Lou Gerstner's Transformational Leadership Style

is, let’s talk about Home Depot’s leadership. The question at hand is what type of

Today, the old traditional image of an authoritarian leader with a non-negotiable expression on his face that always gives strict orders to employees is no more consistent. The very concept of leadership has significantly evolved over the past decades. Scientific evidence confirms that participative leadership style significantly improves team performance and contributes to the effective change management (Kumar & Khiljee, 2016; Saleeby, Holschneider, & Singhal, 2016). Demonstrating effective leadership qualities has become a necessity for clinicians in today 's healthcare system. Participatory leadership style, when applied in the healthcare settings subjected to change implies an active participation of the key stakeholders in the transformation process. The concept of participatory leadership is based on two core principles. First, the opinions of multiple agents involved in the transformation is listened and discussed, second, these are taken into account both on the stage of the change and evaluation (Saleeby, Holschneider, & Singhal, 2016). The five major tasks for these agents are: opportunities and change readiness identification, goals and objectives determination, designing the transformation, paying attention to accountability and feasibility, implementation and evaluation (Saleeby, Holschneider, & Singhal, 2016). One of the participative leader 's roles is to create an environment stimulating

It is opined that transformational leaders can develop trust, motive followers to perform beyond the call of duty, establish loyalty and guide followers to be willing to identify with the organization and the leaders. Hence, they are able to transform followers Givens (2008) cited by (Bass, 1985). They are viewed as role models, mentor, facilitator and teacher who are able to motivate and group followers to perform tasks. Leaders are inspirational in that they give meaning to those who perform the task which involves providing a vision or goal. Idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration are the four factors of transformational leadership. Hence, it is said that eeffective transformational leadership can produce performances which exceed organizational expectations (Hall et al., 2015). Transformational leadership theory is currently being used in Haynes & Associates. The Manager of the law firm understands that one of the goals is to increase productivity and achieve growth. Thus, his main focus is on the competencies and higher personal commitment of the firm. Lately, the vision of the firm lacked appeal as employees showed a lack of interest and motivation. Hence an organizational review was conducted to inspire and motivate the employees in achieving the goals of the firm. In achieving the vision and goals, the Manager’s approach is geared on motivating the staff to attain more beyond that was planned for them to achieve. The manager and leader try to ensure that the staff are motivated, committed and engaged. Thus, to foster teamwork spirit by understanding the motivation of each person, correct weaknesses, challenges affecting the paralegals and associates a personal evaluation of the organizational review will be conducted on a quarterly basis. This has created new

The trait theory of leadership was first discovered in mid 1800s. It is closely tied to the great man theory whereby leaders are thought to be born and only those who were born with correct traits and quality are suited to leadership (Lee, 2014). It is a line of research which examine which characteristics we should pursue to lead effectively. The most common traits to leaders are intelligence, determination, integrity, self-confidence and sociability. However, different study shows that there are other traits such as knowledge, responsibility, emotional control, courage and trustworthiness to be linked to effective leaders. Not only that, it is seen as a benchmark for what to be expected in a leader.

This theory is based upon the psychological principles of social-cognitive and humanistic theories which take a positive view of humans. The biggest positives of transformational leadership is that the members work based upon their intrinsic motivation ; there is a sense of trust and a shared vision which guides every member to go beyond their capabilities and perform. Innovations becomes a rule rather exception; leads to creation of pool of future leaders and not just ordinary followers.

The success of any organization in the current competitive world is directly linked to how well and consistently the organization performs, and the style of leadership plays a significant role in this performance (Ojokuku, Odetayo & Sajuyigbe, 2012). With this perspective, leadership can be defined as the capability of an individual to persuade and inspire others so that they contribute towards effectiveness and success of the organization (Yukl & Becker, 2006). Various leadership styles and their influence on organizational success have been advanced and studied (Nanjundeswaraswamy & Swamy, 2014). One such style is the transformational leadership style, which according to Givens (2008), acts as a driving force for organizational performance and innovation. Besides, he adds, transformational leadership enhances employee job satisfaction as the transformational leader interacts with subordinates to motivate them to achieve maximum output in their work responsibilities (Jalal, Khawaja, Kamariah, Fosa, Muhd & Ahmad, 2012).

Transformational leadership is also defined as the way of influencing the employees by “broadening and elevating followers’ goals and providing them with confidence to perform beyond the expectations specified in

The strengths influence every level of the organization, and it is well and widely researched. It is very appealing since the followers believe it is rational. It is process-focused, transitional leader treats leadership as a process occurring between the followers and leaders(Suresh. A. Rajini.J 2013). Transformational leadership has extensive sweep that integrate and incorporate other leadership models. It considers the followers needs, values and morals(Suresh. A. Rajini. J. 2013).

When change happens, an organization changes its strategy, which in turn, changes its structure, organizational culture, recruitment standards and etc. It indicates that strategy process is part of change process. As mentioned before, most change initiatives fail, no least because not engaging all employees in the process towards change (Stanleigh, 2008). We suggest that emergent strategy is a central part of successful change. One reason for this being that the foundation of emergent strategy is to involve more people in strategy making process (Mintzberg et al., 1988). According to Lines* (2004), there is a positive correlation between subordinate participation in change processes and success of change management projects.

An enterprise change agenda enables executives to ensure that they are focused on the most strategic of organizational change efforts required for business success, and that they have the capacity to lead these changes effectively. It ensures that the organization is focused, aligned on its priorities, and able to measure the ROI it needs for business results from organizational change. A common change methodology enables greater coordination and integration across change efforts, and enables the leadership development required to ensure strong oversight of change. Change infrastructure encompasses change governance and standard systems and practices for setting up and orchestrating the effectiveness of organizational

Once the change model is in place, it is time to define the structure of change. Senior leaders should provide a clear path for communications and responsibility at each level. At this point I have realised that Change management is not an alternative to project management. Change management should be carried out in conjunction with other management activities. Leveraging Change Leadership (vision for change), change management (enables people pursue a common goal) and project management (structure for change) would potentially create the highest value to the

Nevertheless, Participative/ democratic leadership is, in my opinion, a great form of leadership. It not only includes workers with their opinions and gives importance to workers and the feeling of being of value to the company. It still provides structure and clarity based on the clear separation in final decisions by management. I believe that management and employees need to work as a team to be successful. As such manager should include employees in updates, information flow, even creation of workflow and goal setting. Nevertheless, the clear structure is what gives a strong structure to the whole. In this form of leadership, communication will happen in writing, verbal and nonverbal between management and employees. As such the benefit to all participants will be of high

Transformational Leadership is defined as leadership style focused on effecting revolutionary change in organizations through a commitment to the organization’s vision. (Sullivan & Decker, 2001)

In this paper, we present the impact of leadership and change management strategy on organizational culture. At first, we present the notion of culture. There are many attempts to describe “organizational culture”, many of which are presented in this paper. After an assessment of organizational culture, the role of leader is pinpointed. We favor the view that strategic leadership needs to be transformational if it is to serve the organization. Afterwards, the notion of change is focused on. Changing a culture is a large-scale undertaking and all of the organizational tools for changing minds will need to be put in play. To change or to manage

In the past, researchers have proven that organisations that implement transformational leadership when dealing with change in the organisational context are more successful in managing employees’ outcomes (Chou, 2014). The role of a leader as not only a symbolic figure but also as a form of guidance helps create a smooth transition in times of turmoil. Many change efforts are unsuccessful because change leaders often overlook the central role individuals play in the change process (Kavanagh & Ashkanasy, 2006; Porras & Robertson, 1992). In workplace environments where employees are comfortable with the tasks delegated and other work processes, change becomes something difficult to be introduced, implemented and accepted (Reichers, Wanous, & Austin, 1997). This is because an introduction of organisational change leads to interruption of normal routines in an organisation. (Alshamasi, 2012). Hence, it is not a surprise to see employees resisting change (Oreg, 2003). To ensure success in the implementation of organisational change in the workplace, organisations must have employees who are equipped with the appropriate cognitive dispositions (change-supportive behaviours and attitude) to excellently address the demands of change (Alshamasi,