The Effect of Transformational Leadership Behavior On Organizational Culture In Commercial State Owned Enterprises In Kenya

A paper presented by Leonard Ngaithwe During the First Annual Management Research Conference at USIU - Africa in 2014The study of leadership has been central to the literature of peoples’ management and organizational performance, culture and effectiveness for a long time now (Yukl, 1989). The discourse on leadership has attracted scholars from various disciplines (Yukl, 1989). The interest on leadership was further energized after Burns (1978) introduced the model of transformational leadership in his seminal work. Transformational leadership exist when the employees are motivated to work for transcendental goals and higher level self-actualizing needs, rather than external pay-offs and personal aggrandizement. Transformational leadership has often been referred to as one of the most powerful factors motivating purposeful action and high employee performance in the public sector (Paarlberg and Lavigna, 2010; Park and Rainey, 2008; Trottier, Van Wart, and Wang, 2008; Wright, Moynihan and Pandey, 2012). Kenya’s public sector has come up with a policy of instituting transformational leadership in service to citizens. This has been encouraged by the wish of the government to serve Kenyans better. Some of the interventions encouraging the use of transformational leadership include performance contracting in the public sector of Kenya and the marketisation of SOEs so that they are encouraged to operate like private sector operators whose major motive is profitability (Government of Kenya, 2001)