Submitted by: Submitted by jellybean84
Views: 111
Words: 2507
Pages: 11
Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 04/20/2014 09:20 PM
Introduction -3
Throughout out the history of the globe innumerable leaders have risen and fallen, yet centuries later we still revere a select few. From Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Hitler humanity celebrate and often deifies those leaders whose ability to transform the world around them has created dramatic change to their communities, and in these cases have sent ripple effects around the world. Business is not exempt to the raising up of great leaders; from Steve Jobs to Jack Welch to Richard Branson we want to talk about leaders who change the shape of the frame.
Transformational leadership is a concept that was developed in 1978 by James Macgregor Burns, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformational_leadership but which was later adapted and popularized for a business context in 1985 by Bernard M. Bass, who explained the underlying psychological traits that define either transactional or transformational leadership. Other types of leadership have also been defined, such as charismatic, coalitional, and situational. Where transactional leadership has to do with an exchange of resources, transformational leadership has to do with addressing and or changing the deepest emotional and psychological needs of followers, which then creates a platform for loyalty in the execution of the leader’s vision.
Over the years companies which have adopted transformational models have produced at such exceptional levels that they have become a benchmark for all other businesses. Examples of these globally are Apple, Google and locally GraceKennedy and the ATL Group. Leaders of these companies may be described as transformational based on their attitudes, personality traits, and specific patterns of behaviour.
A Transformational Leader is defined as “the ability to bring about significant change in both followers and the organization” (Daft, 2011) . The transformational leader is able to use their personal power, and not their positional power, to...