Critically evaluate the extent to which transformational approaches are relevant to leadership roles in the Royal Air Force.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Leadership and Management

Critically evaluate the extent to which transformational approaches are relevant to leadership roles in the Royal Air Force.

This quote from Bennis (cited in Hooper & Potter 2000) goes to the heart of the current debate about Leadership and explains, in part, why so many people are discovering that it is difficult to be an effective leader. There are numerous leadership models espoused by various individuals and organisations, from politicians to academics, multi-national conglomerates to military organisations. They have various threads that inter-weave and draw from each other, quite often overlapping, all have there limitations and criticisms. The 'Transformational Leadership Model' is just one of them, which developed over a period, within a cohesive environment, not in isolation. Therefore, as will be identified throughout this essay there are strands of transformational leadership in numerous leadership models. Initially, transformational leadership will be defined and then compared against Bass' 'Full Range Leadership Model', this will then be followed by an introduction into military leadership before analysing the Royal Air Force's current leadership attributes against the tenets of transformational leadership. Indeed, whilst the RAF's leadership attributes are fairly recent in their publication, 2007, we will ask ourselves whether previous