INTRODUCTION
It has been 20 years since Burns (1978) published his seminal work introducing
the concepts of transformational and transactional leadership. Whereas transformational
leaders uplift the morale, motivation, and morals of their followers,
transactional leaders cater to their followers’ immediate self-interests. The
transformational leader emphasizes what you can do for your country; the
transactional leader, on what your country can do for you. A considerable amount
of empirical research has been completed since then, supporting the utility of the
distinction. Changes in the marketplace and workforce over the two decades have
resulted in the need for leaders to become more transformational and less
transactional if they were to remain effective. Leaders were encouraged to
empower their followers by developing them into high involvement individuals
and teams focused on quality, service, cost-effectiveness, and quantity of outputof production. The end of the Cold War placed a premium on the flexibility of
employees, teams, and organizations. Jobs for the less skilled were automated out
of existence or exported to the Third World. Those jobs that remained required
better education and training.
Responsibility shifted downward in the flattening organizational hierarchy.
Teams of educated professionals became commonplace. Increasingly, professionals
saw themselves as colleagues rather than in superior–subordinate
relationships. Transformational leadership, which fosters autonomy and
challenging work, became increasingly important to followers’ job satisfaction.
The concept of job security and loyalty to the firm for one’s entire career was
disappearing. Steady pay, secure benefits, and lifetime employment were no
longer guaranteed for meritorious performance. At the same time, transactional
leadership alone could not provide job satisfaction.
Forty years ago in the United States, parents believed that it was most
important to teach their children to respect authority, to respect the church, to
respect one’s government, and to avoid questioning authority. Today parents
believe it is most important to teach their children to accept responsibility for
their own actions, to be willing and confident in accepting challenges, and to
question authority when necessary. The conforming organizational worker of the
1950s, totally dedicated to the firm, did not question authority. In the 1990s,
much scepticism and cynicism has replaced the norms of unquestioning
conformity of the 1950s.
In the 1950s, going beyond one’s self-interests for the good of the
organization was a norm of the organizational worker. That is, there was public
and expressed acceptance of organizational goals, possibly filled with private
reservations. There may have been a lot of expressed identification with the
organization’s goals and even internalization of the organization’s beliefs. In
today’s more cynical world, such going beyond one’s self-interests for the good
of the organization requires aligning the individual members’ interests and
values with those of the organization. Trust in the leadership is required for
willingness to identify with the organization and to internalize its values and the
emergence in the workforce of transcendental organizational citizenship behaviour
(altruism, conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy, and civic virtues)
(Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman, & Fetter, 1990). For this, transformational
leadership is needed along with corresponding changes in selection, training,
development, and organizational policies.
INTRODUCTION
It has been 20 years since Burns (1978) published his seminal work introducing
the concepts of transformational and transactional leadership. Whereas transformational
leaders uplift the morale, motivation, and morals of their followers,
transactional leaders cater to their followers’ immediate self-interests. The
transformational leader emphasizes what you can do for your country; the
transactional leader, on what your country can do for you. A considerable amount
of empirical research has been completed since then, supporting the utility of the
distinction. Changes in the marketplace and workforce over the two decades have
resulted in the need for leaders to become more transformational and less
transactional if they were to remain effective. Leaders were encouraged to
empower their followers by developing them into high involvement individuals
and teams focused on quality, service, cost-effectiveness, and quantity of outputof production. The end of the Cold War placed a premium on the flexibility of
employees, teams, and organizations. Jobs for the less skilled were automated out
of existence or exported to the Third World. Those jobs that remained required
better education and training.
Responsibility shifted downward in the flattening organizational hierarchy.
Teams of educated professionals became commonplace. Increasingly, professionals
saw themselves as colleagues rather than in superior–subordinate
relationships. Transformational leadership, which fosters autonomy and
challenging work, became increasingly important to followers’ job satisfaction.
The concept of job security and loyalty to the firm for one’s entire career was
disappearing. Steady pay, secure benefits, and lifetime employment were no
longer guaranteed for meritorious performance. At the same time, transactional
leadership alone could not provide job satisfaction.
Forty years ago in the United States, parents believed that it was most
important to teach their children to respect authority, to respect the church, to
respect one’s government, and to avoid questioning authority. Today parents
believe it is most important to teach their children to accept responsibility for
their own actions, to be willing and confident in accepting challenges, and to
question authority when necessary. The conforming organizational worker of the
1950s, totally dedicated to the firm, did not question authority. In the 1990s,
much scepticism and cynicism has replaced the norms of unquestioning
conformity of the 1950s.
In the 1950s, going beyond one’s self-interests for the good of the
organization was a norm of the organizational worker. That is, there was public
and expressed acceptance of organizational goals, possibly filled with private
reservations. There may have been a lot of expressed identification with the
organization’s goals and even internalization of the organization’s beliefs. In
today’s more cynical world, such going beyond one’s self-interests for the good
of the organization requires aligning the individual members’ interests and
values with those of the organization. Trust in the leadership is required for
willingness to identify with the organization and to internalize its values and the
emergence in the workforce of transcendental organizational citizenship behaviour
(altruism, conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy, and civic virtues)
(Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman, & Fetter, 1990). For this, transformational
leadership is needed along with corresponding changes in selection, training,
development, and organizational policies.
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