{"id":21285,"date":"2019-02-07T20:44:23","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T04:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=21285"},"modified":"2019-02-07T20:44:23","modified_gmt":"2019-02-08T04:44:23","slug":"a-caricature-of-transformational-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-caricature-of-transformational-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"A Caricature of Transformational Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

The focus of Tourish\u2019s text is on the problematic values, assumptions and practical effects of transformational leadership theory. The core proposition of this theory is that leaders should have a transformative effect on followers\u2019 performance and worldview. These effects are said to arise through the leader\u2019s charisma and their inspiring vision. These transformational leadership theory expectations encourage leaders to work on the self of the followers as if this were just another resource at their disposal. Followers are positioned as passive, malleable beings whose role it is to respond to leaders. [1]<\/a> The reviewer of Tourish\u2019s text has encapsulated the shadowy side of transformational leadership. That is, followers are simply a resource to be manipulated (i.e., transformed) by the charisma, vision, and influence of the transformational leader.<\/p>\n

I think of this text as positioned to be a negative proof for my research of why true transformational leadership is so crucial. My research intends to show how coaching skills can aid pastors and church planters to develop their leadership development skills. That is the development of others into leaders rather than followers.<\/p>\n

The text seems to portray the caricature<\/em> of true transformative leadership as it concentrates power and authority in the locus of the singular leader(s), Tourish describes this as the over-attribution of agency[2]<\/a>. Said singular leader(s) would then execute the obvious primary expected objective to influence followers towards the leader\u2019s vision for organizational performance. Tourish\u2019s views were formed by growing up in Northern Ireland at the height of \u201cthe Troubles.\u201d He witnessed, \u201cseemingly charismatic and indubitably influential individuals advocated political ends in the pursuit of which the lives of their followers were of little significance.\u201d[3]<\/a> It is no wonder he chooses to include the cases of Jonestown and corporate America\u2019s Enron to validate his claims.<\/p>\n

Authentic leadership development is striving to move away from charismatic leadership towards transformational leadership. Transforming leaders can be described as charismatic, inspiring, morally uplifting, and focused on developing followers into leaders. However, the signature difference between a charismatic leader and a transforming leader is the focus on developing or transforming followers into leaders. Furthermore, leadership is not defined by the exercise of power but the capacity to increase the sense of power among those led. The essential work of the leader is to create more leaders.[4]<\/a> Perhaps this obvious distinction, in fact, defines worthy or appropriate transformational leadership.<\/p>\n

So to wrap up this blog post up, Tourish points out the predictable results of consolidating authority and power in the hands of a select few who then \u201ctransform\u201d their followers to do their bidding. I contend that appropriate transformational leadership instead advocates for raising followers to become leaders, allowing others to have access to the table, and adding voices to the collective of the organization. As Tourish points out, hierarchal leadership has failed time, and again, it is time for authentic collaborative leadership. This transformative leadership approach is even more true of the local church serving its local community. This is the original methodology of our organization\u2019s founder.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0Wilson, Suze. \u201cBook Review: The Dark Side of Transformational Leadership: A Critical Perspective.\u201d Organization 22, no. 1 (January 2015): 150\u201352. doi:10.1177\/1350508413510000.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Tourish, Dennis, The Dark Side of Transformational Leadership: A Critical Perspective <\/em>(New York:NY: Routledge, 2013) 10.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Tourish, The Dark Side of Transformational Leadership<\/em>, 13.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Kegan, Robert and Lisa Lahey, \u201cPursing Authentic Leadership Development,\u201d in Handbook of Leadership Theory and <\/em>Practice, ed. Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khuran et al. (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press, 2010) 741.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The focus of Tourish\u2019s text is on the problematic values, assumptions and practical effects of transformational leadership theory. The core proposition of this theory is that leaders should have a transformative effect on followers\u2019 performance and worldview. These effects are said to arise through the leader\u2019s charisma and their inspiring vision. These transformational leadership theory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1169,1442,1321],"class_list":["post-21285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dark-side-of-leadership","tag-dennis-tourish","tag-dminlgp9","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21285"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21286,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21285\/revisions\/21286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}