Chapter 8 begins with a quote reading "Leaders have a significant role in creating the state of mind that is the society. They serve as symbols of the moral unity of the society. They can express the values that hold the society together. Most important, they can conceive and articulate goals that lift people out of their pretty preoccupations, carry them above the conflicts that tear a society apart, and unite them in the pursuit of objectives worthy of their best efforts" (J.W. Gardner). The authors explain that this quote is how people view the importance of leadership.The chapter focuses on how Transformational and Charismatic leadership are two main types of leadership that make up the field of leadership, without them it would be hard to understand how a leader influences their followers.
Transformational leaders focus more on the morals of their followers. Leaders connect with their followers by trying to get them to see their own sense of identity. Transformational leaders feel inspired by their followers. They allow the followers to fully understand their strengths and weaknesses in order to improve their performance and in turn that of the groups.
A charismatic leader is one who takes risk by setting high goals. They use communication techniques and image-building strategies to seem powerful and confident. Charismatic leaders are looking out for their followers by making it easier to understand by using positive, negative, and nonverbal strategies. A charismatic leader knows how to use their voice and body gestures to become good storytellers. Have you been in a situation where you or someone within your group showed characteristics of a Charismatic leader? Do you believe that someone who shows Charismatic leadership characteristics more powerful than others within the group?
Do you think in the future, as the times change these two types of leadership will change? Do you think both styles of leadership are moral?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Honestly I do not think anyone can fully be a Charasmatic leader. I think a charasmatic leader even like JFK could not even fully fit the ideals of this leadership. Although there are many leaders that hold many of the ideals that come with this leadership. I feel as many politicians try to carry out some of the ideals of this leadership... just look at how they campaign they set extremly high goals that they "promise" to obtain. Also for a political leader to have a sucessful campaign they must be excelent public speakers aka storytellers.
ReplyDeleteI dont think just because one person posses's charasmatic leadership would mean that he or she would be better than the group at all. I definitly think in the future these types of leadership will change. I personally believe they have changed already from the past.
As most things do change over time, I do not think that leadership is any different. Most likely the styles my change a little bit or as Melissa suggested charismatic and transformational leadership styles my merge into one type of leadership style. Both of the styles have very important leadership qualities that if combined into one leadership style it could be a great move.
DeleteThroughout time I do not think that the styles will change drastically unless the to do merge into one. Both of the styles are important to have when leading a group. In the movie Remember the Titans I think that Coach Boone acted as a charismatic leader by setting high goals for his team. Where as Coach Yoast acted as more of a transformational leader by connecting with his followers (team). This movie showed that to have successful leadership, more than one style is important to have in order to lead successfully.
I agree with Susan. Things change over time and are always improving, upgrading, right sizing etc to fit the needs of that particular time. We always have to change things to accommodate the immediate needs and leadership styles and we also learn as we go and find out what strategies are working or not at the time. I also think that these leadership styles can be convenient at different times.
ReplyDeleteI think that setting high goals is a great technique to challenge yourself and your team. Being able to reach new goals while being realistic is always a great way to motivate a team at a task. Such as Coach Boone challenging the football players to a new level achieving many team and individual goals.
Both Transformational and Charismatic leaders are both important. Having both types of leaders in a group or organization could be beneficial, just like in Remember the Titans. I'm not sure if these leadership styles will change in the future because both styles are important. I feel like transformational leadership is more moral than the charismatic style, because charismatic leaders seem too power-hungry and harsh. But on the other hand, being somewhat charismatic is important in order to take risks and set goals.
ReplyDeleteI also think that both transformational and charismatic leaders are important. I think that in time the two may combine to create a hybrid style, but I feel that having the two separate is important. I agree with Vanessa, setting high goals to challenge yourself and your team is a great motivator. It does seem that the transformational leader is more morals based but I don't necessarily think that means it is more moral than charismatic.
ReplyDeleteAs some have suggested, I believe over time these two leadership styles (transformational and Charismatic) will evolve overtime. As people begin to understand leadership more and more through extensive research, these new findings will continue to help define these two types of leadership. Its even possible that a few years down the road, these two leadership styles may merge into one. It is important to note that both of these leadership styles have a unique definition, and both of these styles I see used everyday.
DeleteBeing in sports I have been in a lot of situations in which I have had to use my leadership. This past year as a captain on the SNC football team I have had many instances when I had to be motivational towards my other teammates. I had to be confident in what I believed our team could accomplish together. As a captain I looked out for all of my team members no matter if I liked them personally or not, I wanted to do everything I could to help out the team members
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe someone who shows charismatic leadership is more powerful than others. Someone with charismatic leadership shows leadership capabilities in which followers are going to look for them for guidance. Charismatic leadership builds trust within the group and it is easier for the group or team to archives higher goals because of the relationship that are built
I don’t think the two types of leadership will change much. Each leader will continue to be unique in their own certain way. All leaders have different emotions, backgrounds, and traits in which they handle leadership in a different way
I have been in a few organizations, where the leader was very charismatic. I don't believe that leader was more powerful necessarily, as others were at the same level, however he certainly had more of an influence on me and other subordinates. I think that his knowledge and experience in leading conveyed lots of charisma.
ReplyDeleteAs far as change in leadership, I think it is too soon to know. As we talked about in class, that leadership is a very new field and newly researched, I think we may gather more data which may show that transformational and charismatic leadership are more of one entity. I do believe that a lot of the research already done today could change at any given time because it is so new. I think both leadership styles are very important, however I think they could merge because to be very effective you could use both styles. I think both styles are moral, that never seemed to be an issue.
I have been part of a organization of which the leader was a very charismatic one, and for a while, followers hung onto her. But charisma alone could not sustain the followership of the group. My concern for charismatic leadership is that in can be a facade and is not necessarily always and indicator of effective leadership. We've all heard the phrase "all talk and no walk." Sometimes, that is what charismatic leaders embody. Charismatic leaders can also overpower - intentionally and unintentionally - others in their group because they draw people in so well, so I think it is important to be able to see that and understand that charisma, while being very useful in commanding the attention of the group and keeping MORALE high, it does not always keep MORALS high.
ReplyDeleteTransformational leadership, in my opinion, is going to be the style that does a better job of sustaining followership and being effective on its own. In conjunction with charismatic leadership, I think you've got yourself a pretty great leader on your hands. Transformational leadership by nature works to transform the group rather than capture the group. But it's never a bad idea to capture the attention of the group before you work to transform it. So while it is not always useful on it's own, it does a better job with and without charismatic leadership than charismatic leadership could do on it's own in the long term, in my opinion.
In terms of morality, I think that transformational leadership is the more moral of the two simply because by definition itself, it does more for the group. Charismatic is the more morale-boosting of the two. And when used correctly, charismatic leadership is moral, but I tend to think that people overestimate it a lot of the time.
I have been in several situations where I have seen a charismatic leader lead the group. I do believe they have have more power than others because they are usually very confident people. Most people in a group are willing to follow someone who is confident in there ability to lead. A person with charisma is very easy to be motivated by.
ReplyDeleteI feel that transformational leadership is more because just because one may have charisma they still might not know how to lead the right way. A person may come off as confident but yet not know how to attack the task at hand. Thats why a leader must have more than just charisma. They need to know the task at hand.
I am a Charismatic leader. A lot of the time, I am under the interpretation that it is more important for me to be a cheerleader for the group more than a transformation leader. My members enjoy hearing me talk about how we can get over what ever obstacles that are holding us back and focus on the task at hand. When we are in Student Assembly meetings, it is hard for me to me a transformational leader over a large group of people. However, I can be a charismatic leader in my presidential address.
ReplyDeleteThat is why I am taking acting, I'll be so charismatic it will make your face melt.
I don't see anything immortal about charismatic leadership. Inspiring someone with your words is not immoral.
I think in the end that different leadership styles are neccessary and more useful in different situations. Charismatic leaders tend to be energenic and engaging in different environments which usually means that people who are around then are more apt to do great things.
ReplyDeleteTransformational leaders I believe are characterstics that are easier to use in small groups or groups in which you have spent a significant amount of time. It is difficult to transform leaders with one day and you went into it not knowing them at all.
I have been in a situation where I had a leader who was charismatic. She was my teacher for my CNA class. She gave us situations that we would have to work out ourselves, whether the outcome was positive or negative. We would either learn from our mistakes or learn from our job well done. I appreciated this type of learning for the situation it was in because it prepared me to make decisions even when I am very uncomfortable. It forced me to go through all my possible options and outcomes. I definitely learned from my mistakes when I was wrong because it was quite embarrassing to make a mistake with people watching and I was not about to do that again.
ReplyDeleteI think it completely depends on the situation of who and what the group is trying to preform in order for a charismatic leader to have more power. In certain situations that leader might have more power, but in other situations the group may need someone to communicate with them in order to be successful.
Again, I think a leader needs to change throughout time because it depends completely on the situation and what the followers need in a leader for things to be accomplished successfully. And I do believe they are both moral because everyone is different and not everyone prefers the same method. Different things are moral to one person and not another; and vise-versa.