Burns (1978), Bass (1985), Graham (1991), Stephens et al. (1995), Whetstone (2002), and Whittington (2004) noted a distinction in the moral nature of the two leaders. Burns (1978) initially described transformational leadership as “moral in that it raises the level of human conduct and ethical aspiration of both leader and led” (p. 20). Burns clarified the transformational leader as a moral and value-centered agent who engages the full person of the follower and changes followers' self-interest into collective interests through transforming followers' independent values into interdependent higher-order collective values. Later, Bass (1985) offered that transformational leaders could be moral or immoral depending on their values and included tyrannical leaders in the list leaders proposed as transformational. Bass' statement seemed to be contrary and opposed Burns' definition. This divergence induced rebuttal from Graham (1991), Stephens et al. (1995), Whetstone (2002), and Whittington (2004).
Graham (1991) recognized the potential moral shortcomings of the transformational leader's allegiance to the organization's objectives and offered servant leadership's focus on service as a means of overcoming this moral weakness. Stephens et al.