Contemporary Leadership Styles : How relevant are they in today’s changing world?

Uhl-Bien et al. (2007) suggest that the leadership theories from the 20th century are not appropriate for knowledge-based economies. Others have criticize how leadership theories are mostly masculine theories based on Western working practices.

In the 20th century, most countries in the world were destroied by the war, and the whole market was product-oriented, to be more specific, the leadership relationship of large-scale companies or factories was direct and straightforward that was the employers have absolute decision-making power over everything. In addition, a most ordinary person at that time was suffered from war and poverty, for whom getting a good education seemed impossible. As a result, those people with the objective of seeking security and rewards could only do physical jobs, having few opportunities to promote. In the 21st century, this is an era of globalization and informatization. Obviously, the theory of leadership in the industrial age does not apply to the present. (PWC ,2010)

Western countries have suffered far less damage from war than the Eastern countries, so they started to develop their businesses earlier and accumulated more practical experience. However, the leadership theories based on Western working practices may not fit Eastern companies.

The definition of the leader’s current challenges

Currently, the biggest challenge leaders facing is to adjust the great changes in the world. As the information on a daily basis changes dramatically, the theory and technology of some companies may be outdated, so employers of the organization should modestly acquire modern knowledge and respect diversity. (de Valk, 2008) Otherwise, a stubborn and arrogant leader will go bankrupt for his business. (Jill Treanor ,2013)

For example, in the last century, the population has not migrated a lot, so it is common to liberate employees from the company’s single culture. Until this century, the population began to migrate frequently for globalization; therefore, many companies have become international and employ employees with different backgrounds (Egan, 2016), so in this case, leaders should face different cultures. Different understanding of the norms, adjusting different communication norms and finding the appropriate way for their multicultural organizations to function. (PWC , 2010)

Examples to evaluate the impact of contemporary Leadership Styles

I would like to make an example in the high-tech industry.Apple is a world-known high-tech company, unlike other high-tech companies that have gradually disappeared in recent years, becoming the lead-sheep in this field by making a revolutionary breakthrough and transforming the outdated leadership. As a high-tech company, managing knowledge effectively can provide firms with sustainable competitive advantages. Leaders are central to the process of managing knowledge effectively. Creating, sharing, and exploiting knowledge are three key processes in managing knowledge. Leaders are central to each of these processes at multiple levels of the firm. Examining the role of leadership in converting knowledge into competitive advantages is essential to our understanding of leaders and organizations. Transformational leadership is more effective at creating and sharing knowledge at the individual and group levels. (Grossman, S. J., & Smiley, E. B. ,1999)

Discussion of leadership theories’ future development

Nowadays, the impact of the Internet has influencing nearly all industries, and at the same time it brings the change of thinking and the great change of the enterprise development model. In this revolution, traditional leadership can no longer adapt to the needs of the market, so some traditional industries are marginalized or even dying. The transformation of the era is also lead to the “evolution” of the leadership model.

According to the researches, to develop a perfect team or organization, the leader is demanded to create an open circumstance to encouraging employees to share aims and objectives, fully participate and agree with decisions and express feelings and disagreements freely. In this way, employees may quickly get a sense of belonging to the group and accept group values and norms. ; Set a complete reward and punishment system to ensure conflicts can be resolved within the group. ; Working effectively, effective leadership enables organizations to adapt to internal and external changes. (Mullins ,2016); Aware of the importance of improving managers’ knowledge and skills to meet these increasingly global challenges. (de Valk, 2008) 

References

Uhl-Bien, M., Marion, R., and McKelvey, B. (2007). Complexity Leadership Theory: Shifting leadership from the industrial age to the knowledge era. The leadership quarterly, 18(4), 298-318.

Mobility, T. (2010). 2020. PwC.

Jill Treanor (2013). The Guardian. Tuesday 20 August 2013, 17.03 BST

Egan, E. J. (2016). The Next Engine of US GDP Growth: The Market for Ideas. Policy Brief: Recommendations for the New Administration. 

Grossman, S. J., & Smiley, E. B. (1999). APPLE: Description and evaluation of a substance abuse education and prevention program for collegiate athletics. Journal of

Primary Prevention, 20 (1), 51-59.

Mullins, L. J. (2016). Management and Organisational Behaviour 11th edn . Pearson Higher Ed. 

Van de Valk, L. J., & Constas, M. A. (2011). A methodological review of research on leadership development and social capital: Is there a cause and effect relationship?. Adult Education Quarterly, 61 (1), 73-90