Transformational Leadership in Animal Farm: A Contrastive Analysis of Napoleon and Snowball
Burapha University, Thailand
ABSTRACT
Based on transformational leadership theory introduced by James MacGregor Burns in 1978 and extended by Bernard M. Bass in 1985, this qualitative research examined the conformity of leader characters in a contemporary literature Animal Farm of George Orwell. The objectives of this study were firstly to compare attributes of leader characters in Animal Farm to those specified in transformational leadership theory and secondly to investigate factors facilitating leader’s success in Animal Farm. The focused leader characters included Snowball, and Napoleon. The data was from 1) narrative of thoughts and actions showing leadership of the studied characters, 2) dialogues of the focused characters to others characters and 3) narrative describing factors which facilitate leader’s success. It was found that Snowball possessed all the attributes of a transformational leader, but he had no “good” supporter nor had he clever communication to the followers; in contrast, the tricky Napoleon, who showed no self-sacrifice, morality, open-mindedness, or consideration, employed a variety of leadership styles: path-goal, situational, and transactional leaderships. With loyal ward heelers and dog guards, he became a successful leader in terms of control. The findings indicate that a successful leader may not always be ethical, but he needs to be flexible in his leadership. With supportive factors such as clever and loyal supporters and the followers strictly firm to the set goal, a leader can be successful.
KEYWORDS
Animal Farm, Transformational Leadership, Contrastive Analysis