“When there is rebellion in the country, the caudillos multiply; when the ruler is understood, order is maintained ”Prov. 28: 2
introduction
The present work aims to develop an essay on transformational managerial leadership, considering bibliographic resources and references on different Internet sites.
Keywords: Leadership, organization, leadership models, transformational.
In the book of Proverbs of the Sacred Scriptures, it establishes that the governors must be understood, that is to say, wise, honest, knowledgeable of their matter.
The book of Proverbs 28: 2 indicates: “When there is rebellion in the land, the leaders multiply; when the ruler is understood, order is maintained ”(Ver. NIV).
A ruler is the leader of a nation, of a state, municipality or business organization or of some other social type, of whom it is required that to exercise such position, he must at least be considered wise, honest, integrity, understood, knowledgeable for which it is entrusted. On the contrary, you should not admit foolish, lacking knowledge, few serious, liars, lacking credibility and unstable rulers or leaders in your personal life. What are these demands due to? The answer is that the rulers or whoever exercises a leadership position becomes a model in society, in their family, in their company, or organization.
According to Bustos, et al (sf), the concept of "social model" became fashionable in the 90s as a result of the publication of a book by the Swedish professor Goran Esping-Andersen entitled "The three worlds of well-being". This research tried to answer an apparently simple question: Are all Europeans or Americans organized in the same way, or not ?; Why in some countries are the middle classes more numerous or more solid, and not in others? How are the policies and social protection systems of different countries alike and different? In closer terms, when it is said that Swedes have a better quality of life or live better, what is meant? What does it mean that Venezuelans are different?
According to Warren (2005), nothing happens until someone provides leadership. History has been showing it, for example, while a man named Martin Luther King did not appear who said: "I have a dream," the Civil Rights movement in the United States was nothing, this man changed at the cost of his own life. civil rights in a world of discrimination against other human beings in the most powerful nation in the world. NASA's space program was in its infancy until President John F. Kennedy said, "We are going to put a man on the moon before this decade is out." When a man named Ray Crack said, "I want fast food at a good price and in a clean environment," that was when an entire industry called "fast food" was born.
Everything is built or collapsed depending on the leadership. Throughout all of history, and even in today's world, most problems can be traced back to a lack of competent leaders. The world needs prepared leaders. This should be understood from the best of senses, and should not be confused with the phenomenon of caudillismo, which is a political and social phenomenon that emerged during the 19th century in Latin America, and that in countries like Venezuela still persists in the 21st century.. It consists of the arrival in the country of charismatic leaders whose way of accessing power and reaching the government is based on informal and diffuse mechanisms of recognition of leadership by the crowds, who place the expression of interests in "the leader" of the whole and the ability to solve common problems.This society centered on the caudillismo, is oriented to the solution of all its problems must be solved by the caudillo, falling such a society in the innopia.
This paper aims to give a summary about transformational managerial leadership, which is one of the latest trends in leadership models.
II. Transformational managerial leadership
Leadership concepts
To talk about transformational managerial leadership, it is convenient to review some concepts about leadership. The concept of leadership is as varied as there are authors, since it depends on the approach given to this definition.
For John C. Maxwell, "The genuine leader is recognized because somehow his people consistently demonstrate superior performance." However, an individual with superior performance does not necessarily exercise a leadership role, he may be unable to influence others. For example, the football player considered the best player in the world, is questioned that he is not capable of "riding his country's team on his shoulder" to guide them to victory in a world competition.
According to Idalberto Chiavenato, leadership is, "The interpersonal influence exerted in a situation, directed through the process of human communication to the achievement of one or several specific objectives" In this regard and coinciding with Álvarez (2015), this concept has a connotation of temporality, going from the perenniality of being a leader, to exercising leadership before and during a given situation.
For John Kotter, "leadership is nothing more than the activity or process of influencing people to voluntarily commit themselves to achieving the group's objectives, the group being understood as a sector of the organization with similar interests." That is, it is the process of influencing others to do things and achieve goals.
According to Warren (2005), leadership is influence, for better or for worse. This concept shows that the issue of leading is not about whether you are a leader or not, it is about whether you are a "good" leader.
From the above, the first question to ask to recognize a leader is Is anyone following him? In this regard, John Maxwell considers that: "He who thinks he is leading, but no one follows him, is just taking a walk." Leadership is not a question of titles or positions. It is a matter of influence. In this sense, he who considers himself a leader should not be reminding anyone, since his influence is immediately recognized.
Characteristics of a good leader
It is customary to associate leadership with one of its attributes, with charisma, and it is commonly said that the one who has charisma is a leader, but many leaders with a lot of charisma have emerged, but that their staging has not lasted long, their charm The staff has sustained them for a while, but in the end their lack of character has manifested.
For Warren (Op. Cit.), Charisma has nothing to do with what makes a leader effective. Leadership is not about owning a charming and striking personality, a big smile, or a velvet voice. What is needed is character and credibility. Leadership is influence, and without credibility, your influence won't go very far. People may follow you for a while, but it won't be long before they realize that you are on a path that leads nowhere. In this regard, reputation is what is said about someone, while character is what someone really is.
On the other hand, there are those who associate leadership with the temperament of the person, for example Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Mahatma Gandhi, they are associated with choleric-phlegmatic temperaments. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Abraham Lincoln, and Charles De Gaulle, are associated with the melancholic temperament. José de San Martín is associated with a sanguine temperament. In such a way, that it can be inferred, that leadership is not about the temperament of the person, but rather about his character, his integrity and credibility.
The important thing is that a good leader has a message worth remembering. The good leader when he speaks, people listen to him, in such a way that he leaves footprints in people's hearts, regardless of their temperament.
Another characteristic of good leaders is that they have a lifestyle worth considering. The life of good leaders is compatible with their message. Example, a leader who points out that being rich is bad, but wears some of the most expensive watches in the world, designer clothes, etc. your message presents dissonance. The lifestyle of the good leader is esteemed by the people who follow him.
Another characteristic of a good leader is that they have a faith worth emulating. They develop a faith that is always helpful when faced with unexpected changes in their lives and successfully overcome obstacles.
People become leaders by the way they respond to circumstances. Leaders rise or fall based on the decisions they make. A good leader trains his followers to be multiplying agents, but also a good leader is in constant learning, in such a way that, when he stops learning, leadership fades. To be effective, a good leader needs to develop, grow and become the one that his followers expect of him.
You must learn to work smarter, not harder. People say that hard work is what makes you successful. Yet there are many people who work hard, and yet they are unsuccessful, because they have not learned to work smarter. All they do is work hard.
A good leader is sensitive to the needs of the people around them. It means, people are influenced by their nobility and genuine disinterest in helping others.
Another quality of a good leader is that he is a trustworthy individual. Therefore, he is not a person who disappoints, but inspires trust and on whom people can bet their lives.
Being a willing person, not lazy or lagging, is an attribute of a good leader. The good leader is willing and faces adversity without fleeing from his responsibilities. It is not so much a matter of ability, but of credibility, trust and availability of the leader. Nothing will happen if there is no leader willing to get things done.
Effectiveness in public leadership is determined by the leader's private life. While some are looking for better methods, machinery, and motivations, better people, who are willing, honest, of integrity, of character, trustworthy, with moral and family principles and values are truly required to occupy positions of leadership.
The good leader plans his actions in detail, so there is nothing he can use more than to think things over seriously; nor is there anything that demands more than that.
Another characteristic is that the good leader prepares for opportunities. When opportunity knocks on your door you are ready to open that door. Not planning is equivalent to planning a failure.
The leaders go ahead with their plans despite their own fears. There is an urban legend according to which it is believed that leaders are never afraid. The truth is that leaders are often afraid. Courage is not the absence of fear, courage consists of moving forward despite the fears that one has. For this reason, leaders set goals, since without a target they cannot aim for anything. The leader asks what does he want to be? You want to do? and What do you want to have? Leaders have challenging but realistic goals. So the leader sets deadlines for the fulfillment of his commitments. Without a deadline, a goal is not a goal, it is just a wish. Setting a deadline is part of planning.
As a good planner, the good leader anticipates the problems that may present themselves on the road to achieving their goals. Managers focus on the problems of the moment; leaders in solving tomorrow's problems.
As planning requires time and money, the budget is the next factor that the leader needs to take into account, for this reason the good leader calculates the price, they know precisely what they will need.
For the reasons outlined above, good leaders set themselves up for success, rather than worrying about failure. Success is not a one-man show, but requires other actors on stage and behind the scenes. The leader prepares to motivate others, and also expects opposition to his plans. People have a natural resistance, this inertia leads them to oppose changes. The good leader does his own research and evaluates the real situation, in addition the leader identifies with his people, does not blame others, since this decreases motivation, so he presents a positive message. So, the best ideas are neither mine, nor yours; are our.
Notwithstanding the above, the leader does not hide the seriousness of the problems, he knows that changes will not occur until dissatisfaction with the status quo is felt. Leaders create that discontent. When people are satisfied with what there is, nothing changes.
There are many other characteristics, but it is not intended to be exhaustive and exhaust the subject, the intention is to reason that the character of the good leader makes the difference so that things happen and be effective.
Transformational leadership characteristics
Transformational leadership, according to Álvarez (2015), is one in which leaders broaden and elevate the interests of their followers, when they generate awareness and acceptance of the group's purposes and mission, and when they motivate their followers to see beyond of their own interests for the good of others.
A transformational leader does not focus his attention only on the maximization of the individual's performance, but instead focuses on the responsibility of the group member for his own personal development, which as a consequence brings an increase in the performance of the fulfillment of the objectives of the organization.
According to the Innovation Factory Institute (2013), the concept of transformational leadership was originated and introduced by leadership expert James MacGregor Burns. He defined it as the type of leadership held by those individuals with a strong vision and personality, thanks to which they are capable of changing expectations, perceptions and motivations, as well as leading change within an organization.
Later it was the researcher Bernard M. Bass who developed the original concept, developing Bass's Transformational Leadership Theory. This author considers that transformational leadership is defined based on the impact it has on followers, since said leaders earn their trust, respect and admiration.
For Bass (1990) (cited in Innovation Factory Institute, 2013), there are four characteristics that differentiate transformational leadership:
Intellectual stimulation:
The transformational leader is not limited to challenging the status quo within the organization, but intensively fosters creativity among his followers, encouraging them to explore new ways of doing things and new opportunities, for the benefit of the company.
Individualized consideration:
Transformational leadership in turn involves maintaining open lines of communication with followers, both individually and collectively. This ensures that new ideas are shared, thereby allowing products or innovations to emerge that would otherwise have been undeveloped. In turn, these same communication channels allow leaders to directly recognize their followers, motivating them and promoting proactivity.
Inspiration and motivation:
Thanks to their clear vision, transformational leaders have the ability to articulate their followers. In this way, they manage to transmit their motivation and passion, which leads to employees with greater proactivity and commitment to the organization.
Idealized influence:
The transformational leader stands as a role model for his followers. They want to emulate him as a result of the trust and respect they have in him. It is thanks to this that new transformational leaders can emerge within the organization, since leadership is a capacity that, although sometimes innate, can be developed and trained.
Transformational leadership is the one that provides the greatest benefits to organizations whose objectives are to promote creativity and innovation among their employees in order to improve or maintain their competitive position.
Transformational leadership, instead of analyzing and controlling specific transactions with followers using rules, instructions and incentives, concentrates on intangible qualities, such as vision, shared values and ideas, with the purpose of creating relationships, of giving greater meaning to independent activities and to offer common ground to enlist followers in the change process.
Transformational leadership is founded on the values, beliefs, and personal qualities of the leader and not on a process of exchange between leaders and followers.
A transformational leader understands the need for their teams to feel that they are working for more than money, leading them towards a commitment to themselves and to the organization to achieve long-term goals.
While transactional leaders ensure that routine work is carried out reliably, on the other hand, transformational leaders take care of new initiatives that add value, for this reason the transactional and transformational leadership styles complement each other and are not mutually exclusive. one from another.
Transformational leadership dimensions
According to Figuerola (2011), transformational leadership moves in the following dimensions:
Laissez-faire:
The leader refrains from guiding, and only intervenes to provide information when asked by someone in the organization.
Charismatic:
They stand out for having a clear vision; earn respect and trust; provide security; and provoke identification and commitment of its collaborators.
Individualized consideration:
They pay attention to each of their collaborators individually and personally, and give them different responsibilities.
Intellectual stimulation:
It encourages, stimulates and fosters the innovation and creativity of its collaborators for the solution of problems and the formulation of strategies.
Inspirational leadership:
They encourage and generate enthusiasm by creating high expectations and modifying attitudes or behaviors.
Attributes of the transformational leader
For Figuerola (2011), the transformational leader must have the following attributes:
Vision and values:
Have a vision, share it and communicate it, do not neglect current problems, be well informed, make decisions and practice established values.
Direction and Strategy:
Goal setting, delegation, goal tracking. Turn goals into actionable plans, and work as a team to transform the vision into reality.
Motivation:
Persuasion, trust, human resource management, good communication, empathy, appreciation, recognition, listening to ideas, celebrations. A good leader effectively attracts and engages people to achieve immediate and sustainable results.
Support:
Stay informed of progress, share information with good communication, provide help and allocate resources wisely, resolve conflicts, and collaborate with the team.
Development:
Build team spirit, time management, training and education, stimulate creativity. The leader must develop himself and his team.
Change agent:
Leaders must be specialists in change, recognize when and how to adjust strategy and leadership, this is a culture of transformational leaders.
Advantages and disadvantages
According to Méndez (2013), there are advantages and disadvantages in the transformational leadership style, namely:
Advantage:
- Development of social skills The leader is an example to follow Increased self-esteem of workers, which means higher productivity and higher profits Lower costs because it is not necessary to rotate or replace workers Higher probability of new and better initiatives. Corporate learning Intelligent organization that learns.
Disadvantages:
- It assumes there is motivation on the part of the worker The results are visible in the long term Not all leaders are or can be transformative Lacks application details There is a great potential for abuse since it is not always used morally.
III. conclusion
From the above, it can be said that a leader always recognizes himself, since someone must be following him. As John Maxwell states that: "He who thinks he is leading, but no one follows, is just taking a walk."
However, leadership can be viewed from various perspectives. Thus, from the perspective of the organization, they are usually interested in an effective and efficient leader, since they focus their attention on the fulfillment of the proposed objectives and that it is executed at the lowest possible cost, with the least use of resources, in the shortest time. possible. Another perspective is constituted by the personnel under the leadership of the leader, in which there are multiple points of view according to the temperament and values of each worker, who can see the leader as positive, negative, or indifferent according to their personal interests. Another instance of the perspective is represented by the leader, who will react according to his temperament, character, values and interests. Finally, the perspective of the social responsibility of leadership is included,which is the perspective of society in general, in which ethics constitutes a factor within the principles of leadership that should not be overlooked. For example, in Nazi Germany, skilled people exercised leadership roles, for example, architects designing concentration and extermination camps; engineers building such fields; chemists formulating substances to end human life at the lowest possible cost in a very fast time; doctors and biologists experimenting with human life without the consent of the people under investigation and in subhuman conditions. These characters also exercised leadership and had people to follow them in the line of duty. In this regard, the study on leadership should not only focus only on the managerial factors inherent to the organization,rather, social responsibility and ethics should be factors to consider within managerial leadership. The most important thing must be the human being.
From the above, and coinciding with Warren (2005), what is important in the study of leadership is whether a person is a "good" leader. The leader must be useful and generally good, for each of the aforementioned perspectives, that is, for the organization, for subordinates, for the leader himself and for society in general.
Considering the characteristics, dimensions, attributes, advantages and disadvantages of transformational leadership, it can be summarized that transformational leadership is the one that provides the greatest benefits to organizations whose objectives are to promote creativity and innovation among their employees in order to improve or maintain their competitive position, however, its disadvantages must be considered, since not all leaders have a transformational style and that also leaves the concern that this leadership style could lend itself to the potential abuse and manipulation of employees.
Finally, and according to Monserrate (2011), citing (Bass and Avolio, 1996), it is curious that some studies have shown that women tend to be somewhat more transformational than their male counterpart; To some extent, this is accompanied by great satisfaction and effectiveness according to subordinates, both male and female. Paradoxically, it could be proposed that anti-feminist biases are a plausible explanation for the findings that women exhibit more transformational leadership, and are likely more effective in their leadership.
IV. References
- Álvarez, A. (2015). Leadership Theories, Resources Week # 3 Doctorate in Management Sciences Caribbean International University.Bernal, J. (2001). Leading change: transformational leadership. Zaragoza's University. Retrieved April 03, 2015, from http://didac.unizar.es/jlbernal/articulos_propios/pdf/02_lidtrans.pdfBustos, A. et al. (sf). Social model and environment. Retrieved April 03, 2015, from Castañeda, C. (2012). Charismatic Leadership and Transformational Leadership - Monografias.com. Retrieved April 02, 2015, from http://www.monografias.com/trabajos93/liderazgo-carismatico-y-liderazgo-transformacional/liderazgo-carismatico-y-liderazgo-transformacional.shtmlCotés, P. (2009). The caudillos. Bogotá: PMV. Retrieved April 02, 2015, from http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/CaudillismoFiguerola, N. (2011).Transactional and Transformational Leadership The dimensions of Leadership. Retrieved April 04, 2015, from https://articulosbm.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/liderazgo-transacional-y-transformacional.pdfInstitute, r IF (2013). What is Transformational Leadership? encouraging change and creativity. Innovation FactoryTM Institute blog, the experiential learning center. Retrieved April 02, 2015, from http://www.innovationfactoryinstitute.com/blog/el-lider-transformacional-fomentando-el-cambio-y-la-creatividad/Méndez, A. (2013). Leadership: Transformational Leadership. Retrieved April 02, 2015, from http://liderazgo.euroresidentes.com/2013/10/liderazgo-transformacional.htmlMonserrat, A. (2011). Transformational Leadership Sánchez, A. (2011). Leadership and Business Innovation: Definition of Leadership according to Authors. Retrieved April 03, 2015,from http://anniesanchezgutierrez.blogspot.com/2011/09/definicion-de-liderazgo-segun-autores.html Warren, R. (2005). Purpose Driven Leadership (1st ed.). Lake Forest, CA USA: Purpose Driven Publishing. Recovered from
