Transformational Leadership Philosophy

It’s important to first identify that while previous articles have identified transformational leadership as a dynamic and dyadic approach to leadership, it was James MacGregor Burns work Leadership written in 1978 that enabled this leadership approach to “transform” the study of leadership (Northouse, 2010, p. 172).

Peter Northouse in Leadership Theory and Practice defined transformational leadership as “a process that changes and transforms people. It is concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals. It includes assessing followers’ motives, satisfying their needs, and treating them as full human beings. Transformational leadership involves an exceptional form of influence that moves followers to accomplish more

177). Idealized influence is the first factor that describes a charismatic leader as a role model that exudes high standards of moral and ethical conduct. The second factor, inspirational motivation, describes leaders that communicate an executable vision to his or her followers. Intellectual stimulation is a leadership atmosphere that encourages creativity and innovation in the work place. The final factor is individualized consideration, attentive leadership that supports and responds to the needs of the

First, transformational leadership is too broad of a concept. There are many activities that cover this leadership concept in including advocacy, nurturing, motivating, building trust, etc. A plethora of characteristics encompass the definition of transformational making the definitive measurements vague at best. Furthermore, “research by Tracey and Hinkin (1998) has shown substantial overlap between each of the Four I’s (idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration), suggesting that the dimensions are not clearly delimited” (Northouse, 2010, p. 188). Also, the MLQ can’t differentiate between the four factors of transformational leadership. The final criticism is transformational leadership brings back the great man theories of leadership. The leadership concept is defined by traits, making it difficult to train leaders because it is difficult to teach someone how to change their