The limits of transformational leadership

According to Bass (1990), transformational leaders are characterised by charisma, inspiration, intellectual stimulation and individualised consideration. These leaders influence their followers to go beyond their immediate goals and believe as if they are contributing to something greater than their individual goals and interests.

There are many examples of transformational leaders who have successfully influenced their followers via visions, dreams, constancy and through strong self awareness (Bennis, 1998).

Nelson Mandela became the president of South Africa after successfully fighting apartheid and despite the fact that he was incarcerated in an isolated island for more than twenty years. He went on to become the president of South Africa and unified the country. Mr Mandela strongly used symbolism and compelled his countrymen to follow him to a place where many thought was nonexistent. Today despite its structural problems of poverty and crime, South Africa is a thriving country when compared to other basket case examples like Zimbabwe. Mr Mandela’s dogged refusal to nationalise the economy and confiscate wealth from white South Africans laid the foundations for a stable economy and reassured international investors. Many may argue that this was a misguided policy that did not address the underlying issues of social injustice and poverty. This cynicism may even have some truth in it as there is always a risk of such high profile policy not working. But it will be hard to ignore the fact that South Africa will be a different country today were it not for the leadership of Mr Mandela and his believe in a rainbow nation.

Other examples of such leaders include Bill Clinton, MahatmaGandhi, Martin Luther King, Michael Collins and many more others. These were positive examples of transformational leaders who inspired their followers and changed policies, nations and borders.

But it must also be noted that there is a darker side to transformational leadership. Given that transformational leaders influence our emotional state and our idealised projection of the world around us, it is no wonder that history is littered with examples where followers were deliberately misguided. Kets de Vries (1997) describes how ‘the emotional legacy of the past pushes followers into displacing many of their historic hopes and fantasies onto the present leader’ (pp. 262). In this way, followers abandon their self direction and meaning and become emotionally and intellectually de-skilled. In the story of ‘the owl who was God’, Thurber (1965) describes how the animals’ inadequate investigations led to the Owl’s values not being accurately assessed. The author alerts us to the danger of taking too many things at face value without looking at the alternatives to our own peril. Needless to say the followers of David Koresh and Adolf Hitler were influenced by a dark side of transformational leadership.

So what does this mean for the concept of transformational leadership and how can it overcome these criticisms.

Transformational leadership has potential to promote organisational effectiveness. Meta analytic review of this subject by Judge and Piccolo (2004) shows that transformational leadership had an augmentation effect over transactional leadership and how this was related to performance at the team and organisational levels. Moreover, transformational leadership appeared to display stronger relationships with criteria that reflect follower satisfaction and motivation than with criteria that reflect performance (pp. 760-768).

Given the importance of this type of leadership, it is no wonder that some writers are proposing a continuation and perhaps a renewal of this type of leadership. Sanders, Hopkins and Geroy (2003) propose what they call ‘transcendental theory of leadership’. They argue for the integration of transactional and transformational leadership through the spiritual dimensions of consciousness, morality and faith. Whilst this theory is relatively new and not yet fully subjected to thorough reviews, it is wise to question how the concept of spiritually fits in with the dynamic and agile environment of the business world.

Despite its weaknesses and potential for abuse, transformational leadership appears to be well suited for dealing with complexity, ambiguity, uncertainty, tensions and risk. So long as it is subjected to adequate checks and balances, organisations and individuals will probably benefit from this type of leadership.

References

Bass, B.M. (1990) ‘From transactional to transformational leadership – learning to share the vision’, Organisational Dynamics, 18(3), pp. 19-31

Bennis, W. (1998) On becoming a Leader, Reading, Arrow

Judge, T. A. & Piccolo, R. F. (2004), Transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic test of their relative validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 755-768.

Kets de Vries, M. (1994) Academy of Management Executive, 8(3), pp. 73-92 (Reprinted in Grint, 1997)

Sanders, J.E.(3^rd), Hopkins, W.E. & Geroy, G.D. (2003). From transactional to transcendental: toward an integrated theory of leadership. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 9(4), pp. 21-31.

Thurber, J. (1965) Vintage Thurber, London, Hamish Hamilton.