Need for transformational change in organization:
Transformational leadership qualities are wide ranging and each collaboratively results in allowing a firm to achieve its business objectives. As per researchers, transformational leadership qualities such as change management, handling decision making, collaborating the teams are all essential in allowing firms to gain the right productivity. There is always a need for transformational change within 21st century organizations (Nguyen et al, 2017). If firms do not transform then they do not achieve their business goal of being innovative. For example, Telstra is a automobile engineering and technology company which uses technology to ensure transformational change within its processes. In order to ensure that all the business departments are connected, the company makes use of ERP systems to ensure organizational transformation (Lang et al, 2018). The company had begun its process of transforming all its traditional processes into modernized and digitized processes 2 decades earlier. This transformational change offered a unique ability to the company to be competitive, have higher productivity and be effective in its operations.
Transformational leadership qualities
Transformational change however is a difficult process and at Telstra, it was Elon Musk who allowed for most of the change management. With his transformational leadership qualities, he was able to reach the key organizational mission originally designated by the company (Choi et al, 2017). According to various researchers of transformational leadership, there are many qualities that a transformational leader possesses inclusive of having an apparent vision, having courage, being individually motivated, being inspiring in nature, knowing the individuals, setting the standard of the company and following through. Elon Musk also depicts these leadership qualities (Lang et al, 2018). For example, he believes in making changes and ensuring an action is taken but when this is not accepted by others, then he rather does it alone. So, transformational leadership qualities are to foster an open environment with everyone getting a chance to make a difference and also contribute to the contribution .
Transformational leadership impact on organziational goals
Every leadership style has its individual benefits and disadvantages. This style has its impact on the organizational goals also. For example while it is possible to say that transactional leadership can result in obtaining the outcomes as expected, the transformational leadership has a negative relationship between variables of independent nature and satisfaction at work (Wanasika & Krahnke, 2018). There is a lot of interdependence created in transformational style of leadership on each other and because of a collaborative focus, the individual identity is lost. However, this style and its qualities do result in offering positive outcomes when the companies know the situation is right for such a leadership style.
Personal reflection
I personally think that transformational leadership theory is essential for business managers. It not only improves the overall outcomes of business but also improves the overall productivity of indiviual members within the group. For example, one of my favorite transformational leaders as I have also discussed above is Elon Musk. He is a visionary leader with ability of making everyone believe in the vision that he has. He is a transformational leader and this has been reflected in many situations such as change management and resistance handling. I think that as a transformational leader, it is also possible to oppose others not in favor of the transformational leadership qualities like change resistance. At Paypal for example Musk left the partnership due to the resistance to change from the other members and the employees. I aspire to be a transformational leader in future. I think that I have a good vision and also know how to make others believe in my vision but I am still very far away from calling myself a true transformational leader. I still have to work towards many skills such as employee employer relationships, transformational change management, power delegation, roles and responsibilities allocation in a shared environment. I think that in my new and future workplaces I would like to exert transformational leadership skills just as Elon Musk has done to deal with the issues related to not being able to reach the business goals. I think that I will be better in handling the dilemmas and working towards the welfare of the company and the individuals operating within the company. At present I don’t have a proper leadership style cultivated and I think that it is more situational in nature but when I read through the theories related to transformational leadership and how it is exercised in different areas, I think that I have to work on many qualities cultivation such as conflict handling, risk management, taking more innovative approaches, being transformational and handling transformational change.
Reference
Choi, S.B., Kim, K. and Kang, S.W., 2017. Effects of transformational and shared leadership styles on employees’ perception of team effectiveness. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, 45(3), pp.377-386.
Lang, D., Handley, M. and Jablokow, K., 2018. The competencies of innovation leaders. In Innovation Leadership(pp. 31-44). Routledge.
Nguyen, T.T., Mia, L., Winata, L. and Chong, V.K., 2017. Effect of transformational-leadership style and management control system on managerial performance. Journal of Business Research, 70, pp.202-213.
Wanasika, I. and Krahnke, K., 2018. Reexamining Transformational Leadership in Complex Systems. In Engaged Leadership (pp. 199-210). Springer, Cham.
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