Sixthly, the theory does not explicitly identify any situation where transformational leadership is
detrimental. Several studies have shown that transformational leadership can have detrimental effects on
both followers and the organisation. Stevens et al (1995) believes that transformational leadership is biased
in favour of top managements, owners and managers. Followers can be transformed to such a high level of
emotional involvement in the work over time that they become stressed and burned out. Individual leaders
can exploit followers (even without realising it) by creating a high level of emotional involvement when it
is not necessary (Yukl, 1999). If members of an organisation are influenced by different leaders with
competing visions, the result will be increased role ambiguity and role conflict. Leaders who build strong
identification with their subunit and its objectives can improve member motivation, but excessive
competition may arise among different subunits of the organisation. When inter unit cooperation is
necessary to achieve organisational objectives, the result can be a decline in organisational effectiveness.
The possibility that transformational leadership has negative outcomes needs to be investigated with
research methods designed to detect such effects.