, and engaging employees, human resource development (HRD) professionals are tasked to develop and partner with leaders to deliver those strategies effectively. Thus, a comprehensive understanding on the relationship and mechanism between leadership and engagement is essential to HRD professionals informing leaders on how best to cultivate positive results in followers. In this vein, this research conducted an extensive review of empirical and conceptual studies that examined the relationship between leadership and employee engagement, analyzed/synthesized the studies into integrated frameworks for the leadership–engagement relationship, and proposed future research agendas.

The Dark Side of Transformational Leadership: A Critical Perspective

Abstract: Most research into leadership has presented leaders as heroic, charismatic and transformational ‘visionaries’. The leader, whether in business, politics or any other field, is the most important factor in determining whether organizations succeed or fail. Indeed, despite the fundamental mistakes which have, arguably, directly led to global economic recession, it is often still taken for granted that transformational leadership is a good thing, and that leaders should have much more power than followers to decide what needs to be done. The Dark Side of Transformational Leadership confronts this orthodoxy by illustrating how such approaches can encourage narcissism, megalomania and poor decision-making on the part of leaders, at great expense to those organizations they are there to serve. Written in a lively and engaging style, the book uses a number of case studies to illustrate the perils of transformational leadership, from the Jonestown tragedy in 1978 when over 900 people were either murdered or committed suicide at the urging of their leader, to an analysis of how banking executives tried to explain away their role in the 2008 financial crisis This provocative and hugely important book offers a rare critical perspective in the field of leadership studies. Concluding with a new approach that offers an alternative to the dominant transformational model, The Dark Side of Transformational Leadership will be an invaluable text for academics interested in leadership, students on leadership courses requiring a more critical perspective, and anyone concerned with how people lead people, and the lessons we can learn.

Transformational leadership and learning orientation

Abstract: States that two goal orientations may be held by individuals: a performance goal and a learning goal (Ames and Archer, 1988; Dweck and Leggett, 1988). The much‐discussed learning organisation requires individuals either to possess or to develop a learning orientation. Leadership theorists (Bass, 1985; Burns, 1978) have identified characteristics of leadership which may be classified as transactional or transformational. The links between leadership and goal orientation are explored. It was conjectured that transformational leadership would be associated with a learning‐goal orientation and transactional leadership would be associated with a performance‐goal orientation. These propositions are supported by evidence from an empirical study of professional accountants in the UK. The findings suggest that desirable leadership behaviour for a learning organisation is transformational and desirable follower behaviour should include a learning orientation.

Leadership takes time: Some implications of (not) taking time seriously in leadership research

Abstract: Most theories and studies of leadership simply ignore the dimension of time. This paper discusses some of the implications of neglecting time in the field of leadership studies, argues that potentially important leadership phenomena are overlooked due this neglect, and calls for more attention to time-related considerations in theory development and empirical studies of leadership.