James MacGregor Burns (1918-2014) received his doctorate in political science from Harvard. In 1971, Burns won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his biography Roosevelt: Soldier of Freedom.He was a former president of the American Political Science Association, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and served as Distinguished Leadership Scholar at the. The Themes and Theory of Leadership: James MacGregor Burns and the Philosophy of Leadership Matthew R. Fairholm January 2001 Introduction A professor of management once told a friend, that if he comes upon an article on leadership and notices the bibliography does not include Leadership by James MacGregor Burns (1978).
Disciplines > Leadership > Leadership theories > Burns' Transformational Leadership Theory
Assumptions | Description | Discussion | See also
Assumptions
Association with a higher moral position is motivating and will result in people following a leader who promotes this.
Working collaboratively is better than working individually.
Description
Burns defined transformational leadership as a process where leaders and followers engage in a mutual process of 'raising one another to higher levels of morality and motivation.'
Transformational leaders raise the bar by appealing to higher ideals and values of followers. In doing so, they may model the values themselves and use charismatic methods to attract people to the values and to the leader.
Burns' view is that transformational leadership is more effective than transactional leadership, where the appeal is to more selfish concerns. An appeal to social values thus encourages people to collaborate, rather than working as individuals (and potentially competitively with one another). He also views transformational leadership as an ongoing process rather than the discrete exchanges of the transactional approach.
Discussion
Using social and spiritual values as a motivational lever is very powerful as they are both hard to deny and also give people an uplifting sense of being connected to a higher purpose, thus playing to the need for a sense of meaning and identity.
Ideals are higher in Maslow's Hierarchy, which does imply that lower concerns such as health and security must be reasonably safe before people will pay serious attention to the higher possibilities.
See also
Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row
Transformational Leadership, Transactional Leadership
Disciplines > Leadership > Leadership theories > Burns' Transformational Leadership Theory
Assumptions | Description | Discussion | See also
![Burns Leadership 1978 Pdf Viewer Burns Leadership 1978 Pdf Viewer](/uploads/1/2/5/7/125715036/706695740.jpg)
Assumptions
Association with a higher moral position is motivating and will result in people following a leader who promotes this.
Working collaboratively is better than working individually.
Description
Burns defined transformational leadership as a process where leaders and followers engage in a mutual process of 'raising one another to higher levels of morality and motivation.'
Transformational leaders raise the bar by appealing to higher ideals and values of followers. In doing so, they may model the values themselves and use charismatic methods to attract people to the values and to the leader.
Burns' view is that transformational leadership is more effective than transactional leadership, where the appeal is to more selfish concerns. An appeal to social values thus encourages people to collaborate, rather than working as individuals (and potentially competitively with one another). He also views transformational leadership as an ongoing process rather than the discrete exchanges of the transactional approach.
Discussion
Using social and spiritual values as a motivational lever is very powerful as they are both hard to deny and also give people an uplifting sense of being connected to a higher purpose, thus playing to the need for a sense of meaning and identity.
Ideals are higher in Maslow's Hierarchy, which does imply that lower concerns such as health and security must be reasonably safe before people will pay serious attention to the higher possibilities.
![1978 1978](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71MSKSDTHVL._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.gif)
See also
Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row
Transformational Leadership, Transactional Leadership