Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is an approach to leadership that aims to create change among individuals and social systems. When implemented in its ideal form, transformational leadership has the end goal of transforming followers into leaders. Notably, transformational leadership enhances followers’ morale, motivation, and performance. A Transformational leader understands their followers’ identities and seeks to align those individual interests with the overall organizational goals.

I worked in a local retail store under a manager whose leadership style is reminiscent of a transformational leader. An outstanding leadership quality displayed by the retail store manager is his individualized consideration of followers. The manager paid attention to our individualized needs and acted as a mentor and a coach to help us grow. Another aspect of the manager’s leadership qualities that made him stand out as a transformational leader is the empathy and support he offered us. Whenever anyone among the retail store staff failed to turn up at work for personal reasons, he offered paid leave.

Another transformational leadership quality displayed by the store manager is his intellectual stimulation. Intellectual stimulation refers to how a leader challenges assumptions, takes risks, and encourages creativity among followers (Bass & Riggio, 2006). Although there were organizational policies and rules we were all expected to follow; the manager did not like issuing endless instructions on how we should perform tasks. For instance, long queues were a common phenomenon in the retail store. These queues needed effective management to enhance customer satisfaction. The manager encouraged us to innovate creative ways to minimize wait times instead of constantly pressuring us to work faster. One of the creative ways we came up with to manage the queues was redirecting customers paying via cards and mobile money to use a common checkout point, while those making cash payments would use a separate checkout point. It would not have been possible to invent such a strategy were it not for the manager’s trust in our creativity.

The third leadership quality that made the store manager stand out as a transformational leader is their inspirational motivation. Inspirational motivation refers to how a leader articulates the organization’s vision in a way that appeals to the followers who execute it (Bass & Riggio, 2006). Leaders with inspirational motivation challenge followers with high-performance standards and communicate the organization’s future goals with optimism. To that end, leaders with inspirational motivation must possess outstanding communication skills and be willing to engage with followers. Our retail store’s manager was an articulate leader who helped attach a sense of purpose to our work. For instance, he would remind us constantly that if the store’s profit increased, we would be the first beneficiaries through a salary increment.

Transformational leadership practiced by the store manager positively affected the store’s organizational behavior. First, the transformational leadership style created a sense of belonging among employees, who were subsequently motivated to perform tasks to the highest standards (Khan et al., 2020). By creating a sense of purpose, the employees were aware that the store’s success would trickle down to individual success through enhanced benefits. Besides, the leadership style resulted in intrinsically motivated organizational employees. Once people are intrinsically motivated, they are less likely to be psychologically affected by burnout (Khan et al., 2020). Burnout is a mental condition that happens in response to heightened stress levels at work, potentially leading to conflicts among colleagues. The store manager ensured that interpersonal relationships remained healthy by motivating employees and giving them a sense of purpose.

References

Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2006). Transformational leadership.

Khan, H., Rehmat, M., Butt, T. H., Farooqi, S., & Asim, J. (2020). Impact of transformational leadership on work performance, burnout, and social loafing: A mediation model. Future Business Journal, 6, 1-13.

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Question

Unit IV Journal
Assignment Content

Choose one of the leadership types addressed in this unit’s readings, and identify a leader you have worked for or with who personifies that type. What knowledge, skills, and abilities did this manager have that made him or her good at the role and fit the type? How did this leadership type impact organizational behavior?