4 | The Lion King
Transformational
Leadership:
A model for organisational excellence
By Abayomi Orungbe
T
ransformational leadership style
lends itself well to the creation
of an ethical environment and is
suggested as a means to facilitate the
institutionalization of corporate ethics.
In any leading organization the benefits
of using transformational leadership
should be demonstrated through
the components of a psychological
contract, organisational commitment,
and ethical culture to institutionalise
organisational ethics.
Concerns regarding corporate ethics
have grown steadily throughout the
past decade. In order to effectively
respond to the age of rapid changes
in the environment, a new kind of
leadership is needed that enables
organisations to transform themselves
and to cope with the changes.
Many organisation leaders who desire
to bring such change are often faced
with the challenge of creating an
ethical environment within their organ-
isation. These new brand of leaders
must however have the ability to help
the organisation develop a vision of
the full potential to mobilise the entire
workforce to accept and work towards
achieving the new vision, and to insti-
tutionalise the changes that must last
over time.
These new leaders are called trans-
formational leaders as they create
something new out of something old.
WHAT THEN MAKES FOR A TRANSFORMA-
TIONAL LEADER IN THE WORKPLACE?
In transforming the workplace, leaders
will need to lead by example. Hence,
a transformational leader is expected
to exhibit a high level of ethics that
raises the followers’ trust and commit-
ment, resulting in increased level of
performance. With these consid-
erations, we need to examine the
relationship between the dimensions of
Theme Story
A transforma-
tional leader
acts as a vehicle
for innovation
in organisations
and for change in
individuals.”
