Several researchers have conducted studies on various leadership techniques and their success and failures when in use. There had been a number of empirical evidences on the positive and negative impacts of these leadership techniques, especially transformational leadership. The studies attempted to examine the relation between managers and their subjects. They have also looked at the manager attributes in relation to their respective management style. Transformational Leadership According to this leadership school of thought, leaders tend to put emphasis on short-term contingent exchanges.
However, they usually give extrinsic rewards to their followers when they perform to certain standards and expectations. Varying techniques explain the eight-factor approach to transformational leadership. The factors divided into three main categories, which include transformational, transactional and laissez faire leadership types. Transactional leaders have ideal influence; they are motivational, possess intellectual stimulation and are considerate. The ideal influence is evident in the way their followers admire their highly moral behavior.
This makes the followers support the cause of leader’s action. Inspirational motivation is the way such leaders possess vision and express it clearly to the followers. Consideration of individuals is essential for the leader to be interested in personal development of his followers. The leader uses three dimensions in influencing the behavior of his followers.
They include contingnt reward, active and passive management. Laissez-faire is a case where the leader exhibits little or no leadership skills at times when highly necessary. Transformational leadership, on the other hand, concentrates on group leadership and performance. Research proves that there is a positive relation between transformational leadership and organizational outcomes. Perspective Taking This is the mental act of viewing a situation from another person’s point of view.
It is an examination of a situation when you put yourself in another person’s shoes. It usually has an impact on ones social relations in the workplace. According to Parker and Axtell (2001), an individual’s perspective will vary depending on the relationship between a certain individual and the person under study. Perspective taking could be empathetic or through positive attributes. Empathy is emotional, whereas positive attributions entail examining one’s behaviour positively.
Hypothesis Development Transformational leadership and perspective taking relate in the sense that transformational leadership requires a leader to influence the followers’ perception of reality. The leader must, therefore, understand his followers’ current paradigm. According to a survey in Lombardo, managers who did not consider the perspective of their subordinates were likely to perform poorly. Method The sample consisted of 1066 supervisor/subordinate dyads from a healthcare organization in USA. Researchers sent mails to all participants and asked them to rate the transformational and transactional skills of their supervisors. 73% percent of the respondents returned their questionnaires.
Measures Perspective taking – the research captured this in terms of cognitive outcomes, empathy and positive attribution. Transformational and transactional leadership – the research captured these through the multifactor leadership questionnaire. The questionnaire had questions that captured these variables precisely. AnalysisThe analysis went through ordinary least squares regression, with a p-value of 1%. The researcher also conducted a Levine test to examine homogeneity across supervisors. Results From the analysis of the findings, we can conclude that there is a relationship between perspective taking and transformational leadership among the dyad staff.
However, there is no relationship between perspective taking and transactional leadership behavior. The results may have some drawbacks, as the researcher collected data in a cross-sectional manner, thus one must be cautious while interpreting results. The research also used a modest sample in a setting. There is a need to conduct similar surveys in larger samples to come up with strong conclusions.
