Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Can Organizations Meet Thetest Of Transforming Leadership?, Gill Robinson Hickman

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

My subsequent writing in this area takes his definition of transforming leadership from the political context and applies it to formal organizations. Transforming organizational leaders shape collective purpose and developmental processes within the organization that adapt to some social changes and promote others. Though leadership scholars have previously adapted Burns's concept and incorporated it in leader-follower relationships (Bass 1985; Bennis and Nanus 1985; Tichy and Devanna 1986; Bass, Avolio, and Goodheim 1987; Bass, Waldman, Avolio, and Bebb 1987), my work attempts to infuse organizations with Burns's imperative to link leadership with "collective purpose and social change (Burns 1978:3).