Age related tendencies of transformational leadership and its effectiveness

Abstract

Organizations are social systems where human resources are the most important factors for effectiveness. As management thinking evolves into the twenty first century, organizational success will continue to reside within the ability of individual leaders to enhance the performance of their subordinate followers. According to results of scientific studies, leadership ability changes with age and tenure, but various researchers disagree about the direction of this change. Influence of leaders' value orientation is also investigated. The purpose of the current study was to ascertain and describe leaders’ chosen leadership style and its effectiveness in different age and tenure at present position. It was predicted that older leaders with longer work experience at present position used transformational leadership style more frequently and this use was correlated to higher rates of management effectiveness. 198 leaders (mainly middle management positions) from various Lithuanian organizations participated in the cross - sectional survey. Participants filled up the questionnaire consisting of three main scales and demographic questions. Global Transformational Leadership scale (GTL) was used to assess leadership style. Value orientation was assessed with Rokeach Value Survey (RVS). Management effectiveness was measured by eight situations at work. Results of the study showed that contrary to expectations younger leaders’ evaluated their management effectiveness higher. Besides, leaders with less work experience at present position used transformational leadership style more frequently and it was related to higher rate of management effectiveness. Younger leaders were characterized by more expressed social value orientation which correlated to more frequent use of transformational leadership and higher rate of management effectiveness