Intellectual Stimulation Essay

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An organization can have a great image or identity worldwide at start but without a proper leader to manage the organization, it is certain that the organization is doomed to failure in the long run. According to DuBrin (2007), leadership can be defined as “the ability to inspire confidence and support among people who are needed to achieve organizational goals” (p. 2). In terms of leadership, transformational leadership is known to be the style of leadership which leads to the effectiveness of an organization. Transformational leadership is known to stimulate followers’ performance to an extraordinary level and enhance their commitment towards the effectiveness of an organization. According to Burns (1978), the different components of transformational …show more content…

According to Bass and Avolio (as cited in Bogler, Caspi & Roccas, 2013), intellectual stimulation is an element in “motivating people to think of innovative and extraordinary solutions to problems” (p. 379). Intellectual stimulation explains the degree to which extend leaders instill in the minds of their followers with creative and innovative ways of thinking. Followers are encouraged to try new approaches whereby they approach old situations in a new perspective (Bass & Riggio, 2006). The key element of intellectual stimulation is the problem solving ability of the followers. For an instance, an employee may be given a task which is challenging enough to stimulate their mind to think out of the box which is a way for the leaders to analyze the capabilities of their followers. On the other hand, leaders who acquire this aspect of transformational leadership tend to be wiser in handling every problem they encounter. According to Sarros and Santora (2001), in this particular aspect of transformational leadership, every leader and their followers indicate some form of mutual agreement when coming up with a decision using problem solving …show more content…

Idealized influence basically defines the extent to which transformational leaders act or behave in a way that causes followers to idolize them as role models (Bass & Riggio, 2006). It can also be referred as ‘charisma’ whereby charismatic leaders are known to inspire, portray a high-level of self-confidence and self-determination to their followers (Sarros & Santora, 2001). Transformational leaders inspire their followers by strongly emphasizing on the shared goals and objectives of organization and provide support and encouragement to their followers towards achieving mission. Moreover, transformational leaders who can be classified in this component acquire a high sense of self-confidence and it does not just ends there. They tend to instill this quality into their followers which motivates the followers to work competently and their ability in achieving organizational goals. Not only that, the leaders’ attributes of taking risks, taking followers’ needs into consideration and setting high standards of ethics as well as acting upon it cause them to be respected, trusted and admired (Bass & Riggio, 2006; Williams, 2013). Thus, the followers also tend to recognize their leaders and emulate their footsteps (Bass & Avolio, 1994; Bass & Riggio,

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