Benazir Bhutto's Transformational Leadership Essay.

Discuss about the Leadership Theory of Benazir Bhutto.

There are many theories of leadership given by the theorists now and then. Researchers have conducted the research to identify the traits of the leaders in business as well as in political environment all over the world. A systematic study has been conducted in regards with the leadership traits of the leaders in business and in politics[1]. This s because there are the two main areas where the leaders are mostly required and shows their leadership quality. Leadership is the ability of an individual to leads others. Business requires the ladder to who can manage the team or provide the team a path that needs to be followed. On the other hand, politics require the leaders who can convince and influence the whole public. There are many models that have been given by the theorist regarding leaders[2]. Some of the models are authoritative leadership, autocratic leadership, transformational and transactional leadership etc. The leadership also has a religious context especially in political leadership. This is because political leadership is related to the whole public of the country and the public is very sensitive to the religion they follow.

Benazir Bhutto is one of the political leaders of Pakistan whose leadership can be studied to understand the concept of transformational leadership. Bhutto is the one who is called as the “daughter of destiny”. She was the first female to be the prime minister of the country but just like his father, she was also killed because of her political ambitious she has to lead the country. Benazir Bhutto was born on 21^st June 1953[3]. She was the woman who has been elected to lead the Muslims in Pakistan which was not at all the easy task to do. She was considered as the hope of the general Pakistan’s public; she was the hope of democracy in the country by the people. As far as her leadership in politics is considered, it has been identified that she has faced a lot in her phase of leading Pakistan. At times she succeeds and at times she failed. Although she was playing very well but has faced many opposition in the time of her throne in Pakistan. The people like Laurence Gourrret have criticized Bhutto for his leadership but also accept that Pakistan is hard to handle[4]. Bhutto was the true epitome of great leadership. This is because she was the one who fought for her throne and position from the society. She was the one who was fighting for democracy in the country and thus welcomed by the people but the conservative public has not accepted her as the leaders because of their narrow thinking of not being guided by a lady. However, her remarkable performance and great dedication towards the good of the country has made her a great leader and a great prime minister of Pakistan. This shows the sign of true leadership in her. The kind of leadership that was observed in Bhutto was transformational in nature[5]. To understand the leadership shown by Bhutto, concept of transformational leadership should be understood.

Transformational leadership

Transformational leadership is the term coined by Downton. It is the theory that relates or links the leadership and the followership. This is theory that discuses about the sharing of thoughts and motivation between the leaders and the followers. This raises or develops the connection between the leads and the followers and thus encourages them to work efficiently and sharing efforts. There are many examples of leaders that have shown their transformational leadership at times in different fields such s politics, sports etc. Some of the examples are Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Benazir Bhutto etc[6]. There are leaders like Hitler who have also contributed in transforming the society but in negative way. These leaders are said to be having the leadership of pseudo-transformational behaviour. These are the people who are self-consumed and exploitative in nature. They use their power in exploiting the society in their way. The transformational leadership is described with the help of different components or elements by different theorists. The major elements that are associated with the leadership style are charisma, vision, inspiration and intellectuality. The major research that has been conducted in these aspects is regarding the business organizations. But the concept can be applied to politics as well because the political leaders also have to lead the public just like the managers or the leaders in the organization have to lead the employees or the subordinates. In political sense, the main element of this leadership that has the great impact on the political leadership is the charisma. It is the major factors that help the political leaders to transform ad influence the public with their thinking. This is because, there is no sense discussing the vision and the intellectual policies with the general public of the country but the charisma of the personality of the leader is the most important thing that can attract the attention of the public to the leader. It has been identified that the leaders who are high profile in nature have to be charismatic in personality because they are the one who are representing the society as a whole and thus have to attract the people of the whole country[7]. Benazir has that personality in her that draws the attention of every individual. She was the one of a kind and thus succeeded in attracting and influencing the people[8]. Thus, transformational leadership can be defined as the leadership style in which the leader has to influence and transforms the thinking of the follower according to himself. In this style, the leaders do not force the followers to believe in something but try to influence and convince the followers regarding the theories and the concepts they believe in. It is the very pure form of leadership in which a relationship has been formed between the leaders and the followers that filled the communication gap between both of them[9]. Reduction in communication gap results in effective flow of information and better understanding and thus better management by the leaders.

Transformational leadership of Bhutto

Bhutto’s leadership is based on four elements that are influence, inspiration, intellectual and individualism. It is very much important to understand all the concepts or the elements of transformational leadership along with analysis of the Bhutto’s character and leadership that have been discussed at some point of time during and after her leadership period.

As per this element of transformational leadership, it has been argued that the leaders who follow transformation style of leadership act as the role models for their followers. The followers of the transformational leaders admire, trust and respect the leaders. The attempts of influence by the leaders on their followers have been analysed in order to identify the traits of transformational leadership in the leader[10]. This concept of idealized influence is the concept which has futuristic nature. This concept believes in providing meaning and vision to the particular cause or the issue by the leader. The leaders who have this style try to build a theoretical point behind any issue and then convince the people or the followers regarding the same. This concept of idealized influence provides mental aspects to the leadership. All the factors that have been discussed above are considered in assessing the practices and the activities of Bhutto in order to analyse the closeness of her leadership practices and traits with the transformational leadership style[11].

Different articles have been written by the people regarding the leadership of Bhutto and different people have reviewed her leadership in their studies. The first aspect of her leadership that compliments the concept of idealized influence is her dedication and aspiration to bring democracy and removing dictatorship from the country[12]. People said that she was the one who wants to roll out terrorism from the country and wants to be equality among the society. She was the one who fought for women discrimination and her selection for being a first female prime minister of Pakistan is the biggest example that she has set for the women of the whole country[13]. This shows that she was the leader who has many followers and she was the ideal leader to be followed by the people of Pakistan. Some of the writers have talked about her courageous habit of taking risks. She was called as the women with immense bravery and courage because she has fought for the odds happening in the country., at the time when all the make leaders in the country wants to compromise in the name of dictatorship, she was the one who fought bravely to being democracy in the country[14]. Some have discussed her courageous behaviour that has also shown by her at the time of her death. It was said that with the knowing fact that the jammer were not working, she courageously enter and given her speech and this became her hero, the real hero whose ideologies can be followed by others. In spite of being so bold, she has found to be very grounded and attached with the traditions[15]. She used to wear those glass bangles to set the example of simplicity. She always wanted peaceful relation with India and she tries to keep the parties together by her persona. Although she died but that persona is still alive in her followers.

Idealized Influence

Inspiration and motivation are the words that describe one more element of transformation leadership. As per this concept, the leaders who are transformational in nature inspire and motivate their followers rather than forcing the duties on them. This helps in providing a meaningful aspect to the work of their followers and thus results in competition between the followers to work effectively[16]. These types of leaders set the gaols for the followers with the shared views and visions. The goals that are being set are also the result of shared thinking of the followers and the leaders according the individual capability of the followers. In addition to all these aspects, these types of leaders are charismatic in nature and thus make a social bond with their followers from their charisma and personality. Framing a bond with the followers, result in difficulty for the followers to resist the theories and beliefs of leaders. The element of charisma in the leadership style is not a new concept but is the concept that has been discussed a lot. This part is individually a style of leadership but later it was merged with the concept of transformational leadership.

This aspect of transformational leadership of Bhutto can be analysed under two categories that are charisma and motivation. On account of motivation, it has been analysed that many women in Pakistan beliefs I the theories of Bhutto and accept her as their role model. Her commitment in bringing democracy to the country also shows the motivational aspects of her leadership[17]. She has encourages the people of Pakistan to believe in democracy and get rid of dictatorship. It has been analysed that Bhutto was the one who inspires the people to fight for democracy in the country as before her leadership no people in Pakistan has talked about bringing the democracy in their country system[18]. Despite the fact that she was facing so much of opposition and challenges by the other leaders, she never gets back from her responsibility. She has sacrificed a lot on the personal level in order to bring peace and prosperity in the country. Bhutto has been identified to be very charismatic in nature and personality[19]. Her husband usually calls her the superwomen. Bhutto’s charisma was such that his opponent Sharif has started calling her his sister. She has become the leaders for most of the people in the country as her personality and the charisma was so attractive these she can easily attracts the people and make them believe what she believes. Her looks, her ideas, her voice, her personality, everything about her was so attractive and eye catchy that nobody can resist themselves from her notion and ideologies at once.

The leaders who follow the concept of transformational leadership also allow their followers to be innovative in one or the other way. The leaders encourages their followers top come up with the new ideas so that the issues or the problems can be resolved in more creative and effective manner. This is the sign of the leader being very pragmatic[20]. These leaders do not criticize the ideas of the followers but tries to incorporate the ideas in the practical situations. Being emotionally intelligent along with being pragmatic is also very important for the transformational leaders; this is because the leaders of this nature have to influence the followers with different emotional quotient[21]. Stimulation is another concept of this element of transformational leadership. Stimulation is required by the followers in order to work or in order to be active. The transformational leaders have to stimulate the followers by suing one or the other strategies so that the followers become active and perform in the particular direction. Obama is the biggest example of this type of leadership. Obama always releases his books at the time of election. This is his strategy to attract more and more people and touches their emotional and intellectual minds by his beliefs that were explained in his books.

Bhutto has also been analysed on the ground of her intellectual stimulation actions. Innovation is the first part that can be discussed from her leadership style that compliments the concept of intellectual stimulation. She uses the innovative ways to resolve the issues which were very old. the very age old problem such as the Kashmir issue was handled by her very intelligently by forcing the link with Lal K. Advani in order to practice soft borders, joint parliament for the whole Kashmir, free trade etc. Bhutto not only encourages her followers but also encourages her opponents to follow the new oath of politics by her intellectual capability[22]. Like Obama, Bhutto also wrote books and articles that act as the stimulators for the people who started believing in her theories by reading her intellectual but emotional content in her books. She has raised many controversial issues in her writings that has encouraged and affect the thinking of the people.

This is the concept of transformational leadership that deals with coaching and mentoring. This is the aspect that focuses on the new ways of learning and developing of the followers. Bhutto has shown her individualized consideration under two areas. The first area is the kindness of Bhutto. Bhutto was observed to be a very kind and generous friend. She has clearly understood the scene of politics in Pakistan and believes that if the people can risk their lives for the country against terrorism that politicians must be ready to face the same as well. She always tried to be close to the people[23]. This can be observed by the incident of the last night of her election when she took the car and herself went to the slums of Karachi to meet the people so that the people can also feel that closeness with her.

As every coin have two sides, so as the person. Every individual can’t be so true and perfect but has some negative points that affect his personality at some point of time. In case of being leaders, many follow the leaders as their idol and many criticize them for the same practices they have been praised for. Bhutto was the leader who was criticized badly. Many allegations have been put in for her about the finances and the houses she and her husband owns in New York and London. There were times when she was blamed for the shooting her own brother as he was the opponent of her in the opposition political party[24].

Conclusion:

It has been concluded from the study that transformational leadership is the model that has been followed by Benazir Bhutto in her leadership time. She has made immense efforts in influencing the followers. There real majorly four elements of this leadership style. These elements are inspiration, influential, individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation. Bhutto has used all the elements in her leadership and influences the followers with her beliefs. Bhutto has not only showed only the positive side of being a leader but faced many challenges and allegations of corruption at the same time.

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