Executive Summary

Leadership is an essential aspect of the modern dynamic business world. The kind of leadership evident in any organization matters a lot as far as the success of the organization is concerned. Transformational leadership has been for a long time taken to be among the most successful leadership styles that every supervisor and business manager should embrace. This is kind of leadership that embraces transformational, charismatic, level 5, principle-centered and servant-centered leadership. It is purely based on the notion that leaders should be able to influence followers positively to achieve a common goal (Bruce, 2010). In this report, we will discuss at length the positive and negative attributes associated with transformational leadership. It is essential that supervisors get to understand the essential aspects involved in this kind of leadership and decide on which to embrace and what to avoid in the supervisory role.

Transformational leadership and supervisory roles

Supervisors in an organization have an obligation of ensuring that junior staff acts in agreement with the objectives of the organization. The supervisors are expected to offer leadership that will guarantee the success of the organization. Transformational leadership becomes an essential aspect to be emulated by supervisors. This is because of the notion that the high ethics in leadership are much evident in this style of leadership. Transformational leadership ensures that employees and the society see merit in the form of leadership offered by their supervisors (Caldwell et al., 2011). It is important noting that it is only in this kind of leadership where a leader must forego their interests and influence others towards positive change within their organizations. Their essential aspects involved in transformational leadership that supervisors should always strive to achieve. For instance, it is vital for a leader to recognize essential changes, produce vision and motivation o employees for the overall success of the organization.

As earlier mentioned, transformational leadership is a collective leadership style that entails different disciplines. For instance, charisma is an essential aspect in this form of leadership. As a good supervisor, it would be of paramount importance to ensure that one is habitually charismatic (Bruce, 2010). This implies that the supervisors should have a great sense of self-belief rather than in the success of others. Most are the times when leaders are obsessed with power that has contributed to the downfall of the organization.  Nevertheless, the supervisors should be wary of overconfidence and be able to differentiate between accuracy and reality.

Though supervisors should have a great sense of self-belief, it is not wise for them to have a notion that they are always correct. Transformational leadership requires them to be open- minded and allow employees contribution towards the management of the organizational affairs. Charismatic leadership should also be highly concerned with the feelings of others in the organizational setup. With this in mind, it is, therefore, imperative that supervisors should be wary of the feelings of the employees (Caldwell et al., 2011). This is critical since it will help deal with resentment which could easily hinder productivity within the organization.

Supervisors are agents of change in an organization. With this in mind, transformational leadership becomes an important aspect to influence the necessary change in an organization. This leadership calls for effective, strong moral and ethical leadership style. Although other forces such as economic and social forces are critical to embracing change, it is also important to have able agents of change (Sosik & Jung, 2009). It is the obligation of the supervisor to take the risk, blow the trumpet and invite followers to implement the change. This will be very instrumental in ensuring that the common organizational objective of the organization is achieved. Since supervisors in their capacity are leaders, it is critical noting that leadership goes in hand with transformative leadership.

Transformative leadership calls for collective success. For supervisors, it is advisable that they do not take the glory for the success achieved in their departments. It is always essential noting that transformational leadership recognizes group context (Bruce, 2010). In most cases, the success of an organization is as a result of combined efforts of different players with the guidance of a leader.  With teamwork and embracing the efforts of others, more success can be real in these organizations. Supervisors should lead the way to create added value but must always be prepared to work with others. This aspect of transformational leadership is evident in the case of Microsoft. If Bill Gates ignored Steve Ballmer, then the Microsoft success story would not be evident.

Transformational leadership is also associated with increased productivity. The leadership style calls for sustainable and effective organizations through innovative management and leadership practices.  With this in mind, it is imperative for the supervisors to ensure that they are a part of a sustainable system. Supervisors should strive to be innovative and creative in designing a sustainable business entity capable of realizing its objectives (Schroeder-Saulnier, 2009). Sustainable and effective organizations will also be realized if the employees’ maturity level is sustainable the consideration for others and the organization precedes self-interests. It is also the obligation of a supervisor to ensure that organizational performance in an organization is increased through group productivity.  A transformative leader should be able to enhance employee self-efficacy and cohesiveness that are critical to enhanced organizational performance. It is the obligation of a supervisor to foster the moral behaviors of the organization that is critical to increased productivity and sustainability.

Inspirational motivation is another aspect of Paramount Importance involved in transformational leadership. Every organization aspires to get to certain levels of success, and the supervisors have the obligation of ensuring that these levels are achieved with ease.  Nevertheless, as aforementioned, the success of the organization largely depends on the contribution of the followers. It is the responsibility of the supervisor to articulate a vision that is appealing and inspiring to followers. A supervisor should offer a challenge to the followers to enable them set high standards that will have a positive influence on the productivity of the organization (Bruce, 2010). Articulating vision and motivation to followers require effective communication skills. Being a visionary leader, a supervisor should have these critical skills to make the vision understandable, powerful, precise and engaging.  Morally supported and motivated workers will help the realization of organizational goals.

In addition to the high demand for inspiration in transformational leadership, the leaders are also expected to have quality management skills. This will help improve the followers’ motivation and increase their sense of value. Supervisors should always learn to appreciate their followers this making the feel valued in the affairs of the organization. Communication becomes another important aspect in transformational leadership not only in motivation but also in guiding and supporting the subordinates for work well done (Caldwell et al., 2011). With effective communication skills, supervisors can be able to correct their juniors in instances where they go astray. Such corrections require that supervisors should be good teachers and take corrective measures thus preventing unprecedented losses. Despite being proactive in detecting and preventing failures, the supervisors should also embrace another important aspect of transformational leadership. For instance, transformational leaders are expected to take responsibility for their actions. Supervisors should be ready to face criticisms from any quarters thus making it necessary to embrace such provisions of transformational leadership. A transformative leader should embrace criticism more than praise and, on the other hand, should be ready to praise the juniors for their efforts.

Another essential aspect of transformative leadership that supervisors should embrace is the ability to enhance the relationship between followers and leaders. In most cases, the workplace environment is critical to overall organizational output. Workers are less productive if they work in a stressful environment. As a supervisor, one can link employees to the management thus creating a stress-free environment (Scully, 2008).  This translates to increased productivity in the organization. Supervisors should strive to ensure that employees feel accommodated and are an integral part of the organization.

Transformative leadership criticism

Although the transformative leadership has been advocated as a strong leadership style, it has also received some criticisms. It is, however, essential noting that, as a supervisor, one can note these shortcomings and use them to the advantage of an organization. It has been asserted that there are numerous challenges in the application of transformative leadership. Issues of profitability, ethical standards, and customer satisfaction have been the major areas of concern. However, empirical studies have confirmed that high ethical standards in leadership associated with transformative leadership have resulted in increased profits and customer satisfaction.  This is an important revelation since it removes fears of possible abuse of power and other sources f criticism associated with this kind of leadership. It is, therefore, paramount for a supervisor to ensure that high ethical standards, respect for the juniors and vision for success are the major insights in the supervisory role.

Conclusion

To sum it up, it is crystal clear that transformational leaders have great capability to increase the performance beyond expectations and thereby able to make massive changes among individuals and organizations. With this in mind, the supervisors in an organization would find it imperative in adopting some of the essential provisions in the leadership style. Supervisors have an obligation of ensuring organizational success and this success can only be realized through effective management of individuals involved in realizing organizational goals. Organizations with leaders who are perceived to demonstrate a commitment to serve stakeholders are more successful in creating wealth and value and are more profitable than organizations with leaders not perceived to be focused on serving stakeholders (Caldwell et al., 2011). With this in mind, it would be wise to conclude that supervisor with transformational leadership traits will help an organization perform beyond expectations. Indeed transformative leadership is essential for unparalleled excellence.

References

Bruce J. Avolio (2010). Full range leadership development. 2nd ed. London: Sage.

Caldwell, C., Dixon, R., Floyd, L., Chaudoin, J., Post, J., & Cheokas, G. (2011). Transformative Leadership: Achieving Unparalleled Excellence. J Bus Ethics, 109(2), 175-187. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1116-2

Kaiser, R.  B.,   Hogan, R.  & Bartholomew, S.  C. (2008). Leadership and the fate of organizations. American Psychologist, 63(2), 96-110.

Schroeder-Saulnier, D. (2009). Responding to change with agility: The leader’s role. Burlington, Linkage.

Scully, S. (2008).  Transformational leadership during transformational change: A model for change leadership. New York: International Consortium for Organizational Resilience.

Sosik, J. J. & Jung, D. (2009). Full range leadership development: Pathways for people, profit, and planet. London: Psychology Press.

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