Transformation Leadership Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Transformation Leadership Interview - Essay Example Leadership is defined by Martires & Fule (2000) as â€Å"the process of influencing people so that they would work towards the attainment of specifically defined goals† (p. 569). Transformational leadership, as the name implies, is a leadership style â€Å"that creates voluble and positive change in the followers. A transformational leader focuses on "transforming" others to help each other, to look out for each other, be encouraging, harmonious, and look out for the organization as a whole. In this leadership, the leader enhances the motivation, moral and performance of his follower group.† (Boje 2000) Studies on this concept in leadership was originally delved into by James McGregor Burns who wanted to differentiate leadership from management and discovered that the differences are in characters and behaviors. (Burns 1978) He contrasted transformational leadership style as against a transactional leadership where focus is on the traits and characteristics of the leader rather than creating changes in people’s lives. There have been diverse patterns of behavior and actions that leaders exhibit over a period of time and perceived by followers as the dominant style of leadership. This style is developed utilizing an interplay of factors which shape leadership development. There have been an enormous amount of studies and researches which seek to identify the characteristics, traits and behaviors which are predominant in leaders and enable them to succeed. For transformational leaders, the following characteristics stand out: (1) overt desire to transform the organization; (2) charismatic; (3) exudes passion and confidence; (4) possess large amounts of enthusiasm; (5) are people oriented and (5) tendencies to see the big picture and not the details (Straker 2009). According to Burns (1978), there are four elements of a transformational