Trends in Business Leadership - Research Paper Example

Trends in Business Leadership Contents Trends in Business Leadership 1 Reasons for Trends in Leadership 2 Focus on Human Resource 3 Innovation 4 Effective Leadership 5 Collaboration 6 Globalization 7 Recommendations 8 Conclusion 9 References 11 Trends in Business Leadership Majority of successful organizations and institutions dwell on the vital aspect of effective leadership to retain their status and optimize productivity. The concepts related to the factors that make up an effective leader are evolving with current changes in corporate leadership. These changes are based on societal standards, performance expectations and change in the work environment. Other variables that characterize the change in the corporate environment include competition dynamism, complexity, change and turbulence. Changes in the work environment lead to new leadership styles whereby leaders change their styles to remain effective. Such changes include improvement in key processes, streamlining functions and restructuring for effectiveness. For an organization to sustain relevance in business, strategists must be put in place to improve the organization’s ability to read and respond to changing trends in the market environment. They should be able to identify challenges in time and respond promptly by improving structures that boost business flexibility and adaptability. Adaptability reduces rigidity of the leaders and enables them to commit to current and future changes. Therefore, they should view change as inevitable and essential part of organization success. The goal of such changes is adapt, regenerate and survive (McLean, 2006). This paper discusses five main trends in business leadership, the reasons for emerging trends and strategies to cope with these trends. Reasons for Trends in Leadership Most leaders lack competencies in strategic thinking, leading change, ability to inspire, techniques to create a vision and involve others in it. They also lack the ability to understand the organizational set up and proper functioning of systems. Most business organizations contain a large number of interacting processes and structures that are difficult to manage. This has forced many organizations to adopt strategies geared towards improving performance and attaining as well as maintaining competitive advantage. Effective leadership is the most significant of the strategies, thus most leaders are pressured by high performance expectation resulting to the emergence of new trends. Information systems in many organizations are indecipherable and complicated making the interactions between different organs of an organization difficult. Interactions in these organizations are non linear complicated implying that minute changes in leadership leads to pronounced, disproportionate effects at all departments. This has led to communication trends and the need for effective leadership trends. Increased globalization has increased the urge to lead across cultures. The transformation from traditional organizational strategies has allowed room for flexibility and expansion enabling businesses to explore international markets. Most local markets are also facing stiff competition from local firms therefore creating a need for most organizations to explore international markets. Most organizations are favoring global-oriented who are able to formulate effective strategies that promote international business. Technology trends are caused by information overload, lack of interconnectedness between organization systems and business communities. Most of the new technologies also disrupt the professional practices. Organizations are thus edged towards effective leadership skills that are technologically sound to steer management towards technological advancement. The main trends in business leadership are: Focus on Human Resource Current market research indicates that most organizations consider human resource as the most eminent asset in corporate growth. Emerging trends predict that human resource will be the most valuable business asset in the future (Hackman, 2002). People develop faster if they possess a feeling of responsibility towards their own progress. Effective leadership should ensure that development ownership will be transferred to individuals. This is bound to improve the productivity of an individual and subsequently promote company growth. The focus on human resource entails formulation of effective leadership that is more personal compared to previous types of leadership. Most organizations are cutting back on workforce expenses by reducing the number of manpower. This will lead to the formation of small but effective employee teams to compensate the reduced workforce and improve on the productivity of organizations. Leadership will have to consider applying more personal measures when dealing with employees and grant them freedom to improve their work output. Most of the employees prefer working as unique individuals and partners in business rather than being forced to conform to business norms that are sometimes ineffective. Another crucial factor when improving the effectiveness of human resource is empowerment. This leads to the establishment of a self- motivated workforce. Hackman (2002) cites that employee empowerment is a motivation strategy which is currently being implemented by success-oriented leadership. Leaders are granting more decision making responsibilities to efficient employees. They assume task responsibilities and build trust with the leaders. The current business environment has seen the entry of more women into the workforce who have in turn assumed crucial responsibilities in the organizational management. Leadership should offer greater roles for women at all levels of organizational management and leadership. The female talent is as eminent as the male talent with regard to productivity improvement. Innovation This entails the creation of new development methods. Transformations occur if innovators feel that change is needed in respect to the emerging trends. Innovators should be prepared to either fail or succeed in their attempt to improve business structures. This enables them building the next iterations on future changes. They should also be prepared to collude with both external and internal innovators to create processes and structures that boost the existing improvement practices. Involvement of senior leadership teams is crucial as it builds leadership cultures that conform to the existing business environment. These teams focus on programs that promote their own levels of development to boost the organizational growth. Innovation is not possible unless leaders create a foundation by instilling growth through improving innovations in the market and company functions. Innovation can be achieved through organizing open idea forums, cross functional idea teams, task forces and external focus activities. Some innovative strategies that can be applied to cope with the current changes in a business environment include building a more collective rather than personal leadership. This type of leadership focuses on both vertical and horizontal leadership and transfer of development obligations back to the employees (Connerley & Pedersen, 2005). Involvement of people implies that many ideas will be brought together thus; increased innovativeness. Innovators should act as marketers and understand stakeholders and marketer opinions to lead innovation efforts successfully. However, many groups may limit their capacity of being innovative due to homogeneity in their composition, that is, similar generational and cultural affiliations. Effective Leadership Leadership is best viewed as a challenge that can only be solved by commitment and dedication rather than an opportunistic achievement. According to Goffee (2006), leaders should realize that their main role is to identify and nurture the talent required for organizational success and future proliferation. Effective leadership calls for recognition limitations among leaders, fallibility and the need to assist each other in making decisions pertaining company growth (Connerley and Pedersen, 2005). Most business organizations are currently facing challenges related to both market and talent competition increase, and demands for accountability at all management levels. Thus, preparation and laying a foundation for future effective leaders is an uphill task for most leaders. The leaders should combine tool and technology, information on leadership research and team work to make informed decisions and formulate successful leadership strategies. Collaboration Most leaders have learnt to apply the concept of teamwork to improve productivity, creativity and innovation. Earlier leadership entailed individualism whereby decisions were made by one party and directives offered to other employees through well-thought-out procedures. This made leadership ineffective making the leaders unsuccessful and inefficient. The current business strategies are more complex and requires the input of more that one party in solving them. Adaptive strategies require collaboration between different stakeholders where each comes up with a different aspect that contribute in formulating an effective remedy. These collectives should share information, influence each other, make decisions and create plans for future growth. Business research has proven that those leaders that employ collaboration and relationship building in organizational leadership stand a better chance to success compared to individualistic tendencies. Demand for productivity is sprouting in all organizations, implying that future teams must be powerful structures that can satisfy the increasing demand. Leadership should formulate a mix of effective teams that can achieve better and faster results compared to individual performance. However, teams also face certain difficulties; for instance, some employees may find working as a team difficult. Again, there is no guarantee that the formulated team will perform as expected. Globalization Organizations are transforming and improving their structures to expand their businesses internationally. Globalization can be achieved readily if combined with technological advance trends. The future trend is globalization in all business enterprises to create a wider market pool. This implies that current leaders should possess a global perspective and be focused towards formulating strategies that satisfies international standards. They should be willing and able to embrace diversity and solve challenges that extend beyond their immediate environments. They have to change from hierarchical top-down leadership model to participatory and inclusive international models (Cavusgil et al., 2012). Organizations entering into global business face a fierce competition from established companies. To revamp their international business strategies, leaders will develop a worldwide mind set which will enable them remain effective and relevant businesswise. Recommendations To cope with the emerging trends in leadership, there is a need for organizations to improve strategies if they are to survive and remain successful in the evolving business environment. Organizations should create and implement both leadership and leadership-development strategies. They should not only focus on implementation of programs but also effective leadership development. Improper leadership leads to initiation of unsuccessful business programs as most strategies are not implemented professionally (Storey, 2004). A leadership strategy will dictate the number of work positions requiring to be occupied as well as the skills and qualifications necessary. This ensures that individuals hired to occupy these positions are qualified and able to steer the company forward. Organizations should invest resources in leadership development as without effective leadership development, the current challenges facing businesses, for instance, competition, might lead to its down fall. They should create a leadership council or steering committee that engages, motivates and develop talent. These committees should be representative in that; every department in an organization should be represented. Leadership competencies should be renewed to accommodate the changing business environment. Most of the competencies will be geared towards deriving innovative and creative approaches for conducting business and managing talent. Competencies renewal will also be geared towards satisfying the need for global competition, adaptability, flexibility and catering for employee diverse needs (Kegan et al., 2009). Solutions to business development should evolve as a process but not as a random event. This enables achievement that is not only lasting, but also possessing substantial benefits. The learning experiences should apply real organizational challenges and occur in small organizational groups. This shows how leaders work together, both formally and informally. This method employs action rather that theoretical knowledge where leaders can improve their skills through practical reference to their own work. These strategies should target company workforce as leadership is a key component of an organization at all management levels. Targeting all employees ensures that motivation is spread across all departments thus improving the general increase in productivity of an organization. Leadership effectiveness is closely related to technological improvement. Technology enhances communication at all levels of the organizational structure. This ensures a close association between leaders and employees that encourages teamwork necessary in the achievement of organization goals. Conclusion Leaders must improve an organization’s ability to analyze and respond to changing trends in the market environment to sustain relevance in business. They should be able to identify challenges in time and respond promptly by improving structures that boost business flexibility and adaptability. Adaptability reduces rigidity and enables leaders to commit to current and future changes. Uncertainty or unpredictability in business leadership makes managers to focus on the current growth strategies. However, they should be wary of the future impacts of current management decisions. Most leaders do not embrace flexibility; they tend to ignore the negative and only focus on the positive. Such an ideal works to compromise a leader’s effectiveness in business leadership. The most crucial development methods are training, action learning, executive coaching, mentoring, job assignments and efficient information feedback. Therefore, they should view change as inevitable and essential part of organization success. A leader who adapts to the changing trends in a business environment maintains his/her relevance in ensuring prolonged business growth. References Cavusgil, S. T., Knight, G. A., & Riesenberger, J. R. (2012). International business: The new realities. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall/Pearson. Connerley, M. L., & Pedersen, P. (2005). Leadership in a diverse and multicultural environment: developing awareness, knowledge, and skills. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. Goffee, R. (2006). Why should anyone be led by you? What it takes to be an authentic leader. Harvard Business School Press. Hackman, J. R. (2002). Leading Teams: Setting the stage for great performances. Harvard Business Press. Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. (2009). Immunity to change: How to overcome it and unlock potential in yourself and your organization. Harvard Business School Press. McLean, J. (2006). We’re going through changes! British Journal of Administrative Management. Storey, J. (2004). Leadership in organizations current issues and key trends. London: Routledge. Read More