LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT EDUCATIONAL TOOLKIT

The practices of 360-degree feedback and executive coaching, mentoring and networking, and job assignment and action learning have all been lauded as beneficial for leadership development in one application or another. Unfortunately, little hard evaluation evidence supports those claims. It is probably safe to conclude that any of these practices could be effective for leadership development, and that any could be ineffective.

Transformational leadership is more suitable for a dynamic external environment, where employees are empowered with great responsibility and encouraged to innovate, take initiative and risk. The motivation in transformational leadership has a sense of direction towards obtaining success for the organisation, which will reflect on their abilities, and the success of the leader is measured by the extent to which organisational rewards are being obtained (Smith et al, 2004).

There is also considerable doubt about the fundamental behaviours for charismatic and transformational leadership. A lot of the same behaviours appear significant for both types of leadership, but there are some apparent differences in the pattern of behaviour associated with each type of leadership (Yukl, 1999). Yukl (1999), also noted that transformational leader seems more likely to take actions that will empower followers and make them partners in a quest to achieve important objectives. A charismatic leader seems more likely to emphasize the need for fundamental and thorough change that can only be accomplished if followers put their trust in the leader's unique skill. Incompatible aspects of the core behaviours for transformational and charismatic leadership may make it rare for both types of leadership to occur at the same time. 

Transformational leadership seems widely relevant, but there may be situations where it is unnecessary or has negative consequences along with the positive ones. The relative importance of different transformational behaviours probably depends on the situation. The potential for using charismatic leadership to improve organizations seems limited, and it may be necessary only in special situations (Bass, 1990).