Transformational leadership's impact on subordinate development and performance

¶ … Transforamtional Leadership on Subordiantes Development and Performance

This work intends to examine and discuss the impact of transformational leadership on the development and performance of subordinates.

Definition and Characteristics of Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is described as a "process of transforming the organizational behavior, the culture and the individuals; simultaneously transforming the leader himself." (Leadership Development, 2009) Transformational leaders are stated to be those who "...constantly articulate new visions to motivate the organization, they exhibit high passion and confidence in their beliefs, they give importance to ethics and values while setting accountable standards in the organization." (Leadership Development, 2009)

It is also related that transformational leaders are further "...able to have an exceptional influence on their followers, compelling them to share the leader's vision and to take actions beyond their specified responsibilities." (Leadership Development, 2009) Characteristics of the transformational leader includes their exhibition of good organizational skills and their ability to align their own aspirations and motivations to that of the organization's vision. (Leadership Development, 2009, paraphrased)

Two primary characteristics of transformational leaders are their:

(1) Charismatic leadership; and (2) Stewardship and servant leadership. (Leadership Development, 2009)

II. Strengths of Transformational Leadership

The strengths of transformational leadership include the following strengths:

(1) Transformational leadership is most researched leadership model and there is substantial evidence of its effectiveness.

(2) Transformational leadership is most intuitive and easily recognized by people; it fits the popular notion of a leader. (Leadership Development, 2009)

III. Criticisms Stated in Regards to Transformational Leadership

The criticisms most often stated against Transformational Leadership are those as follows:

(1) Potential to be abused: Transformational leadership's high effectiveness in leader's vision makes it undemocratic; the leader's purpose is largely unchallenged, thus liable to be misused by the leader. There is plenty of historical evidence supporting its misuse, Adolf Hitler being one of the most prominent one.

(2) Too Complicated: Transformational leadership is an amalgamation of various leadership theories, making it unreasonable to be trained or taught. (Leadership Development, 2009)

IV. Subordinate's Personality Effect on Transformational Leadership

The work of Hautala (2005) entitled: "The Effects of Subordinates' Personality on Appraisals of Transformational Leadership" published in the Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies" states that a wide variety of systems for enhancing development of leaders have been applied in appraising those systems however, the most popular of all measure tools for the performance of leadership has been a focus on the leader's personality however, it is held by Hautala that subordinate's personalities additionally impact ratings given for their leaders' transformational behavior. Results in this study show "...indicated that extraverted and feeling subordinates give clearly higher ratings than their introverted and thinking counterparts." (Hautala, 2005)

V. Examination of Transformational Leadership and Subordinate's Personalities

The work of Avolio and Howell (1992) holds that leader's and subordinate's personalities are "important in the prediction of satisfaction and performance." (in: Hautala, 2005) If leadership skills are to be improved then subordinate feedback is critical and reported as "one of the most commonly used tools. (Atwater, Waldman, Atwater and Cartier, 2000; Ostroff, Atwater & Feinberg, 2004, Roush, 1992 in: Hautala, 2005) It is critical to note that study has shown that leaders are completely willing to modify their behavior "according to this feedback. (Atwater, Roush & Fischtal, 1995, Johnson & Ferstl, 1999, in: Hautala, 2005)

VI. Impact of Leadership Style/Emotions on Subordinate Performance

The work of McColl-Kennedy and Anderson (2002) entitled: "Impact of Leadership Style and Emotions on Subordinate Performance" reports the examination of "...whether the emotions of frustration and optimism mediate, fully or partially, the relationship between leadership style and subordinate performance in the context of structural equation modeling. The findings show that transformational leadership has a significant direct influence on frustration and optimism, with the negative influence of frustration having a stronger effect on performance than the positive influence of optimism. Frustration and optimism are found to have a direct influence on performance, and the emotions, frustration and optimism, fully mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and performance. Thus, the effect of transformational leadership style on performance is significant, but indirect." (McColl-Kennedy and Anderson, 2002)

The work of Krishnan (nd) entitled: 'Impact of Transformational Leadership on Followers' Influence Strategies" states that the effects of the "...-member exchange, transformational leadership, and perceived value system congruence between leader and follower on follower's six upward influence strategies-assertiveness, bargaining, coalition, friendliness, higher authority, and reasoning were studied using a sample of 281 managers working in various organizations in India." (Krishnan, nd)

Results stated in this study are those demonstrating that "...transformational leadership mediates the relationship between LMX and congruence. Both LMX and transformational leadership are related positively to friendliness and reasoning, and negatively to higher authority. Congruence is not related to influence strategies. Transformational leadership is the best predictor of friendliness, and neither LMX nor congruence explains significant additional variance in friendliness. Similarly, LMX is the best predictor of reasoning, and neither transformational leadership nor congruence explains significant additional variance in reasoning. Controlling for transformational leadership makes the relationship between LMX and higher authority non-significant and controlling for LMX makes the relationship between Effects of leader-member exchange, transformational leadership, and perceived value system congruence between leader and follower on follower's six upward influence strategies-assertiveness, bargaining, coalition, friendliness, higher authority, and reasoning were studied using a sample of 281 managers working in various organizations in India. Results show that transformational leadership mediates the relationship between LMX and congruence. Both LMX and transformational leadership are related positively to friendliness and reasoning, and negatively to higher authority. Congruence is not related to influence strategies. Transformational leadership is the best predictor of friendliness, and neither LMX nor congruence explains significant additional variance in friendliness. Similarly, LMX is the best predictor of reasoning, and neither transformational leadership nor congruence explains significant additional variance in reasoning. Controlling for transformational leadership makes the relationship between LMX and higher authority non-significant and controlling for LMX makes the relationship between transformational leadership and higher authority non-significant." (Krishnan, nd)

The work of Asgari and Silong (2008) entitled: "The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership Behaviors, Leader-Member Exchange and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors" states that it has been posited that elements of transformational and transactional leadership "...should be incorporated in the study for predicting subordinate citizenship behaviors, as both the theories are based on transformational leadership behaviors." (Asgari and Silong, 2008)

Asgari and Silong states that there were two primary objectives of the study reported which were those of:

(1) assessing the impact of six dimensions of transformational leadership behaviors -- contribution and affect -- on citizenship behavior; and (2) to test the mediating impact of the LMX on the transformational leadership behaviors-citizenship relationship." (Asgari and Silong, 2008)

It is reported that the subjects of the study were full-time employees and managers working in the educational organization in the country of Iran. This survey included 220 respondents. Data is reported as having been collected "...on a structured questionnaire containing standard scales of transformational leadership behaviors, LMX, and organizational citizenship behaviors. After establishing the psychometric properties of the scales, hypotheses were tested through statistical analysis of the data." (Asgari and Silong, 2008) Results are stated to indicate that "...dimensions of transformational leadership behaviors are more likely to predict citizenship behavior than the affect dimension of LMX. Further, LMX is not mediating the relationship of transformational leadership behaviors with citizenship behavior." (Asgari and Silong, 2008)

Summary and Conclusion

It has been demonstrated in this present study that Transformational leadership does impact the performance and development of subordinates and the various dimensions of transformational leadership behaviors are likely to predict subordinate development and performance.