Transformational Leadership 1

Transformational Leadership

Rogelio Guerra Jr

South Texas College

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Abstract

Transactional leaders are a thing of the past. There was a time when managers only managed by

demands and sometimes fear. Our generation is now seeing transformational leaders appear

virtually everywhere. A transformational leader is a person who leads by simply being

themselves. Their charisma and vision inspires others to want to be better and perform more

efficiently. A transactional leader rewards their employees for their work, but being in the

presence of a transformational leader is something that I believe everyone needs to experience in

the work place. I work for an organization where our district only just began to see the rise of

transformational leaders. The majority of the managers in the district have the old mind set of

managing by fear and not leading; they only manage. This may have worked for them in the past,

but we are starting to see a high turn over ratio in those branches where transactional leaders

exist.
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Transformational Leadership

A transformational leader will have a big impact on not just your job, but your life. When

you are led by one, you feel motivated, safe, trusted, and it makes you do more than you thought

you ever could without being asked to do so. I believe the biggest impact of this unique kind of

leader is the one they have on employee satisfaction. Happy employees are productive. I am only

one of two transformational leaders in my district and we have made a huge impact on the

district. My team went from being unranked in Texas to being number 2 in a matter of two

quarters time. I’ve seen first hand just how amazing this impacts work and productivity, and that

is why I am passionate about this paper. I’ve learned that as a transformational leader, we have

both direct and indirect impacts on our teams. The article focuses on the study of

transformational leadership behaviors on organizational citizenship behaviors.

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Organizational citizenship to me is described as how much more an employee does than

what is required of them. For example, I love the company I work for, and I answer to different

bosses that give me the freedom to do my job as I see fit. I am not required to do many things,

but I do them because I am happy and believe that they will soon get me to where I want to be. I

volunteer for community events that the bank sponsors, I participate in different fitness events,

and I proudly let people know the amazing things the organization has done for me. The article

talks about 5 organizational citizenship behaviors; altruism, conscientiousness, courtesy, civic

virtue, and sportsmanship. Altruism is about helping others with an existing problem. This

behavior is something that I constantly find myself doing. Even if I have assigned tasks to

complete, I find myself helping anyone that needs my help. The study found that altruism was

closely correlated with another behavior called courtesy. The practically mean the same thing
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except courtesy is in regards to preventing a problem from happening while altruism is coming

to the aid of someone who has an existing one. When I hear the word conscientiousness, for

some reason I think about the word accountability. When talking about organizational behavior,

this word describes how much further than the bare minimum an employee goes when it comes

to things like time sheets and breaks. I’ll admit that I sometimes take advantage of this, but I

usually always try to do the right thing so my boss won’t get in trouble if I am ever somewhere

else. When talking about sportsmanship, I constantly think of myself. I usually have a lot on my

plate. My normal work day consists of at least 2 conference calls, coaching the team, and having

6 appointments that are at least one hour each. I am usually so busy that I don’t take a lunch and

constantly have over time. However, there are some days when my boss asks me to help him out

with more and I always say yes. Even though I have a lot going on already, I simply say yes. I

don’t complain, I simply do what is needed to assist my boss. Civic virtue can be described as an

individuals duty to the company. Most have a job, and others call it a career. Those people that

truly see a career in their current workplace tend to care about the company, and that is the

definition of civic virtue.

Transformational Leader Behaviors

The article talks about 6 transformational leader behaviors that are used as independent variables.

A transformational leader has a vision. The leader lets his or her vision be known to their team

and how they plan to get there. The vision alone inspires others to be better and with time, it

becomes their vision as well. As a leader, you believe in your vision, and your team will follow

by believing in you and making it their vision as well. As a leader, you lead by example. The

way you carry yourself and the way you work is ultimately going to reflect what you expect of

those working with you. In management, you have to learn how to get the best out of different
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personalities. A transformational leader promotes team engagement and gets everyone on the

same page to achieve a common goal. As these goals are made clear to the team, they must also

know that they are expected to do nothing less than high quality work. You set the expectation,

and they will reach it, or exceed it each time.

Leadership Conclusion

Leaders are successful because of trust and employee satisfaction. I always tell my team that in

order to lead, you need trust. Your team needs to know that you have their back at all times and

that you genuinely care about their development. Most managers tend to think only about

themselves, but a transformational leader wants you to be the best you can be, and even do their

own job better. They are always trying to promote you and get you ready for the next job, and

this is why employees gravitate towards these leaders. When you work for someone that you

know wants the best for you, then you will go above and beyond to make sure that you are

exceeding the bare minimum. Altruism is correlated with fostering group goals. The employees

aid each other with any problems they may encounter and work together as team. They share the

same vision, and this ultimately drives them to be successful. Conscientiousness correlates with

high performance expectations. The leader expects the best from them, and the employees tend

to do more. They follow their schedules, time their breaks, and do things the right way because

they know that’s what their leader wants. This study focused on the effects these leaders had on

others, and looked to see if there was a correlation between dependent and independent variables

and there is. A transformational leader in my opinion is the future of leadership in every

organization. They promote a healthy work place, people gravitate to them and their vision, and

they drive high performance in their environments where they lead.

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References

Podsakoff, P, Mackenzi, S, Moorman, R, Fetter, R (1990). Transformational Leader Behaviors

And Their Effects On Followers Trust In Leader , Satisfaction, And Organizational

Citizenship Behaviors

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Footnotes
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Tables

Table 1

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Column Head Column Head Column Head Column Head Column Head
Row Head 123 123 123 123
Row Head 456 456 456 456
Row Head 789 789 789 789
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Row Head 456 456 456 456
Row Head 789 789 789 789

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