Emergent Transformational Leadership-Battlefield to Business

Leadership is such a critical aspect of team success that without it they will ultimately fail. Companies spend millions a year selecting, grooming and developing leaders. Organizations that seek to transform their operations should keep an eye out for transformational leadership that can adjust and change to new environments. Whether one is seeking a business executive or the next military officer understanding emergent transformational leadership as it works in live situations is beneficial for recruitment.

Groups, regardless of type, will eventually form a command structure. It is one of the most natural occurrences in both civilized and uncivilized society. The kind of leadership, poor or high, will determine the values of the group and how well it performs under pressure. Whether discussing business or the military, ensuring the right type of leaders makes their way forward helps in developing high functioning teams.

Research into military teams highlights how transformational grassroots military leadership emerges from within the ranks when times are tough. Traits of emergent transformational leadership includes: visionary, leads by example, empowering others, sincerity of purpose, moral value system, genuine car for others, compassion, self-sacrificing, and self-efficacy (Bangari & Singh, 2014).

The confident but compassionate leader runs contrary to cultural fallacies that believe effective leadership is a domination game only. Transformational leaders create followers where power oriented leaders rely too heavily on formal position or fear that limits loyalty. Having the “golden touch” with others will still being driven toward goals seems to make a significant difference in outcomes.

Selecting and fostering leadership in business and military occupations is important because they can inspire followers to raise their performance to accomplish objectives above and beyond themselves. Ensuring that the people with the right characteristics are brought forward and develop a sense of responsibility for others helps in solidifying social bonds and promotes loyalty.

Bangari, R. & Sngh, V. (2014). Establishing a framework of transformational grassroots military leadership: lessons from high-intensity, high-risk operational environments. The Journal for Decision Makers, 39 (3).

Positive Workplace Interactions Foster Transformational Leadership Skills

Developing transformational leadership is beneficial for the creation of higher levels of organizational performance. Such leaders help raise the standards within their workplace and inspire their followers toward a brighter vision.  According to a study by Trepanier, et. al leadership is an exercise of self-perception base in part on the relationships fostered within the workplace (2012). When intrinsic motivation meets a receptive environment a higher level of performance can be achieved.

Transformational leadership is a style that encourages higher levels of organizational development. It is characterized by charisma, motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration (Bass, 1985).  Such leaders are capable of using intrinsic values to achieve goals and feel as though they can engage socially with others. It is a process of self-realization for the development of higher levels of organizational performance. 

Leadership does not develop in a vacuum and is social rooted by nature. Based deeply on trust, respect, positive relationships, mutual support the leader can flourish in his or her endeavors (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995).  They rely on these pro-social behaviors and their perceptions of their environment to flourish in their skills. Such leaders are born from the people who will follow them. 

Like other workers, leadership comes with either internal or external motivation. The essential difference is that those who have internal motivations are more likely to develop a transformational style based in trust, task enjoyment and self-worth (Barbuto, 2005). Externally motivated people may simply not have the ability to follow an internal compass to step outside of the box to change their environment.

The researchers Trepanier, et. al (2012) studied 568 principles to test a model of how perceptions of quality relationships within the workplace predict the perceptions of transformation leadership behavior through the development of intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy. The self-reported surveys highlighted a number of interesting findings. 

The results revealed that managers who believed they participated in meaningful relationships at work viewed themselves as leaders who can inspire and encourage others to have a sense of mission. Likewise, those who felt efficient in their skills also believed that they display actions that promote the best interests of an organization and its members. Finally, their findings also indicate that by fostering positive work relationships between managers and their work units would help foster perceptions of transformational leadership. 

The study helps decision makers understand that leadership is a process of growth in self-perception. When positive and civil relationships are fostered intrinsically, motivated people can rise to a leadership level. Each workplace is a socio-economic entity of bounded rationality and seeks to compete on the marketplace. Encouraging positive interactions, helps foster the development of new skills and higher levels of performance.

Barbuto, J. (2005). Motivation and transactional, charismatic, and trans-formational leadership: A test of antecedents. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 11.

Bass, B. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations.New York, NY: Free Press

Graen, G.& Uhl-Bien, M. (1995). Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level multi-domain perspec-

tive. Leadership Quarterly, 6.

Trepanier, et. al (2012). Social and motivational antecedents of perceptions of transformational leadership: a self-determination theory perspective. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 44 (4).

Transformational Leadership Behavior Enhances Employee Performance

Research by Dr. Adam Grant helps to highlight how transformational leadership can transcend people’s self-interest. The leader is seen as the enhancer of performance to create the reality of performance. His work focuses on understanding how transformational leadership's influence is enhanced with follower contact and how pro-social perceptions mediate this performance. Organizational leaders should understand how their behavior enhances that of followers to achieve higher level outcomes.

The fundamental responsibility is for all leaders to motivate their followers to achieve new heights (Vroom & Jago, 2007). Without motivation there cannot be action. The transformational leader can elicit inspiration to rally motivated effort around a vision. Effectiveness comes through the ability to motivate the most followers as possible to do and be more in the process of change.

Transformational leaders have certain behaviors that impact their ability to be successful. They can articulate a vision, emphasize collective identities, express confidence and optimism, rely on core values, and push for ideals (House, 1977). Such leaders understand that people must see the future, should work together, can get through the change, and focus on their essential value systems while trying to improve the environment. It is a process of adjusting behaviors and the environment for a more productive end.

Influence requires the ability to change reality. Ultimately, creating structural changes in worker’s jobs create and impact on performance (Piccolo, et. al, 2010).  When employees can make a connection between their goals, paths to performance, desirable rewards, and the vision they can put their behavior within context. Such behavior and performance creates a higher level of awareness and this develops group behavior which manifests itself in new reinforced group expectations.

Transformational leadership takes on different dimensions. It includes inspirational, idealized influence, intellectual stimulation and individual consideration (Bass, 1985).  Such leaders should learn to inspire, influence their environment, create intellectual interest and provide consideration to the needs of their members. Such behaviors help in the developing and maintaining of a progressive and developing network of followers.

Dr. Adam Grant (2012) found that transformational leadership contact with followers improved performance and perceptions of pro-social mediated this relationship. It furthers the argument that there is a relationship between leadership, job design and meaning making of employees. Leaders influence the perceptional boundaries between beneficiaries and worker actions. It would seem that strong communication skills, leadership skills, and relating task to performance with end user (i.e. customer) needs impact the success of that leader. The vision is a way for people to see and contextualize their individual parts in the whole process.

 

Bass, B. (1985) Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free Press.

Grant, B. (2012). Leading with meaning: beneficiary contact, prosocial impact, and the performance effects of transformational leadership. Academy of Management Journal, 55 (2).

House, R. J. 1977. A 1976 theory of charismatic leadership. In J. G. Hunt & L. L. Larsen, (Eds.), Leadership: The cutting edge: 189–207. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.

Piccolo, et.al. (2010). The relationship between ethical leadership and core job characteristics. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31: 259–278.

Vroom, V. H., & Jago, A. G. 2007. The role of the situation in leadership. American Psychologist, 62: 17–24.

Developing Transformational Leadership and Emotional Intelligence to Create Firm Performance

Leadership is the ability to draw people to higher levels of personal performance and development. Without the ability to understand other people it will be difficult to raise their performance to new levels. Transformational leadership and emotional intelligence can work together to create stronger organizational performance based upon the ability to understand oneself and the social group they are working with. The development of transformational leadership skills along with emotional intelligence is a worthwhile endeavor for higher levels of personal and group influence. 

Organizational leaders with high levels of emotional intelligence create stronger organizational performance. According to Jandaghi et. al. (2009), successful organizations contain higher levels of transformational leadership within their ranks. Understanding how transformational leadership and emotional intelligence combine to create higher group performance is important for choosing and developing future company executives.

Transformational leadership describes a leader’s ability to connect with employee’s self-identity and project that into visions that enhance group performance. The trait can be defined as the ability to create mechanisms wherein leadership and followers work together to develop enhanced levels of morale and motivation (Bass & Avolio, 1994). This type of leader is uses clearly defined visions and charismatic approaches to achieve goals.  

Emotional intelligence is a significant predictor of performance success. The concept of emotional intelligence entails the ability to be self-aware, self-managed, self-motivated, have empathy and utilize social skills. Research highlights the concept that emotional intelligence and transformational leadership are associated (Esfahani & Soflu, 2013). It is through this self-awareness that such leaders can better understand themselves to better manage their environments. 

There is a connection between awareness of oneself and the awareness of the environment. Transformational leaders and emotionally intelligent leaders are associated with each other in terms of traits (Mandell & Pherwani, 2003). This means that the traits seem to work with and influence each other to create stronger leadership approaches.  Traits overlap and manifest themselves in positive group influence. 

Does emotional awareness create group awareness? Available research seems to support the concept that understanding oneself (emotional intelligence) helps leaders to understand others perceptions of themselves (self-identity/group identity) to create a dynamic combination of skills that push groups to perform at higher levels to achieve clearly defined personal and organizational goals. 

Such leaders understand that goals that do not have much meaning for employees are unlikely to be fulfilled. Employees will simply be dragged along because the work does not conform to their self-identity or the nature of how they see themselves within their wider social networks. Transformational leaders understand how these social mechanisms operate in order to create enhanced levels of financial performance. It is difficult to understand social structure and its motivating mechanisms unless one has first conquered their inner emotional understandings of self.  To master the self allows the mastery of groups and in turn enhance financial performance. Social and financial aspects are associated concepts that rest in the development of group performance. It takes many hands to build something worthwhile.

Bass, B. & Avolio, B. (Eds.) (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications

Esfahani, N. & Soflu, H. (2013). Emotional intelligence and transformational leadership in physical education managers. Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences, 8 (1). 

Jandaghi, G. et. al. (2009). Comparing transformational leadership in successful and unsuccessful companies. International Journal of Social Sciences, 4 (3). 

Mandell, B. & Pherwani, S. (2003). Relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership style: a gender comparison. Journal of Business & Psychology, 17 (3).

Communication Abilities of Leaders in the Virtual World

Today’s electronic world offers advantages to capitalize on leadership communication. With a majority of colleges offering online classes and organizations increasingly using virtual commuting the effectiveness of leadership and communication has not been studied to a sufficient level. Such online mediums have the power to transform environments as messages spread faster and quicker than ever before. Research has highlighted how leadership communication styles and implicit language is perceived by employees and students in virtual communication. 

According to Hoyt and Blascovich (2003) transformational leadership has a significant impact on online groups. The same leadership methodology in real life applies in the virtual world as the same basic mechanics apply. Such leaders are able to encourage new ways of thinking, are able to adjust their leadership style to the situation, and can help people imagine a vision. 

No amount of communication ability can change the fundamentals of leadership. However, there does appear to be a natural connection between the transformational style and the virtual world. Such leaders are charismatic, arouse enthusiasm, loyalty, and trust (Schermerhorn, 2002). People sense their style even in the virtual world as pieces and bits of it make their way across the airwaves. 

Such leadership can be seen as the following (Avolio, Bass, & Jung (1999):

• 1.)    Idealized Influence-role models
• 2.)    Inspirational Motivation-Give meaning to others.
• 3.)    Intellectual Stimulation-Be creative and question old beliefs.
• 4.)    Individualized Consideration-Concerned with individual needs.

Virtual communication is an enhancement to previous methods of communication. The differences lay in the amount of information a person may receive over the virtual airways versus in person. Such interactive technology is a major boost over the one way communication abilities of the television. People can now respond, vote, tweet, text and use other methods of furthering the network of the messages giving greater influence to the leader.

The nature of communication and the focus of the messaging are very important in creating effective group leadership. A study of teenagers using virtual communication found that those who referred to the group goals above themselves had a greater following (Cassell, Huffaker, Tversky, & Ferriman, 2006). This helps highlight the concept that effective leadership is more about “what” versus “who”. “What” is the message and solution while “who” is the communicative ability of the individual.  

Chanel-Expansion Theory describes how leaders ability to connect with followers in ever expanding new ways that develop new methods of communicating. The messages in virtual communication create implicit coding that is picked up by followers once they have developed appropriate cognitive schemas of the speaker (Carlisle & Phillips, 1984). In other words, once the follower understands the communication style of the leader and begins to follow their messages they can tune into implicit messaging. 

A study conducted by Salter, et. al. (2010) tested the influence of follower personality on the assessment of the leader in a virtual classroom. In the study 306 participants filled out two surveys providing for 612 total responses. The first survey assessed viewer impression of a leader (Leader 1) who used transformational language while the second survey assessed viewer impression of a leader (Leader 2) who used less transformational language. 

Results: 

-Viewers depicted Leader 1 to be more transformational than Leader 2.

-There were slight differences between males and females in the assessment.

-Females found language to be less passive and more charged.

-Those with conscientious personalities may find additional transformational messages than those who were not.

Analysis for Virtual Communication:

The language used within organizations impacts the perceptions of employees. Certain types of employees will be attracted to different types of leadership styles. Once employees have some familiarity with the style of a leader they will begin to pick up on subtle cues and language uses in order to determine additional meaning. Women and sensitive types pick up on language cues much more easily and readily than many males or non-sensitive types. This may be one reason why women are more turned off by certain kinds of messages when compared to males. Virtual organizations and marketing experts should be aware of the type of language they are using so as to either improve organizational efficiency through proper communication or attract the right customers to their organization. Virtual professors should be aware of their language use so as to not thwart engagement and motivation with students.

Avolio, B. J., Bass, B. M., & Jung, D. I. (1999). Re-examining the components of transformational and transactional leadership using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 72(4), 441–462.

Carlisle & Phillips, D. (1984). The effects of enthusiasm training on selected teacher and student behaviors in pre-service physical education teachers. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 4(1), 164–175.

Cassell, J., Huffaker, D., Tversky, D., & Ferriman, K. (2006). The language of online leadership: Gender and youth engagement on the Internet. Developmental Psychology, 42(3), 436–449.

Hoyt, C. (2003). Transformational and transactional leadership in virtual and physical environments. Small Group Research, 34 (6). 

Salter, C., Green, M., Duncan, P. Berre, A. & Torti, C. (2010). Journal of Leadership Studies, 4 (2).

Schermerhorn, J. (2002). Management. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.