How Has Our Understanding of Leadership Changed across Time - Coursework Example

How has our understanding of leadership changed across time? Table of Contents Introduction 3 The transformation in Leadership behaviour 3 The reasons behind the transformation 3 The shift from authoritative to participative styles 4 The best leadership style 5 Reference List 6 Introduction Our understanding about leadership has evolved over time. The regime shift has been witnessed from the autocratic and directive leadership followed in the twentieth century to a more participative and democratic style that is followed in the new generation. The centre for creative leadership (CCL) conducted a global study that involved 389 leaders representing 28 countries. The study concluded that majority of the leaders (83%) perceive that the definition of effective leadership has changed over the last five years. The transformation in the leadership behaviour can be ascribed to a combination of issues that includes a change in people’s perception and advancements in technology. There is an essential requirement for the leaders of organizations that include HR managers to plan one step ahead and acclimatize to the developing trends in order to ensure fruitful outcomes for their respective organizations (Cope and Waddell, 2001). The transformation in Leadership behaviour A transformation has been witnessed in Authoritarian leaders who followed top-down management, exact orders and strict rules in to a more individualised thinking and ownership approach towards a particular task. It was during this transformation when the participative leadership style was introduced and this leadership behaviour is now the most commonly followed style in the contemporary society. A shift in the leadership style is also prominent across the Asia-Pacific region too as explained by a Professor belonging to the Harvard Business School. The professor explained that since the companies in the Asia and Pacific region thrive to gain access to the world capital market, they will always try to imitate the leadership style that is followed by the managers of companies based in the West. The participative leadership style refers to the leadership attribute where the entire group and not the leader alone plays a crucial role in the decision making process. The working environment is very flexible and managers feel very comfortable working along with their superiors, peers and subordinates. Employee welfare is given a high priority and they are given the flexibility to state their requirements as and when they feel appropriate. The leaders in the modern society speak in terms of collaboration and open dialogue and if the great leaders of the present are asked about the people who have significant influence in their leadership style then they will perpetually give credit to their mentors and close collaborators. The reasons behind the transformation The pace at which leadership transformation and our understanding of the same can be attributed to the advent of globalization, technical innovation and ever increasing number of connections among people, events and activities. Information technology has made a significant development in the way people communicate in the contemporary society as a result of which individuals mix and mingle with each other like never before. This has to the creation of new partnerships and formulation of more culturally diverse work environment. In such a context, it has been witnessed that, a growing number of companies are collaborating in order to explore new opportunities and gain entry into new markets. Technology has long been known to have brought surprises every day among which some surprises of such scale they can literally shake up an entire industry in a matter of few days. With the advancements made in the field of internet and social media, stakeholders have attained massive power, where they can utilize the new advancements in order to punish or reward companies at a lighting speed (Stephenson, 2011; Muchiri, et al., 2011). In such a volatile market, prevalence of effective leadership is of utmost importance. Leadership is very closely related to transformation. As the speed of transformation accentuates, the need for effective leadership also grows. However the question as to whether the leadership style has changed appropriately still needs to be explored in detail. The challenges that arise in front of leaders also have significant contribution towards the transformation in the leadership behaviour. The complex nature of the challenges requires leaders to transform their leadership attributes in order to mitigate those challenges. It is now a requirement for every leader to consider challenges to be within their problem solving capability. In addition to that, greater reliance on interdependent work has also led to a massive transformation in the style of leadership followed by majority of leaders throughout the world (CCL, 2007). The shift from authoritative to participative styles A position in the management’s role does not always endow an individual with good and effective leadership skills. It is with experience that the individual learns about various attributes of a successful leader and also learns how to do effective management. This brings a massive transformation in the individual’s leadership behaviour. The worldwide acceptance of the participative leadership style is resulting in development of effective teams who clearly emphasise on leadership as being the most crucial factor in the overall evolutionary cycle. Unlike the leadership style that was followed in the 19th and the 20th century, leaders of the present society strive to ensure that each member of a group has an authentic desire for another member’s input into the result. The admonition is that leaders must have a strong perception about the group members that they have a definite value to add towards the development of the organizations (Miller, Butler and Cosentino, 2003). This also does not necessarily stipulate that each and every idea set forth the group members has to be implemented. However, the best leader will always take the views given by their group members into consideration and henceforth will consider the option of implementing or not implementing it. In yester years leaders did not like to have ideas set forth by their subordinates imposed on them but in the recent times these idea have a significant contribution in the decision making process of an organization and is also used to design the end game. Authoritative leadership style was very prominent in the past and this style mainly adopted by compliance or authoritarian leaders. The leadership behaviour of leaders following this style involved a high concern for production but no such attention was given to the welfare of the employees. The rewards were always associated with payment and there was no appreciation for the work done by the employees. In addition to that, there was no space for cooperation and collaboration. The organizational objectives were given the top and everything beyond that was overlooked. Employees were severely pressurized through strict rules and punishments. This type of leadership attribute although enabled a company to generate good productivity but the companies also reported high employee turnover. However, over the last decade or two seems to have diminished. Nowadays, top leaders throughout the world are seen to follow the team or sound style of leadership where high attention is directed towards both production and people. Leaders who follow this leadership style always encourage commitment and teamwork among employees. This is precisely because they believe this is one way the company can be developed from all the aspects. Employees in such organizations are made to feel like a family and their view are give high importance and they contribute significantly towards the decision making process. By doing so the leader is able to develop a work environment that is based on respect and trust whereby employees can achieve a higher satisfaction level and the company can achieve a higher productivity (Zeidan, 2009). The best leadership style The most desirable and contemporary mannerism of an effective leader is his/her ability to manage and meet expectations. That includes standing up to the expectations of shareholders, investors, suppliers, employees, stakeholders and other communities. It has to be kept in mind that trying to give extra effort than what is required may often lead to undesired results. A lot of uncertainty is associated with the world that we live in today. Thus in order to be able to prosper in these times of severe uncertainties, leaders will have to lead by influence and not by misusing the authority of the position (Natale, Sora and Kavalipurapu, 2004). The control structures, command and hierarchy of the past have long diminished. It is not just about simply ordering or directing somebody to do a particular job, it is about influencing them in order to give their best in every activity they perform. The best leaders are known to not only influence the people working within the organization but also influence those external to the firm. They should adhere to capture and distribute value throughout the whole organization. In order to be able to influence the worker, leaders will have to earn the trust and respect of the each and every individual working within the organization. They must have a good eye for identifying potential partners who can be of huge benefit to the organization and thereafter the leader should initiate, maintain and consistently focus on improving the relationship. All of the above mentioned factors place a significant premium on the value of reliability and integrity within the organization. The best leader should also have a clear understanding of the culture of the people that they work with in order to ensure a friendly working environment and eliminate any chances of conflict of cultures and ideas (Stephenson, 2011). Reference List CCL, 2007. The Changing Nature of Leadership. [pdf] Center for Creative Leadership Available at: [Accessed 29 January 2014]. Cope, O. and Waddell, D., 2001. An audit of leadership styles in e – commerce. Managerial Auditing Journal, 16(9), pp. 523-529. Miller, R. L., Butler, J. and Cosentino, C. J., 2003. Followership effectiveness: an extension of Fiedler’s contingency model. The Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 25(4), pp. 362–368. Muchiri, M. K., Cooksey, R. W., Di Milia, L. V. and Walumbwa, F. O., 2011. Gender and managerial level differences in perceptions of effective leadership. The Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 32(5), pp. 462–492. Natale, S. M., Sora, S. A., and Kavalipurapu, S. B., 2004. Leadership in teams: managerial responses. Team Performance Management, 10(3/4), pp. 45-52. Stephenson, C., 2011. How leadership has changed. [online] Available at: [Accessed 29 January 2014]. Zeidan, H., 2009. The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid Identifying five different leadership styles. The Certified Accountant, 39, pp. 82-85. Read More