Transformational leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Transformational leadership - Essay Example The group exists to achieve a common purpose or task, and the leader's actions in one area affect both the others; thus successful achievement of the task is essential if the group is to be held together and its members motivated to give their best effort to the job. So, the four key elements of performance should be taken into account. These are: measurement - assessing results against agreed targets and standards; feedback - giving people information on how they are doing; positive reinforcement - emphasizing what has been done well so that it will be done even better in the future; only making constructive criticisms, i.e. those that point the way to improvement; exchange of views - ensuring that the discussion involves a full, free and frank exchange of views about what has been achieved, what needs to be done to achieve more and what individuals think about their work, the way they are guided and managed and their aspirations. Performance and development reviews provide those in volved with the opportunity to reflect on past performance as a basis for making development and improvement plans. Obtaining historical perspective through analysis is a necessary part of the review but reaching agreement about what should be done in the future is what it is all about. The performance review should take the form of a dialogue, not a top-down interview or 'appraisal' (Boehnke, Bontis, 2003). The old routines of central planning and negotiating inputs from might have gone, but there remained the assumption that some other agency would solve the problems: an assumption the CEO himself appeared to share. All of this was taking place within a structure which remained hierarchical, with little involvement of junior management or the workforce, who believed that their product could only sell locally and clung to the assumption that they could sell everything they could produce (Whipp, 1991). This systems view therefore suggests that organisations can and do change by mutually reinforcing and amplifying stimuli within their systems. It is change on the basis of the current ways of doing things: in this sense, it is an explanation of incremental change. The change agent seeking to manage change incrementally would, therefore, search for ways in which changes could be made within current systems, which would have the effect of amplifying change. Education and communication might be appropriate if there is a problem in managing change which is based on misinformation or lack of information. It requires an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect between managers and employees, and might well be time consuming if large numbers are involved in the change since it is unlikely that mass briefings of people will be sufficient to communicate effectively. Many organisations realise that such situations are likely to require small group briefings and debate if the communication is to be effective. However, often the direction or process of strategic change lacks clarity, so relying on processes of communication alone is problematic. The ability to motivate and inspire employees is now a core competence for the best managers. In order to achieve optimal goals three basics would be taken into account: motivation, reward and commitment. Motivating other people is about getting them to move in the direction you want them to go in