Achieving High Quality Through Transformational Leadership: A Qualitative Multilevel Analysis of Transformational Leadership and Perceived Professional Quality

Quality development is important in the public sector, but professional practitioners may have different perceptions of what quality entails. Management is often seen as setting goals for employees in a way that leads to a common understanding of quality. Although several previous studies show a positive correlation between transformation management and professional practice, it is rare that the spotlight is placed on professional quality. Nor do we know enough about how change management can contribute to a common understanding between employees and managers. In this article, the researchers compare different cases in order to investigate how change management can contribute to quality development in kindergartens.

The researchers found a positive correlation between transformation management and the degree of common understanding of professional quality between skilled workers, and that a common understanding of quality has a positive correlation with high degrees of professional quality. Furthermore, transformation management seems to be most prevalent in medium-sized work teams, where the manager does not have too many employees to keep track of. 

The researchers conducted observations of everyday kindergarten life and interviewed 32 employees and 16 senior managers.

Andersen, L. B., Bjørnholt, B., Bro, L. L. & Holm-Petersen, C. (2018). ”Achieving High Quality Through Transformational Leadership: A Qualitative Multilevel Analysis of Transformational Leadership and Perceived Professional Quality”. Public Personnel Management, 47(1):51-72.