Advantages and Barriers to Transformational Leadership Implementation

Transformational leadership has been shown to be positively correlated with job satisfaction, job performance, organizational commitment, and survivability. Little research has examined the issues in implementing transformational leadership concepts within a scientific laboratory. The purpose of this exploratory, qualitative case study was to examine (a) the current leadership style of the president of a scientific laboratory from the scientists', analysts', and technicians' perspective and their preferred leadership style; (b) the president's self-perceived leadership style and perceived subordinate style preference; and (c) the employees' perceptions of advantages and challenges to applying and implementing a transformational style of leadership. Leaders in scientific laboratories who apply these findings and implement more effective leadership may impact social change through increased subordinate job satisfaction and performance, thereby enhancing organizational survivability and improving the status quo.