The impact of transformational leadership on team performance
Description
This study was developed to increase the understanding of the extent to which the transformational leadership construct can contribute or determine team-level performance by observing the characteristics of a real work environment in a research and development (R&D) department of a company from the automotive industry in Mexico. This was done by counterposing the assessment of the presence of transformational leadership behaviors demonstrated by the leaders from the point of view of their own team and the team-level performance as a subjective measurement from the leaders’ point of view and checking for a potential causality relation between both. Transformational leadership was assessed from the scope of its five constitutive elements – 1) inspirational motivation, 2) idealized influence – attributes, 3) idealized influence – behaviors, 4) individual consideration, and 5) intellectual stimulation – and was used to quantitatively measure the level of transformational leadership perceived by team members associated with their leader. Team performance was measured under a subjective perception by the leader of the collective achievements of his/her teams. The research covered a sampling universe of 64 teams composed of at least one leader and four team members, having reached the participation of 477 individuals among leaders and team members from the same company. The data collected was statistically analyzed in other to check for the adherence of the proposed causal model taken as the initial premise. Finally, the outcomes of this study aim to provide insights about the predictors influencing the performance of the teams in the automotive industry in Mexico and serve as a reference for driving the efforts of companies on measures to maintain or improve outcomes from teamwork under the influence of leadership behaviors.ITESO, A.C.