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Transformational Leadership,
Corporate Cultism, and the Spirituality Paradigm: An Unholy Trinity in the
Workplace?
Dennis Tourish
Ashly Pinnington
Abstract
Leadership is a perennially popular topic in the academic and practitioner
literature on management. In particular, the past twenty years have witnessed an
explosive growth of interest in what has been termed “transformational
leadership” (henceforth, TL). The theory is closely linked to the growth in what
has been defined as corporate culturism — an emphasis on the importance of
coherent cultures, as a means of securing competitive advantage. This paper
outlines the central components of TL theory, and subjects the concept to a
critical analysis. In particular, similarities are identified between the
components concerned and the characteristics of leadership practice in
organizations generally defined as cults. This connection has been previously
unremarked in the literature. These similarities are comprehensively reviewed.
Trends towards what can be defined as corporate cultism in modern management
practice are also discussed. We conclude that TL models are overly concerned
with the achievement of corporate cohesion to the detriment of internal dissent.
Such dissent is a vital ingredient of effective decision-making. It is suggested
that more inclusive and participatory models of the leadership process are
required.
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