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Leadership Abstract Leadership is an integral part of successful organization. Leaders are able to bring the company to success and make work more effective. The problems of leadership are the most important for achievement of organizational effectiveness. On the one hand, the leadership is examined as combination of certain characteristics peculiar to people who have influence on their subordinates, whereas on the other hand, leadership is the process of constant perfection concerning achievement of a certain objective. Leadership is a specific type of managerial interaction and cooperation based on the most effective combination of various sources of influence that is aimed to motivate and inspire people to achieve common goals. The article examines main types of the leadership: transactional, transformational, authentic and charismatic.
It dwells on the general concept of leadership and describes each type of leadership using data gathered from multiple sources. The study will be useful for a wide range of readers for understanding of leadership styles and how these styles can be applied. Outline Introduction Transactional Leadership The Alternative: Transformational Leadership The Tactics of Rewards and Punishments Authentic leadership Charismatic Leadership Conclusion Introduction Scholars who examine the problem of leadership often dwell on two basic approaches to leadership: the influence of authoritative and democratic approach to the concept of leadership. They were interested in several questions: Who should take decisions? or Which approach should a person take in relation to the task or people?
Scholars tried to examine a kind of reward that was understood as positive or negative reaction for quality of solution of the problem. Nowadays we know that there are much more approaches to the leadership that allows transformation of other growth. For example, a leader can have such objectives like to improve qualitative and quantitative results in solution of the problem, to change viewpoint, cultural values, and views on life or demands. In such a way, we can speak about drastic changes in activity of the group, especially when it transforms from despair to productive activity because of influence of effective leader, who realizes his new vision and new hopes for the future and who changes the context of activity of his subordinates. For example, such leader can force people to change priority sequence, to increase the level of their demands, to mention a few.
Behavior of the group can change dramatically under the influence of a leader. These changes are the result of leadership based on win-win position and rewards. Leaders activity is based on relations of mutual help and mutual benefit. In such a way, leadership is very important. Now, lets dwell on four main types of leadership: transactional, authentic, charismatic and transformational leadership. Transactional Leadership Transactional leader explains to his subordinate his functions and makes demands.
In such a way, the leader achieves assiduity and diligence in performance of tasks. However, such approach has several weaknesses: Sometimes it is very difficult to determine the target date for performance of task and corresponding reward; In case transactional leader uses the method of intimidation, there are difficulties in the work because of negative feedback from the side of subordinate; Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish insufficient abilities from insufficient motivation; There are problems during communication; Different subordinates have different attitude to internal and external rewards; In such a way, we can come to conclusion that transactional leadership is effective in environment where direct relation between the level of performance of tasks and reward exists. In case the leader uses negative reward (punishment), his activity is ineffective. According to numerous researches, punishment has no influence on the level of performance of task or getting positive outcomes.
In result of punishment the workers gain better understanding of expectations. At the same time it has no influence on motivation or the level of performance. Punishments vividly demonstrate what the person is prohibited to do. They provide with no positive stimulus, especially in cases when the workers are expected to show creative or innovative approach to the problem. Even in case this type of leadership will be based on positive reward, it hardly gains significant positive results. Evidently, people do not like the idea to obey the program of getting profit.
They are ready to act in the name of interests in case they have no clear understanding that the leader simply uses the method of reward and punishment. It is very difficult to get positive results in performance of the task in case the leader uses the method of dictatorship, even if it is the dictatorship of logics. In practice the subordinates often undertake actions against the transactional leadership. They are able to yield to pressure of the leader within the framework of mutual aid. The quality of the work will suffer. In case the leader does not control quality to the prejudice of quantity, the worker will become a passive and his reactions will be reverse to those that are expected by the leader.
The Alternative: Transformational Leadership The Leader- The Subordinate James Burns was the first scientist who set off transformational leadership to the transactional model. He examined biographies of Roosevelt and Kennedy and came to conclusion that transformational leader spurs people to do more than they were expected to do. Such change in intentions occurs due to several reasons: Transformational leader forces us to understand the importance of expected results. He shows us the ways how to achieve the objectives; The leader spurs people to go beyond the scope of their narrow interests. He forces people to be guided by the interests of the group, organization or country.
At the same time people start to take the interests of the group as their own interests and expectations; Transformational leader zooms in the scale of our demands in correspondence with the theory of Maslow. He forms demand in acknowledgment and recognition instead of the demand in safety. The leader forces us to reach more than we were expected to do at the beginning of our work. In such a way he creates completely new level of demands.
The model of transformational leadership is based on the level of efforts that exist from the very beginning of task. It is stipulated by the level of assurance of success and desire to achieve expected results. Transformational leader strives to achieve the results and give the detailed explanation of tasks, demands, and the ways of achievement. Transformational leader forces the subordinate to make additional efforts and increases self-confidence. The effectiveness of the model of transformational leadership was proved in result of experimental study conducted in the United States.
The group consisted of 845 workers (Bass, Winter 1985). Major part of the workers held in high respect their leaders. At the same time they claimed that many managers do not know how to motivate their workers and to expose all their talents and capacities. 70 % of workers claimed that they work well. At the same time only 23 % of the workers confirmed that they work at their full potential. Only 9 % agreed that the level of their motivation depends on reward factor. Major part of the workers claimed that correlation between the level of diligence and reward is very weak.
So, what is transformational leadership? Transformational leadership facilitates a redefinition of a peoples mission and vision, a renewal of their commitment and the restructuring of their systems for goal accomplishment. It is a relationship of mutual stimulation and elevation that converts followers into leaders and may convert leaders into moral agents. Hence, transformational leadership must be grounded in moral foundations (Leithwood, 2000).
The workers from the experimental study claimed that they know at least one person who corresponds to this definition. As a rule, it was their manager or the manager who held higher position in their organization. Part of people brought as an example members of their family or their consultants. Transformational leader inspired people to work hard and to complete more than they were expected to do. The workers claimed that they wanted to justify hopes of the leader and to provide him with aid and support. They wanted to imitate his behavior, vision and viewpoint.
The leader increases workers conscience and diligence because of his innovative and creative approach. He convinces them not to stop after they achieve the result. The leader prompts people to understand their obligations in relation to their organization. He inspires people to believe in their importance for organization, and, in such a way, he increases their self-confidence. The workers claim that the leader becomes a tutor, who treats them as equals despite of his overwhelming experience and knowledge. He becomes the sample of honesty and straightforwardness.
He defines high and clear standards of performance of the tasks. The leader encourages subordinates, advises them, and provides them with aid and support. At the same time he is able to be open and grateful. Transformational leader is able to listen to subordinates attentively and to inspire them with belief in their mental capacity. He gives them chance to act independently and promotes understanding and self-perfection. Transformational leader is able to share his knowledge and experience with his subordinates.
At the same time he can be strong and even harsh with subordinates (in case it is really necessary). The majority of people consider him simple in communication. Together with increase of motivation, subordinates feel trust, sympathy, devotion and high respect in relation to transformational leader. The Tactics of Rewards and Punishments The majority of transactional leaders use rewards and punishments in order to influence their subordinates.
Rewards and punishments are used differently by different leaders: recommendations, career development, salary increase, respect, high appreciation, to mention a few. The policy of reward and punishment is quite interesting. For example, what concerns punishment, the leader can draw attention on mistake. Such understanding of failure can be understood as a punishment. At the same time, when the leader explains the reasons of failure, a subordinate can derive benefit from it, especially when he lacks experience and reprimand contains explanation. However, the punishment can be stricter, although in this case it rarely results in positive outcomes.
The leader who involves in working process only in case of failure or problem acts according to the principle: If it works properly, it needs no corrections. However, the leadership based on punishments is not effective; reward, on contrary, is of benefit because it increases diligence and productivity. Yet, it is very difficult to balance in order to find the golden mean. Authentic leadership Authentic leaders are worthy of trust, they are authentic conform to act and speak the truth. According to Avolio et al (41), authentic leaders are those individuals who are deeply aware of how they think and behave and are perceived by others as being aware of their own and others' values / moral perspective, knowledge, and strengths, aware of the context in which they operate, and who are confident, hopeful, optimistic, resilient, and high on moral character (J. A.
Conger, R. N. Kanungo, 1998). Authentic leaders are aware of the context in which they operate, they are aware of their subordinates knowledge, moral perspective and values, strengths, etc.
These leaders are hopeful, confident; they are resilient and high on moral character. Authentic leadership has several common features with other types of leadership. At the same time, authentic leaders stay their course and convey to others, often times through their actions, not just words, what they represent in terms of principles, values, and ethics (Avolio BJ, Gardner WL, 2005). Charismatic Leadership It is very difficult to speak about charismatic leadership.
Not only outstanding and famous leaders have charisma. You can find charismatic leaders in any organization and at any level of our society. In this kind of leadership charisma is the corner stone of all relations. Such leaders inspire their subordinates to accomplish tasks.
They are able to distinguish the things of vital importance. Charismatic leaders command respect and feel responsibility. Subordinates give credence to charismatic leaders. The workers are proud that they work with such leader and believe in leaders capacity to overcome all obstacles on the way. Charismatic leader is the symbol of success. Charisma is one of the most important qualities that distinguish a common leader from charismatic one.
Charismatic leader excites strong love and devotion (sometimes hatred) of his subordinates, the desire to imitate his behavior. Relations with charismatic leader are often impetuous and changeable. This type of leadership is quite rare, probably, due to their insufficient capacities. At the same time there are many potential charismatic leaders in any organizations. The leaders of this type are very important for successful activity of the company because the corner stone of charisma is its ability to inspire people and to arouse emotions and enthusiasm. Such inspiring leadership is beneficial for motivation of subordinates.
Motivation can be realized by means of well-grounded intellectual speech, brilliant argumentation, inspiring determination of objective, etc. Charismatic leader uses all these methods to influence the behavior of his subordinates. The leader can have brilliant intellect but his inspiration can be based only on emotions. According to charismatic leadership theory, subordinates often attach unusual and heroic features to charismatic leaders. Numerous researchers tried to find out peculiar features of charismatic leaders (J. A.
Conger, R. N. Kanungo, 1998) however, they managed only to define five main characteristics of charismatic leader: Strategic goal and ability to clearly define it. Charismatic leader has strategic goal.
It is expressed in the form of idealized perspective that promises better future. Leader is able to explain other people the importance of this goal; Personal risk. Charismatic leader is ready to risk (sometimes to sacrifice something or somebody in order to reach his aim); Sensitivity to the environment. Charismatic leader is able to evaluate limitations of external environment and resources that are necessary to reach his goal; Sensitivity to demands of his subordinates.
Charismatic leader recognizes the demands of other people, their feelings and necessities; Non-standard behavior. Charismatic leader demonstrates new and non-standard models of behavior; Conclusion Search for the most effective type of leadership should be based on individual demands of organization. The role of leadership is very important, because effective leader is crucial to success of any company. There are few born leaders; a person can become an effective leader during the process of his life.
Each style of leadership influences all components of environment in organization (flexibility, responsibility, reward, clear understanding of the companys goals, etc) as well as financial indexes of the company (profit, productivity, profitability, etc). In such a way, the leader should place high emphasis on leadership style in order to increase effectiveness of the organization. Bibliography Avolio BJ, Gardner WL. (2005). Authentic leadership development: getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leaders Q (16), 315 - 338. Bass, B. (Winter 1985).
Leadership: Good, better, best. Organizational Dynamics. J. A.
Conger, R. N. Kanungo. (1998). Charismatic Leadership in Organization. CA: Thousand oaks.
Leithwood, K. &. (2000). The effects of transformational leadership on organizational conditions and student engagement with school. of Educational Administration, 38 (2), 112. Luthans F, Avolio BJ. (2003). Authentic leadership: a positive developmental approach. (D.
J. Cameron KS, Ed. ) Positive Organizational Scholarship, 241 - 261.
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Research essay sample on Transformational Leadership Charismatic Leader
