Transformational Leadership
Transformational Leadership
Lindsey L. Richardson
Georgia College and State University
Transformational leadership, as a concept, has been present and used with leaders all over the world as far back as history records. This style of leadership has been central to several leadership techniques, research articles, and books for an extended history. Transformational leadership developed as a vocabulary term when it was first introduced by James MacGregor Burns in his book, Leadership (Burns, 1978). Burns compares the relationship between the leader and the followers with the terms transformational or transactional (Burns, 1978). According to Burns, in a transformational leadership relationship, the leader raises …show more content…
These authors state that “leadership can occur at all levels and by any individual” (Bass & Riggio, 2007, p. 2) and this is the core to transformational leaders. Transformational leaders, lead others to accomplish more than what was originally expected and typically beyond what was original thought possible (Bass & Riggio, 2007). This is possible because the leader pays attention to the needs of individuals, trains the people below them to become leaders themselves, and empowers each person along the way (Bass & Riggio, 2007). As Antonakis combines the terms transformational and charismatic and uses the two terms interchangeably (2011) Bass and Riggio state that “charisma is only part of transformational leadership (2007, p. 5). Many researchers have debated whether transformational leaders must be leaders that produce positive change or whether leaders that produce change for destructive purposes, for example Hitler, are also considered transformational leaders. Bass and Riggio (2007) clarify that for the purposes of their book a transformational leader is one that brings about change that is positive and completed for unselfish reasons. The MLQ, multifactor leadership questionnaire, was first published by Dr. Bernard Bass and is considered the benchmark measure of transformational …show more content…
Throughout the chapter, Antonakis compares several different researchers’ views and theories as they relate to these types of leadership traits. Anonakis, however, brings a different challenge to the idea that transformational and charismatic leadership traits are the actual causes that can bring about positive change in the people surrounded by the leaders that have these traits. He does not dismiss the fact that these traits could bring about the changes seen; however, he calls for researchers to conduct longitudinal studies which “establishes that transformational leaders have the ability to actually transform individuals and organizations” (Day & Antonakis, 2011. p. 280). He then challenges researchers to find the “empirical evidence” necessary in order to make the direct connection between specific transformational leadership traits and positive gains (Day & Antonakis, 2011. p.
Lindsey L. Richardson
Georgia College and State University
Transformational leadership, as a concept, has been present and used with leaders all over the world as far back as history records. This style of leadership has been central to several leadership techniques, research articles, and books for an extended history. Transformational leadership developed as a vocabulary term when it was first introduced by James MacGregor Burns in his book, Leadership (Burns, 1978). Burns compares the relationship between the leader and the followers with the terms transformational or transactional (Burns, 1978). According to Burns, in a transformational leadership relationship, the leader raises …show more content…
These authors state that “leadership can occur at all levels and by any individual” (Bass & Riggio, 2007, p. 2) and this is the core to transformational leaders. Transformational leaders, lead others to accomplish more than what was originally expected and typically beyond what was original thought possible (Bass & Riggio, 2007). This is possible because the leader pays attention to the needs of individuals, trains the people below them to become leaders themselves, and empowers each person along the way (Bass & Riggio, 2007). As Antonakis combines the terms transformational and charismatic and uses the two terms interchangeably (2011) Bass and Riggio state that “charisma is only part of transformational leadership (2007, p. 5). Many researchers have debated whether transformational leaders must be leaders that produce positive change or whether leaders that produce change for destructive purposes, for example Hitler, are also considered transformational leaders. Bass and Riggio (2007) clarify that for the purposes of their book a transformational leader is one that brings about change that is positive and completed for unselfish reasons. The MLQ, multifactor leadership questionnaire, was first published by Dr. Bernard Bass and is considered the benchmark measure of transformational …show more content…
Throughout the chapter, Antonakis compares several different researchers’ views and theories as they relate to these types of leadership traits. Anonakis, however, brings a different challenge to the idea that transformational and charismatic leadership traits are the actual causes that can bring about positive change in the people surrounded by the leaders that have these traits. He does not dismiss the fact that these traits could bring about the changes seen; however, he calls for researchers to conduct longitudinal studies which “establishes that transformational leaders have the ability to actually transform individuals and organizations” (Day & Antonakis, 2011. p. 280). He then challenges researchers to find the “empirical evidence” necessary in order to make the direct connection between specific transformational leadership traits and positive gains (Day & Antonakis, 2011. p.