Transformational Leadership
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Transactional and 5 Transformational Leadership iStock/Thinkstock Learning Outcomes After reading this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Define transactional leadership and evaluate the full range leadership model. 2. Explain the characteristics, effectiveness, and limitations of transformational leadership. 3. Describe the five best practices of leadership challenge and model. © 2015 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Meg Whitman, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HP), is known as a visionary; Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo®, is known as a maverick; and General Motors CEO Mary Barra is consid- ered the fixer. So aside from all being women, what do these three CEOs have in common? They are transformative and, to some extent, transactional leaders who took leadership of companies in need of radical change. Their future leadership reputations are still at stake (Constantino, 2014). Whitman took charge at HP in 2011 and implemented a five-year plan to save the company $4.5 billion, which involved a layoff of 45,000 people. As noted earlier in this text, Whitman announced in 2014 that HP would split the technology company into two separate businesses: HP’s printer and computer hardware products, and the Enterprise business known for higher margins business-to-business software and services. Despite controversy inside the firm as well as among critical investors and analysts during the tumultuous period since, the com- pany’s stock has shown strength. Her vision and execution have not eroded. HP’s board of directors seem pleased with Meg Whitman’s performance to date, awarding her an 11% raise in fiscal 2014, boosting her total compensation to $19.6 million for that year (Portillo, 2015). Mayer, the youngest of the three CEOs, is a tech-savvy leader who came to Google in 1999. She was Google’s first female engineer (Constantino, 2014), and worked in almost all the divi- sions there before taking the top job at Yahoo in 2012. She, like Whitman, took leadership of a company that needed radical change and had no clear plan for the future. She has since authorized over $6 billion in stock buybacks of Yahoo and acquired several companies at $2 billion, including Tumblr. She has created original content platforms with highly visible celebrities and established new employee work policies that have been controversial. She has a love-hate relationship with inves- tors. She continues to lead major reor- ganizations to integrate the companies she bought (Goer, 2015). Many of Yahoo’s shareholders want her to suc- ceed in bringing back Yahoo to its pre- vious lucrative market position; others believe she is operating on short- sighted acquisitions and buybacks. The company’s original venture invest- ment in the Chinese search firm, Alibaba, has paid $5.1 billion in post- tax cash from the IPO, but Mayer’s stra- tegic leadership challenges are far Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images News/Thinkstock from over. She will need courage and Meg Whitman, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard, is known strategic business savvy while com- as a visionary. peting with Google and Facebook. Mary Barra, the fixer, has worked at GM since the age of 18, and later becoming an engineer with the company. She took charge of GM in January 2014 as the first woman CEO at a top- eight auto manufacturer. She was met with one of the firm’s largest crises—the discovery and litigation of defective ignition switches in thousands of GM vehicles. Three months into her role, she was working through several hearings before Congress that related to 13 deaths and dozens injured from accidents caused by the defective switches. A result has been a multi- billion-dollar class action suit and the most recalls in the company’s history. Barra is given © 2015 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. credit for her skill and ability in handling the crisis; she expressed authenticity, compassion for the victims, “transparency with investigators and regulators, and a commitment to create a new company culture that will produce the best autos within its competitive classes” (Goer, 2015). She was named Crisis Manager of the Year in 2014 for having “expertly navigated one of the most difficult years imaginable” (Geir, 2014). She intends to break information silos and fix systemic dysfunction within the company (Constantino, 2014). The stories of these three CEOs—Whitman, Meyer, and Barra—illustrate the magnitude of challenges and risks that top-level leaders are required to take to restore companies to prof- itability and even survival. Their responsibilities and talents require both transactional and transformational leadership traits and skills. Recall that a critical component of leadership is influence; and, as the persons, processes, and systems in Figure 1.1 in Chapter 1 illustrate, leadership and leaders’ influence can be under- stood by observing the persons and their characteristics, the processes and systems they use to lead, and the context in which they lead. These factors in large part help determine leader- ship effectiveness in influencing and mobilizing followers to achieve organizational visions and goals. The theories presented in this chapter—transactional and transformational—go further by explaining the characteristics and styles of leaders who not only effectively manage people, but those who also embody the larger vision and can deeply influence followers and stakeholders to implement these visions. Transactional and transformational styles of leadership are sometimes interrelated; a trans- formational leader, for example, can be and often is transactional; but transactional leaders are not all transformational, as we will discuss. As you read, keep in mind that there is no single most effective leadership style, and consider what elements of these approaches you would like to develop in your own leadership style or to see in others. We will examine transactional leadership first and then turn to transformational leadership. Before we discuss these two styles, take Assessment 5.1 to identify how transformational your leadership style is. Assessment 5.1: Transformational Leadership Instructions Think about a situation in which you either assumed or were given a leadership role. Think about your own behaviors within this context. To what extent does each of the following statements characterize your leadership orientation? Very Moderate Very Little Amount Much 1. Have a clear understanding of where we are going. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. Paint an interesting picture of the future for my group. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3. Am always seeking new opportunities for the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 organization/group. (continued) © 2015 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Assessment 5.1: Transformational Leadership (continued ) Very Moderate Very Little Amount Much 4. Inspire others with my plans for the future. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5. Am able to get others to be committed to my dreams. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 6. Lead by “doing,” rather than simply by “telling.” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7. Provide a good model for others to follow. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. Lead by example. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9. Foster collaboration among group members. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10. Encourage employees to be team players. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11. Get the group to work together for the same goal. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 12. Develop a team attitude and spirit among employees. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 13. Show that I expect a lot from others. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 14. Insist on only the best performance. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 15. Will not settle for second best. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 16. Act without considering the feelings of others. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 17. Show respect for the personal feelings of others. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 18. Behave in a manner thoughtful of the personal needs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 of others. 19. Treat others without considering their personal 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 feelings. 20. Challenge others to think about old problems in new 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ways. 21. Ask questions that prompt others to think. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 22. Stimulate others to rethink the way they do things. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 23. Have ideas that challenge others to reexamine some 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 of their basic assumptions about work. 24. Always give positive feedback when others perform 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 well. 25. Give special recognition when others’ work is very 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 good. 26. Commend others when they do a better-than-average 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 job. 27. Personally compliment others when they do outstanding 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 work. 28. Frequently do not acknowledge the good performance of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 others. (continued) © 2015 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Transactional Leadership Section 5.1 Assessment 5.1: Transformational Leadership (continued ) Scoring: Subtract your responses to questions 16, 19, and 28 from 8. There are seven dimension scores to be computed. Articulate vision: Sum your responses to questions 1 through 5 and divide by 5. Provide appropriate model: Sum your responses to questions 6 through 8 and divide by 3. Foster acceptance of goals: Sum your responses to questions 9 through 12 and divide by 4.