November 1996 No. 2What's New In Leadershipby Harriett Moyer*
What have we learned about leadership lately? Much of the work deals with "transformational" and "transactional" leadership. Knowing more about how transformational and transactional leaders operate may help you analyze the leadership approaches being used in community projects. In some community situations it may be possible to improve strategies by suggesting to local leaders that they consider using some of the informational approaches. Bernard Bass1 presented a review of developments in leadership research at the 1996 annual conference of the Association of Leadership educators. The following is based on his review. Leadership was often viewed in an exchange context before 1978. The assumption in this "transactional" approach is that leadership is a process of mutual influence., Followers and leaders interact and influence each other's behavior. A person "earns" leadership status through such behaviors as trustworthiness, competence and innovativeness. This approach to leadership is still viable and used implicitly in much Extension work. The Master Gardener program where individuals learn more about gardening in exchange for designated hours of teaching others and becoming leaders in gardening is one such clear-cut project. In 1978 James McGregor Bums introduced the term, "transformational leadership." Since then much work has been based on facets of Bums' ideas. The transformational leadership concepts build on the ideas of the transactional approach. Bums maintained that transformational leadership is an interaction between leaders and followers which raises the actors to higher levels of motivation and morality. Self interests are transcended for the greater good. By 1990, research had progressed to where researchers asserted that transformational leadership can be assessed, can be learned, and is the type of leadership most often implicitly referred to by non-academics. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was developed to determine whether given leaders were more transactional or more transformational in their modes of operation. Results of some of this work helped document the impact of transformational leaders on performances and outcomes. The findings indicated that transformational leaders: (1) Inspire commitment, (2) Champion innovation, (3) Improve quality, (4) Reduce role conflict, (5) Increase feelings of autonomy, (6) Empower interpersonal relations, and (7) Encourage organizational citizenship. Transformational CEO's accomplish more, and exceed quotas. Why does transformational leadership work? Findings indicated that transactional leaders address the material needs of followers while transformational leaders address the self-concept and self-worth of followers. Transformational leaders appear to be self-confident, assertive, and ready to sacrifice and set personal examples. Research on the development and training of leaders continues to document the importance of early experiences in elementary school, engagement in high school activities, satisfactory first jobs, parental interest in the child's education, and high parental moral standards. Evaluations of more facets of leadership training programs is now possible. Effects on both the individual level and the organizational level can be measured. It is also possible to measure the amount of transformation in a team. Lastly there appears to be a universality of findings and applications in relation to leadership across countries and cultures in terms of basic concepts. *Harriett Moyer is an Extension Sociologist and professor in the Center for Community Economic Development, University of Wisconsin-Extension, Madison, Wisconsin. |
