IS TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP IDEAL FOR PUBLIC

SECTOR HEALTH CARE ORGANISATIONS ?.

By Reason Chivaka

Introduction

Leaders in any organisation have an impact on staff morale, motivation and

performance. The demise of most organisations is attributed to poor leadership.

Whilst public sector organisations like the hospitals do not perish like those in the

private sector, the decline in quality of services, the level of complaints and poor staff

morale are indications of problems within the leadership. Rowe (2007) argued that,

with good leadership, most organisations are able to overcome most of the problems

they face. The question then is, what kind of leadership is ideal for public health care

organisations. One form of leadership that is considered ideal and vital for leading in

public health care organisations is transformational leadership. So what exactly is

transformational leadership?. A review of the key characteristics of this type of

leadership helps to provide answers to this important question.

Review of Key Characteristics of Transformation Leadership.

The environment within which organisations are operating is changing faster such

that even public sector organisations like hospitals which are usually insulated from

the effects of this turbulent environment are feeling the heat as well. They are being

forced to embrace change. The situation demands leaders who are able to

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communicate the vision, drive change, value their employees and generate

extraordinary commitment from their followers. Such leaders should possess the

qualities and characteristics of transformational leadership. Leadership is defined as ''

as a process whereby an individual influences others to achieve common goals'',

(Northouse:2007). Similar views are from Rowe (2007), who said that, '' leadership is

about influencing others and that without influence, it is impossible for one to be a

leader''. The main idea from these definitions is the ability to influence others to

work towards a common purpose. It is also clear that influencing others, involves

making them change, moving them from one point to another. The ability to influence

employee this way is what characterises a transformational leader. According to Bass

and Riggio (2008), ''transformational leaders have the ability to stimulate and inspire

their followers resulting in the achievement of exceptional outcomes''. It is clear that,

transformational leaders are good at getting the best from people they lead. Depree

(2008) said that, transformational leaders are exceptional at motivating people and

creating a sense of mission regardless of the situation they are facing. One

characteristics which is clear from this, is that such type of leaders usually take the

front seat, show their followers how things are done, why that should be done and

then move them forward to achieve the desired team or organisational goals. The

question is, what are the key characteristics of transformational leadership.

Various authors and commentators have come up with various but similar key

characteristics of transformational leadership. Jones (2006) said that, ''four

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dimensions summarises the key characteristics of transformational leadership and

these are, influencing, inspiring, engaging and challenging''. Similar views are from

Bass and Baggio (2008), who said that, '' transformational leaders motivate,

empower, encourage and challenge the people they lead''. Influencing, inspiring,

engaging and challenging (Jones:2006) are the key characteristics of transformational

leadership.

Influencing

The role of every leader is to successfully accomplish the goals of the organisation.

However, accomplishing these goals is not easy due to external and internal pressures

that organisations face during their day to day operations. To limit the effect of these

pressures, it is important that, the vision of the organisation has to be properly

communicated to everyone in the organisation and that's is where the leadership role

is crucial. The role of the leader is to communicate the vision and motivate people to

work hard towards the realisation of the organisation's goals. According to Jones

(2006), transformational leaders are good at creating a sense of mission, inspire their

followers and motivate them. Such type of leaders do not just communicate the vision

and leave the people they lead but, they motivate them to accomplish the

organisational goals. This view is supported by Bass and Riggio (2008), who said

that, transformational leaders work with their followers, they do not just set targets

and leave them but they take the front seat.

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Inspiring

Whilst communicating the organisation's vision and influencing people is important,

transformational leaders goes further by inspiring the people they lead. Burns (2008),

said that, '' transformational leaders inspire the people they lead by appealing to their

values and needs''. Once people are inspired, they will support the leader and work

hard towards the realisation of the team or organisational goals. Transformational

leaders are able to make things happen as they explain clearly what needs to be done

and what is expected from the people they lead. In addition, they value people,

promote initiative and are very supportive. Health care staff work in challenging and

sometimes very stressful environments, such that they need leaders who inspire them.

It is therefore vital that leaders in the health care organisations such as hospitals

should inspires the people they lead, listen to their views, concerns and needs. Staff

who feel ignored undervalued are not productive and this will translate into provision

of poor patient care.

Engaging

According to Hacker and Roberts (2004), transformational leaders are role models.

They are not the type of leaders who just sit in the office, set targets, do not support

their people and then expect extraordinary outcomes. Jones (2006) and Depree

(2008), agreed that, transformational leadership involves engaging followers,

performing the roles of mentor, coach and teacher. Health care staff should be

encouraged to be initiative, participate in whatever is being done and are taught how

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The leaders doors should always be open to anyone who needs help, guidance and

support. By engaging front line staff, the leader will not only be playing the important

mentorship role but be building a strong team which is eager to accomplish greater

things. The outcome will be provision of quality patient care.

Challenging

Transformational leaders are keen on creativity, innovation and self awareness. The

idea is to instil in the people they lead, the ability to question their own performance,

practice and culture. In the process they will be helping their followers to develop,

improve their self esteem and realise their higher needs. Guo (2004), said that,

transformational leaders empower the people they lead. This is true because, once one

is able to question themselves, they do not need someone to tell them where they are

going wrong. For a health care professionals, the ability to question one's

performance and practice as well as to question the way things are done is vital.

However, for that to happen, transformational leadership should be in the front seat

as such type of leadership does not only have the ability to challenge followers but is

supportive, value and respect them. Northouse (2007), said that, highly empowered

employees, have high productivity as they feel valued, respected and would support

their leaders by working hard. However, the challenge is that, the culture in public

sector organisations such as hospitals is hard to break as people want to hang on to

their old ways of doing things and would resist any form of change. The ability to

engage with people, encourage them to challenge the status quo and embrace change,

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be receptive to new ideas is one of the major strengths of transformational leadership.

Consequently such type of leadership is ideal for these types of organisations as it act

as a change catalyst as it encourages people to self assess, challenge current practices,

identifying what needs to be done, and then support them to move on and achieve

greater things.

Conclusion

The strength of transformational leadership lies in the ability to influence others.

Rowe (2007), said that, '' leadership is about influence and without influence one is

not able to lead''. However it is important to note that, whilst this form of leadership

is ideal for the health care organisation's, at times it breaks down when it comes to

situations where one has to be tough. Some argue that when the situation becomes

tough the leader should switch hats and put on the transactional leadership one which

is deemed most appropriate. For example, relying on influencing people in situations

where the level of patient care is deteriorating and staff are not working hard is not

the best thing to do, hence in such cases, transactional leadership which emphasises

on '' monitoring followers performance and taking corrective action as needed''

(Burns:2003) is the most appropriate. This is because some situations demand a

leader to be tough, honest and direct to the point as this will result in people

questioning themselves. As a result they will they will see where they re going wrong

and subsequently improve their performance. The argument against transactional

leadership is that,” it is a hindrance to change and foster a climate of mediocrity”,

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(Martin 2001). Some commentators have suggested that, leaders should adopt both

transactional and transformational leadership for them to be effective (Avolio and

Bass (2008) . Given these arguments the question is, is transformational leadership

the most ideal for public health care organisations which are characterised by poor

staff moral, lack of motivation, poor communication of organisational visions and

undervaluing of employees. Is its inability to cope under tough situations so bad that,

it should be subordinate to transactional leadership?. What about the argument that,

both types of leadership need each other, they complement one another and they are

two sides of the same coin.

References

1-Bass, B.M and Roggio, R E. (2008) Transformational Leadership. New Jersey:

Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.

2-Burns, M J. (2003) Transformational Leadership. New York: Grove Press.

3-Depree, M. (2008) Leadership: The Essential Elements of Great Leaders. New

York: Doubleday Publishing Group.

4-Hacker, S and Roberts, T (2004) Transformational Leadership: Creating

Organisational of Meaning: Milwaukee: Quality Press.

5-Guo, K. L. (2003) A study of the Skills and Roles of Senior Level Health Care

Managers. The Health Care Manager, Vol. 22 No 2, pp 152-8.

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6-Jones, K. (2006) Transformational Leadership for Transformational Safety

Occupational Health and Safety.

7-Northouse, P G. (2007) Leadership Theory and Practice. London: Sage

Publications.

8-Rowe, W. G. (2007) Cases in Leadership. London: Sage Publications.