IN-TEXT CITATION:

According to Okibo and Shikanda (2011) the relevant leadership behaviour is crucial to improve
awareness creation in organizations. Therefore, the employees’ behaviour paths are mostly shaped
by the way leaders give support to organizational members and provide a clear direction in regard
to guidelines. They further elaborated that a transformational leader has to watch out for prospective
needs in admirers, and satisfies higher motives, whilst connecting with the full attributes of the
adorers.

According to Yukl (2006) transformational leaders builds the capacity of their subordinates and
encourages them to work at their maximum potential consequently improving their productivity and
the overall performance of an organization.

Leadership is a very important factor in an organization because it determines most of its success
and failure. It is considered that any company’s success is due to performance, employee job
satisfaction and employee affective commitment (Bass & Riggio, 2006; Drucker, 2007).

O’Reilly and Tushman (2013) argued that organizations that are the most adaptable to the
competition in the dynamic environment will excel.

Organizations that attempt to adapt to today’s competitiveness using old processes tend to find
it difficult to prosper and may even cease to exist (Beukman, 2005).

The dire need for transformation in today’s global economy places pressure on organizations to not
only catch up with changes, but also to foresee them (Lock, 2001).

Ambrose (1995) states that intuitive organizations promote a culture of innovation and creativity
tend to invigorate their employees with a sense of pride and eagerness.

Today’s organizations can be described as unstable and unpredictable. These changes

sometimes create a chaotic work environment (Hitt, Keats & DeMarie, 1998).

Karamat (2014) suggests that other than survival, an organization must sustain its
existence by improving performance.

Additionally, Arslan and Staub (2013) argued that for organizations to meet the needs of highly
competitive markets, they must continually improve their performance.
Some authors such as Boal and Hooijberg (2000) and Peterson, Smith, Martorana and Owens
(2003) place high importance on the role of leadership in achievement of improved performance
amongst organizations.

Bass and Avolio (1994) observed that transactional leaders work within their organizational cultures
by following the rules, procedures and norms; while transformational leaders change the
culture of their organizations by first understanding it, and then realigning it with a new vision and
a revision of its shared assumptions, values and norms.

Some researchers have suggested that leaders motivate and help their employees to be
competitive by using effective leadership styles (Bass & Riggio, 2006; Luftman, 2004).

Therefore, the role of the leader as a change agent is to describe the beliefs and values that will
remain and those that must be eliminated. The leader is therefore the key determinant of an
organization’s culture, which in turn is a determining factor of employee behaviour (Deal &
Kennedy, 2000).

Leader’s use of effective leadership styles is due to promote standards of excellence in the
professional development of the members of the organization (La Rue, Childs & Larson, 2006).

The positive effect of leadership on performance was measured by some researchers, Sila and
Ebrahimpour (2005), through human resources (labour turnover rate and job performance),
organizational effectiveness (cost and quality) and financial performance (market share, profit,
returns on asset).

Inyang (2006) explained that leadership styles and other processes of the organization must be
such that they can ensure maximum probability within all interactions and relationships with the
organizations, each member will in the light of his background, values and expectation view the
expenses as supportive and one which can build and maintain his sense of personal worth and
importance. Effective leadership is a unique way of integrating employees with the organization to
achieve its vision or objectives and that to a large extent the effectiveness of a leader is largely
dependent to the styles adopted by managers, which he says are central in the management of
organizations.

Akeel and Indra (2013) noted that transformational leadership plays a critical role in improving staff
performance in Libya.
Edoka (2012) emphasized the need for African countries to adopt transformational leadership since
it is important in improving performance of the employees.

Oluseyi and Ayo (2009) noted that effective leadership was crucial in African organizations as it is
throughout the world.

GoK (2007) argued that there are differences that arise between transactional leadership and
transformational leadership and that are in favour of SOEs management preferring the
transformational leadership to the transactional style.

The Kenyan government has recognized the importance of hiring transformative managers in its
enterprises and has developed a policy that institutes transformational leadership in service to
citizens. Some of the interventions encouraging the use of transformational leadership include
performance contracting in the public sector of Kenya and the marketization of SOEs so that they
are encouraged to operate like private sector operators whose major motive is profitability (GoK,
2001).

For instance, Koigi (2011) argued that transformational leadership wields a positive influence
on both organizational performance and employee performance. Transformational leadership tries to
create conducive climates for the development of innovation and creativity. He further argued that
transformational leadership can be directed to superior performance in an organization that faces
renewal and transformation demands since transformational leaders encourages, models and enables
their subordinates to exploit their full potential.

Mutugi and Ngugi (2013) contend that a transition from state owned public corporations to state
owned enterprises, that is, privatization of government assets and services, is a drastic change.
Managing this radical change requires the presence of an injection of new energy, to bring in the
vision and stamina that result in the transformation needed for the success of the new organization.

This argument supports Bass (1998) that transformational leaders transforms the environment from
a situation of threat into a situation of opportunity.

Nadler and Tushman (1990) argued that transformational leaders are essential in bringing change to
organizations since they give a psychological focal point for the energies, hopes, and aspirations of
employees in the organization as well as provide powerful role models.
In order for SOEs to succeed in the changing a dynamic business environment, it is crucial they
have transformation leaders. Transformational leadership deal with bringing major changes in the
attitudes and assumptions of organizational employees and building commitment for the
organization’s mission, objectives, and strategies (Mpofu,2010).

Transformational leadership is however a shared process (Cossin &Caballero, 2013).

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