Organizational Behaviour

1. Organizational Behavior
Session 17

2. Charismatic and
transformational
leadership

3. Charismatic leadership
 Max Weber (1947) used the term “charisma” as a
source of power.
 Charisma in Greek means “divinely inspired gift”,
exceptional qualities, such as the ability to perform
miracles or predict future events.
 Leaders who appear confident about their vision,
make self-sacrifices, pay high costs to achieve their
vision are more likely to be viewed as charismatic
leaders.

4. Charismatic leadership and
crisis
 Research has consistently shown that under
conditions of crisis, threat, and stress,
followers seek and respond positively to
individuals who are bold, confident, and
appear to have clear solutions to existing
problems.

5. Charismatic leader behaviors
Some specific charismatic leader behaviors (House &
Shamir, 1993):
 articulation of a vision,
 communication of high performance
expectations of followers,
 demonstration of a high degree of confidence
in followers,
 emphasizing value and collective identification,
 taking extraordinary risks,
 making substantial personal sacrifices in the
interest of the charismatic mission.

6. Visionary leadership
 The ability to create and articulate a realistic,
credible, attractive vision of the future for an
organization or organizational unit that grows
out of and improves upon the present.

7. Mechanisms of charismatic
leadership
 Followers seek their leader’s approval and it is very
important to them to please and imitate the leader.
 The influence of a charismatic leader is due to the
internalization of new values and beliefs by
followers.
 Charismatic leaders create a sense of urgency that
requires greater effort by followers to meet high
expectations.

8. Negative sides of charismatic
leadership
 Being in awe of the leader reduces good
suggestions by followers.
 Adoration by followers creates delusions of
infallibility.
 Excessive confidence and optimism blind the leader
to real dangers.
 Dependence on the leader inhibits development of
competent successors.
 Charismatic leaders may seek to dominate followers
by keeping them dependent on the leader.

9. Components of transformational
leadership (Burns, Bass, Avolio)
 Idealized influence: behaviors that arouse strong followers’
emotions and identification with the leader.
 Individualized consideration: providing support, encouragement,
and coaching to followers.
 Inspirational motivation: communicating an appealing vision and
modeling appropriate behaviors.
 Intellectual stimulation: behaviors that increase followers’
awareness of problems and viewing problems from new
perspectives.

10. Transformational and charismatic
leadership
 The purely charismatic leadership may want
followers to adopt the leader’s world view and
go no further.
 However, transformational leadership
attempts to encourage followers to question
not only established views but those
established by the leader.

11. Developing a vision as
an initiator of change
 A clear and compelling vision is very useful to guide
change.
 Vision help people to justify their sacrifices and
hardships the change will require.
 Vision provide hope for better future.
 Vision coordinate organizational actions.

12. Desirable characteristics
for a vision
 Simple and idealistic; not a complex plan with quantitative objectives;
 Should emphasize distant ideological objectives rather than immediate tangible
benefits;
 Picture of desirable future;
 Ideals of stakeholders and hope and values of employees should be implied in
the vision;
 Must include meaningful expression of organization mission and values;
slogans;
 Challenging but realistic; attainable future grounded in the present reality;
 Should not be fantasy;
 Can be communicated easily.

13. Examples
 Our vision is to deliver the best Internet experience
on any device on all major platforms. (an ISP vision)
 Our vision is to be a destination of choice for high
quality staff and students, known for our excellence
in real world teaching, research and service; our
deep engagement with the communities we serve;
and the capacity of our graduates to work effectively
in a changing and internationalised workplace. (a
university)

14. Examples (continued)
 Creating innovative software that helps
individuals and organizations realize their full
potential (Microsoft).
 Our vision is to build the world's most
efficient, most influential and highest-tech
company (a Chinese IT company)

15. Procedures for developing a
vision
 It is essential to have good understanding of the organization, its
culture, underlying needs, hopes and values of employees and
stakeholders.
 Involve key stakeholders and encourage open conversation to
reach shared vision;
 Identify strategic objectives with wide appeal;
 Identify relevant elements in the old ideology;
 Link the vision to core competencies;
 Continually assess and refine the vision.