Improving Organizational Effectiveness Through Transformational

Improving Organizational Effectiveness Through Transformational Leadership by B.M. Bass and B.J. Avolio

In their book Improving Organizational Effectiveness Through Transformational Leadership, Bass and Avolio discuss transformational leaders and how they can change the dynamics of an organization to the point where the entire company becomes more effective. Often, these organizations become more efficient, as well. The basic ideas of the authors revolve around how transformational leadership works, and how it differs from leadership that is only transactional in nature. A transformational leader is one who focuses on change throughout the entire organization over the long-term, not just on how something can be done differently by one part of the organization right now (Bass & Avolio, 1994).

Too many organizations, say Bass & Avolio (1994), focus only on short-term solutions and quick fixes. Those things might help right away, but they are not going to help anyone in the long-term. Organizations can even go bankrupt or disappear because they did not stay current and change along with their counterparts. With that in mind, it is vital that organizations that want to remain strong change and adapt to the times. With transformational leadership, they can do just that. The other side of the coin, transactional leadership, is much more focused on now things occur in segments or transactions (Bass & Avolio, 1994). An organization would deal with one transaction, and then it would move on and deal with another one, etc. It is a constant game of catching up and changing to fit the times, instead of a flow of information and ideas that keep an organization ahead of its competition.

Another author who focused on this same issue was Bennis (2003). In his book on Becoming a Leader, Bennis (2003) stated that it is very important to see leadership as something long-term. One cannot just assume that leadership is a short-range issue, because there will be very limited success when doing things that way. Instead of doing that, even though it might be easier at the time, focus a leader should focus his attention on how he can do things that will stay valuable to the organization for a long period of time. When he does that, it becomes very difficult for an organization to fail. In short, transformational leadership is all about being proactive. Transactional leadership is all about being reactive. These are very different, especially in a business sense.

The theory that Bass and Avolio (1994) work from is that organizations need strong leaders who are going to stay there and continue to be part of the organization. The followers need a leader who they can put their trust in, and they will not be able to put their trust in someone who they think will be leaving soon. They also will not be able to trust someone who seems unmotivated or who is not thinking about the good of the organization for the future. By creating this work, Bass and Avolio (1994) show that there is great interest in transactional leadership and that people like Bennis (2003), who came after them, agreed with much of what they had to say.

In other words, the information that Bass and Avolio (1994) provided has stood the test of time and has remained valuable and viable for years. Transformational leadership is even more popular today than it was when the book was written. More and more leaders are seeing how it can help them with their organizations and keep them on the right track. When someone focuses on transformational leadership, it is not about just transforming the leader - it is about transforming the entire organization (Bass & Avolio, 1994). This helps the followers feel included, and keeps them more interested in the health and welfare of the entire organization. That is something that just cannot be gotten through transactional leadership and its reactive ways.

Because Bennis (2003) largely confirmed what Bass and Avolio (1994) discussed, this helps to show that the main theory behind transformational leadership holds strong and steady. Some people also call this kind of leadership servant leadership, because of the way the leader makes himself more equal with the followers. Transactional leadership is more about giving orders that are expected to be followed, where transformational leadership is more about discussing ideas and finding ways that the organization can be changed for the better (Bass & Avolio, 1994). There are times when transactional leadership is better, of course, depending on the type of organization. For most organizations, though, transformational leadership is the right way to go.

Another thing that Bass and Avolio (1994) point out is that leaders who focus on transformational leadership keep their followers for a much longer period of time. They are in the game for the long-term, and because of that they are committed to changing the organization for the better overall. There may be some growing pains, but the level of trust that is created between the followers and the leader will carry them through any kind of problems that the organization faces when changes are taking place. That is very important to keep in mind when a leader is planning to change things, because the followers need to be kept informed. If they can come along and they feel that they are part of the process, they are much more likely to support what the leader is trying to do, even if they were not sure about the idea originally (Bass & Avolio, 1994).

When a transformational leader has an idea of how he wants to change things, he generally presents the idea to his followers. They are then able to talk over the idea and any options that should be discussed. An organization is much more effective when everyone is in agreement, instead of just when one person tells all of the others what they will be doing (Bass & Avolio, 1994). Rather than just insist that people do things a certain way, a leader can help his organization greatly improve by taking the time to be a transformational leader. That way, everyone will feel like he is included in what the organization is going through, and growing pains will be a lot smaller (Bass & Avolio, 1994).