Transformational leadership-Nursing Paper Examples

The transformational leadership approach has gained attention in the recent past, primarily due to its role in transforming unwanted management scenarios and improving the competitiveness of organizations. First coined by Downtown in 1973 and developed by James MacGregor Burns, the transformational leadership approach emerged as a practical approach to leadership.

Ideally, it focuses on inspiring and motivating followers to achieve shared goals (Northouse, 2021). This essay describes the concept of transformational leadership as interpreted by James McGregor Burns, distinguishing between transformational, charismatic, and transactional leadership. It also discusses how millennials might respond to transformational leadership.

Transformational leadership

The transformational leadership approach is founded on the philosophy that leaders should encourage and inspire followers to succeed (Bakker et al., 2022). Ideally, it promotes growth and innovation among subordinates and organizational development. Bakker and colleagues argue that when company executives adopt transformational leadership, it increases independence and autonomy of decision-making and problem-solving among trusted employees.

Burns, in his interpretation, argues that the transformational leadership approach links followership and leadership, with leaders being sources of motivation for followers to reach their goals (as cited in Northouse, 2021). Furthermore, Burns differentiated leadership from power since he believed leadership is inextricable from follower needs. As such, he referred to this as a transformational process that results in higher motivation and morality.

The primary difference between transformational and transactional leadership approaches is the source of motivation for improvement. The former focuses on establishing an intrinsic vision and inspiration among followers to overcome the status quo. In contrast, the latter focuses on the external motivation for followers to improve their performance (Jensen et al., 2019). An example of a source of motivation in transactional leadership includes monetary and material incentives tied to achieving a set target.

In contrast, the exchange dimension in the transformational leadership approach focuses on the ability of leaders to engage the followers. In addition, establishing a connection that improves motivation and moral actions in leaders and followers. For instance, transformational leaders put the followers’ interests at the center of organizational decisions. Hence, taking care of their needs and incorporating their suggestions.

On the other hand, the charismatic leadership approach focuses on the need for persuasiveness and strong communication skills. Consequently, the difference between charismatic and transformational leadership approaches is that the former focuses on the unique ability to master social skills. More so, that increases an individual’s capacity to do extraordinary things (Sy et al., 2018). However, it is crucial to note that charismatic leaders tend to elicit and channel subordinate emotions to share and pursue a common goal. This shows the thin line between the actions associated with transformational and charismatic.

Millennials might resist or respond inappropriately to transformational leadership due to their inherent need for recognition. Although studies show that millennials have better responses and motivation to leaders who inspire and challenge them. Hence, it is prudent to note that external motivation supersedes intrinsic motivation (Valldeneu et al., 2021). Since it is more of intrinsic inspiration, millennials could have a poor response, considering their need for material, monetary, or physical recognition to inspire their motivation.

In conclusion, transformational leadership is an effective approach that focuses on the intrinsic motivation of subordinates. Conversely, transactional and charismatic leadership approaches focus on external motivation and a leader’s ability to elicit and use subordinates’ emotional responses to achieve shared goals. In this case, millennials would respond poorly to transformational leadership, considering the preference for external motivation, which is lacking in the transformational leadership approach.

References

Bakker, A. B., Hetland, J., Olsen, O. K., & Espevik, R. (2022). Daily transformational leadership: A source of inspiration for follower performance? European Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2022.04.004

Jensen, U. T., Andersen, L. B., Bro, L. L., Bøllingtoft, A., Eriksen, T. L. M., Holten, A. L., & Würtz, A. (2019). Conceptualizing and measuring transformational and transactional leadership. Administration & Society, 51(1), 3-33. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399716667157

Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.

Sy, T., Horton, C., & Riggio, R. (2018). Charismatic leadership: Eliciting and channeling follower emotions. The Leadership Quarterly, 29(1), 58-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2017.12.008

Valldeneu, M., Ferràs, X., & Tarrats, E. (2021). Effect of transformational behavior on millennial job satisfaction. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 19(3), 421.