Leadership Challenges of 21st Century

There is a great importance put on business leadership, this is directly due to how a business not only functions but in how fruitful the company can become. A great leader essentially can take a business plan that is weak yet turn it into a success, whereas a poor leader stands a higher chance of ruining the best of business plans. That is why it is essential to develop effective leadership throughout a companies entire management program at all levels. How does one develop or retain strong leadership? Companies must be focused on hiring strategies that encompass very specific parameters, building from within whilst creating a strong foundation for employee development and succession planning. Leadership is essential in any organization. The style and theory embraced determines whether the company will or will not achieve their goals. in all cases theory must be embraced, as a companies theory, style, and strategy is greatly dependent on the industry the company is in (Sadler, 2014). “The behavioral theory is one of the widely used theories of management. It suggests that leaders are made and not born. It gives room for training to install leadership traits in leaders at the expense of denying them a chance. There are various leadership styles embraced by companies (Cyert, & March, 2005).”  This paper takes a look at the management styles of two specific

Leadership can be defined as the process of identifying a goal, motivating others, and make them to achieve the mutually goals (Giltinane, 2013). According to Humphreys (2002), successful leaders do this by applying their leadership knowledge and skills. A good leadership is not only good at management, but also use different leadership styles in different situations. A successful corporation must has a good leader who have the flexible ability which can provide a suitable leadership to make the company successful. Furthermore, there have no perfect leadership styles in the world. Different leader have different leadership styles which also have the different strengths and weaknesses (Ali & Waqar, 2013). Leaders need to consider

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

The artifact allowed me to gain knowledge in the approaches of diversity leadership issues. Thomas (1995) offers eight basic leadership responses as an approach to diversity. The foster mutual adaption response approach, “…unequivocally endorses diversity” (Thomas, 1995, p. 251). Thomas (1995) states that under this approach, “…the parties involved accept and understand differences and diversity, recognizing full well that those realities may call for adaption on the part of all components of the whole” (p. 251). Thomas (1995) purposes a diversity framework be used to as a, “… point of departure for evolving a framework to guide managers in making decisions regarding diversity mixtures of all kinds” (p. 252). The framework processes revolve around three objectives for leadership as recognize diversity mixtures present, decide whether a response is required, and select an appropriate response or blended response (Thomas,

Diversity leadership has been defined as "ways in which people and groups relate to one another and how management [leadership] decisions are made in the midst of the differences, similarities, and tensions among groups." (Lim, Cho, & Curry, 2008) And in order to accomplish this, a good leader must know the difference between the assimilation and inclusion. Assimilation takes a diverse group and homogenizes them, while inclusion maintains the individual differences between people and capitalizes on those differences for the benefit of all. For instance, instilling a goal-oriented sense of identity allows for each individual to maintain their uniqueness, while coming together to accomplish the goal. It is the goal that each individual concentrates on, not the differences between the members of the group. Also, a good leader will facilitate good

Organizations who make a commitment to diversity can see a significant impact on business in many ways. Diversity “requires a significant commitment for change to occur” (Delong, 2007, p.9). It is extremely important that leaders understand the commitment and embrace it in order for a positive impact to occur. Employers with diverse cultures and leaders can build positive and successful relationships with customers, suppliers and vendors. They can better attract and retain top talent. All of these equal more financial gain for the company.

Discuss the varied challenges faced by leaders or managers concerning teams made of a diverse workforce; which include team members that are from different countries or virtual.

Teamwork also plays a significant role in a company’s communication structure, when leading or managing a team you will be diversity. Whether its gender, race, culture,

Business leaders can get caught up in the overwhelming pressures of preparing their companies to grow and meet the challenges in a global economy. These leaders understand the need for organizational changes and adaptations but fall short of achieving their goals when their leadership styles do not inspire or motivate their followers. It is critical that leaders understand their particular style of leadership and the impact it has on employees, peers, and company success. The need for effective leadership is just as critical in the public sector as it is in business.

One major problem in the organization is the issue of appreciating diversity within the workplace. Most employees and some management personnel see this as a threat and therefore there cannot be efficient teamwork cohesion in doing projects. This may be due to the fact that they have reinforcing homogeneity perspectives or color-blind perspectives (Prasad, 1997). Leaders should try to make changes to this major issue since it affects operations where diversity is required to achieve strategic goals. The organization should plan to change the mentality of those rejecting diversity, to embrace Fairness perspective, access perspective, integration and learning perspectives which will ensure a unison move to prosperity of the organization (Clements & Jones, 2008). The organization’s vision requires diversity in place since diversity offers:

The leader that I am today is confident but still inexperienced. I still have plenty to learn in order to be the leader I want to be in the future. I want to be a leader who is always striving for perfection and always keeping an open mind to the possibility of change and new leadership techniques. Nahavandi states (2006), despite our knowledge, there is also much we still do not know. Leadership as we traditionally know it—command and control—does not address the rapid social, cultural, and organizational changes that are occurring globally (Nahavandi, 2006). This is why we need to be always vigilant and open minded to the new theories that are always being introduced in this global society. According to Nahavandi (2006), future leaders must

Diversity in the workplace can be beneficial for an organization if the team is managed properly. However, many challenges can be presented such as communication issues, discrimination complaints and resistance to change. Managers are prepared to monitor performance and provide proper training when applicable; managers are not prepared to work with the differences that can be presented between employees. A manager should always be prepared to handle employees with different cultures, religions, ages and sexual orientations. The discrimination complaints against managers and/or other coworkers have increased significantly during the past years. Managers can avoid discrimination complaints when managing a diverse team. Managers should evaluate and assigned tasks to teammates individually or should the tasks be assigned in a group setting. The management team needs to identify what management style is more effective while managing a diverse team. Manager need to understand how to address a situation when two employees are using racial comments against each other. Every Human Resource department for these companies has to provide the proper training and monitor managers according to diversity of the team. The Human Resource department of these companies has to be ready to handle these complaints. Must companies are affected and face monetary losses due to discrimination complaints and lawsuits. All this can be avoided and/or minimized because managers have the ability to make a

Leadership has begun to grow in the 21st century like never before, but has been vital throughout all of history. Every business or organization is in search for people with an open mind that would be useful to lead and be successful. However, there is a continuous amount of challenges for this new generation. These challenges are due to the a variety of traits and skills necessary to strive in this era that are missing, the diversity and inclusion that has created different types of leadership styles, and the digitalization of this modern world. All of these roles come together to create the leadership challenges of today.

When we analyze the success of large corporations like Ford, General Electric and International Business Machines, it is evident that they had series of leaders who were visionary and believed in empowerment of people. When we analyze tough phases of a company or companies that had a fall and ultimate demise, we clearly see a linkage between failure of company and absence of effective leadership (Canwell, Dongrie, Neveras, & Stockton, 2014). The successful organization had leaders who made right decisions at right time and implemented them strategically. The implementation part needs excellent human resources and the ability to lead to them to get the task done. While different situations may need different style of leadership, the sophisticated manpower fueled by technological advancements and globalization have made some leadership styles less effective and some leadership styles to be highly effective (Feser, Mayol, & Srinivasan, 2014). This paper will discuss a tough situation faced in one of my former organization. The organization needed a different leadership style to tide over the falling sales and attrition. Three different leadership styles, their pros and cons, and the likely success in solving the problem will be discussed in this paper.

A leader is defined as a person with responsibility to influence one or more followers and directing them to achieve a set objective (Sethuraman, 2014). In order to achieve that set of objectives effortlessly, effectively, and efficiently, the most important and valued trait of a leader is an effective leadership styles. Effective leadership styles are required in every organization at every level to be successful. The success or failure of an organization depends on the quality of leadership particularly on the part of top management. An effective leadership style can be developed on the basis of understanding of the situations (Sethuraman, 2014). Top management should know which leadership style is needed based on the situation to be most effective to gain trust and respect from their employee. There is no single method of influencing the behavior of employees for every situation. The employee’s level of knowledge on the task and can determine which leadership style that will be most effective for the situation. Preparing leaders to lead