Developing Leaders for a Complex World - Essay Example

Leadership and Leader Student Name: Institution: Date: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 2 Various ways in which leadership has changed in the context of a globalized environment 3 Developing Leaders for a Complex World 3 Women in Leadership 5 Ways of how leadership role has been redefined 6 The role of a leader in an organizational context 8 Developing Effective Global Leaders 9 The leadership and communication styles of a global leader most admired 10 Conclusion 13 Reference list 15 Hughes, G. (2009). Bill Gates: A Transformational Leader: Qualities of the World’s Richest Business Leader. Retrieved September 28, 2013 from, 16 Introduction Due to increased changes in social environment and structures such as advancements and growth in technology and globalization as well as geographical shifts, organizations are subjected to both new opportunities and challenges. The evolving global environment is characterized by effects such as complexity, increased ambiguity and uncertainty, rapid geographical shifts as well as change and instability. Therefore, both formal business and social or informal organizations are subjected to such global trends. In this case, leadership is defined as an in-depth and a process through which self, others and organizations are influenced towards growth and change in order to achieve the intended results and fulfill the purpose (Witkins, 2003). Leaders create and shape organizational cultures through their own value and knowledge incorporated in structures and goals (Cheney, Zorn & Ganesh, 2010). Schein (2004) argues that greater organizational culture enhances organizational performance. Therefore, effective leadership should focus on creating and shaping great organizational culture to improve its performance. The study discusses the way in which leadership has changed in the context of a globalized environment over time. The admirable leadership and communication styles of global leaders in particular, transformational leadership styles of Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and the charismatic leadership styles of Martin Luther King and John Kennedy are profiled. Various ways in which leadership has changed in the context of a globalized environment Developing Leaders for a Complex World Today’s global business and leadership environment is increasingly becoming exciting, evolving and challenging. This is commonly reflected through change, role complexity and multiculturalism. Therefore, the manner in which people work has also changed radically, for example, virtual teams have replaced face-to-face interaction between leaders and the people under their management authority (Barker & Coy, 2005). It is crucial particularly, in business environments for contemporary organizations to dynamically respond to the global needs by involving in the tasks of absorbing competitors and management of complicated reorganizations across the global boarders. As a way of effectively addressing leadership and communications challenges, cross-cultural and change management are vital in a globalized environment. Through this combined strategies, leaders are well-equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to successfully manage the dynamics of their organizations needs and cultural differences so as to align and engage people to attain the organizational objectives in a globalized environment. This implies that ensuring effective leadership and change management within a multicultural environment enables leaders to develop their personal leadership styles and new ways of handling the challenges (CarnegieBosch Institute, 2012). Digital transformation is being converted into digital leadership. Research shows that digital impacts the whole organization, and thus leadership is needed at different points across the enterprise. For example, the board is expected to develop its digital capability and experience to offer the appropriate guidance to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Similarly, the CEOs are required to have visions and lead the digital transformations that must align with the organization’s strategy so as to encourage the efforts made to develop digital leadership. At the higher executive level, therefore, digital strategies are adopted to accomplish digital functions or roles by the CEOs and board. A number of companies demand for digital specialists to lead their sector-specific projects (Russell Reynolds Associates, 2012). Therefore, it is important to note that digital transformation is rapidly changing the nature of senior leadership roles and duties by creating new ones. This means that modern organizations highly demand for leaders who are competent enough to drive as well as implement the digital change. Women in Leadership Due to technological advancements, globalization and demographic changes that have resulted in more female who are educated than it was in the past, Klenke (2012) examines that women leaders in different parts of the world have been offered with leadership opportunities. This has created a workforce that comprises a number of women. However, it has been observed that denying women leadership opportunities in areas such as sports, media and patriarchal ideology that promote military and churches services have not changed so much. Furthermore, research indicates that the context in which women are permitted to exercise their leadership roles is critically significant in shaping and enhancing their leadership styles. Klenke argues that it is important to assess the future of women’s leadership particularly in this globalized environment is dominated with ambiguity, high levels of uncertainty and interdependence. He emphasized that although women are being recognized in leadership roles, more gender efforts are still needed to create and enhance women leadership. This is because leadership is a relational practice (Klenke, 2012). In today’s global economy, capital is no longer seen as the only crucial factor of production. Thus, Women Leaders and Gender Parity has become a subject of global concern in this world characterized with rapid shift from capitalism to talentism. This means that the issue of gender parity cannot be addressed as superfluous. It has been observed that women create almost half of the potential human capital in an economy, a talent pool that has been considered a major factor of competitiveness. The Women Leaders and Gender Parity (WLGP) is one of the important programmes involved in the assessment and monitoring of the gender gaps, developing insights to end the gender gaps by engaging the women leaders into leadership, action and expert communities. The programme also enhances the participation of women leaders through other programmes such as the World Economic Forum that encourages women to participate in all community development activities (Global Gender Gap Report, 2012). Ways of how leadership role has been redefined Contemporary business leaders have found it necessary to adopt new perspectives on their roles and duties which involve different, familiar and new leadership practices. The new leadership role requires them to effectively lead change beyond their business boundaries. A different perspective of the role of leaders means reframing their key role and purpose, while the familiar leadership role requires them to lead change across their business context. Research indicates that many years ago, it was strongly perceived that only political and civil society leaders were expected to address the different societal challenges faced at that particular time and not the business leaders. This implies that leading a business and being a leader in the society were considered as two mutually exclusive roles. This is not the case in today’s leadership where business leaders have developed a different attitude and taken on roles to face the societal challenges so as to create value. It is apparent the future of the world has turned out to be a concern for business leaders. For example, reframing value and success has become one of the major roles of business leaders who are involved in leading the long term businesses (Laszlo, 2008). Due to globalization of the world, massive changes have taken place such as shifts in global communication enhanced by the Internet and development of interdependent global economy. With such global changes, the manner in which leaders and organizations operate their businesses has also changed dramatically. For example, the intercultural competence that was initially seen as important for those businesses that directly participate in international relations has become necessary in today’s organizations where majority of the leaders are being equipped with this competence (Irving, 2005). Creating global leaders is one way of developing future of leadership. Today’s business world requires more leaders who are able to think and operate globally. Therefore, successful global leaders show their competence by leading with their heads, hearts and guts which means managing complexity, diversity and uncertainty respectively. The task to developing a leader within the global world requires a high level of understanding of different types of behaviors. Basically, a global leader needs to develop a global mindset, focus on value diversity as well as lead with the global responsibility. This means that a true effective global leader should be able to understand, lead global teams and manage change. It is important to note that creating effective global leaders has become a great concern for ensuring competitive advantage. This is because competitive advantage is an investment worth focusing if one organization fails to adequately serve their global clients, others else where will effectively meet the clients’ needs (Olson, 2010). The role of a leader in an organizational context Leaders in an organization play a crucial role in co-coordinating as well as integrating the activities of their team members. They do this by ensuring that the teams know the objectives of the organization and work towards achieving them. This clearly shows that leaders are not only expected to play this role by exercising the authority delegated upon them in the organization’s hierarchy. It is also crucial for them to apply the charismatic style of leadership so as to continue being knowledgeable and respected leaders who recognize the importance of inspiring and motivating other people. Thus, leaders are expected to clarify the organization’s vision to enable all members to understand and accomplish their roles in achieving the intended goals (Mullins, 2006). Given today’s globalized working environments, leaders have the obligation to ensure that all the appropriate systems, resources and processes for their businesses are put in order to enhance the achievement of the organization’s vision. In regard to the dynamic nature of contemporary organizational culture, it has been observed that only specific leadership styles can be applied in specific situations. As result, leaders in this globalized environment are required to adapt their styles so as to effectively meet the changing needs of their organizational culture. Leaders should equally develop better communication skills by utilizing the knowledge and experience of best practices they have already adopted. However, effective leaders need to be always learning and encouraging their teams to become learners as well (Mullins, 2006). In a study carried out on the shared services type of leadership to investigate the competences needed for a dynamic global environment, the findings reveal a dramatic change in the role of shared services leaders. This role was exclusively considered for the tactical activities such as cost reduction or process improvement. Currently, shared services leaders are expected to continuously manage such tasks through a strategic visionary approach to utilize the available opportunities for the organizations and manage functional risks in this world of technological change. However, shared services leaders create huge gaps between capabilities on demand in the new environments and the competences needed to effectively deliver against the capabilities. While the shared services leaders are expected to accomplish a lot to meet the changing business needs, they are required to have appropriate skills and abilities that can best enable them to move forward. Therefore, successful leadership in a changing world particularly in the current global business environment is determined by the leadership capabilities, talents and visions of people who play roles at strategic levels in an organization (Russell Reynolds Associates, 2012). Developing Effective Global Leaders Globalization has proliferated into people’s daily lives, and thus not only organizations are going global, but also various people. Therefore, today’s global leaders find it necessary to build partnerships. Whereas organizations ensures that their business operations are standardized and integrated across the world, it is the role of leaders to align themselves strategically with their supply chains because they comprise of people from diverse cultural settings and with different communication skills. The basic element for global leaders is to focus on the big picture as well as consult the relevant stakeholders found at all managerial levels. However, new leaders are considered as those who have the necessary skills to build partnerships as the most fundamental competencies for future global leaders. Furthermore, leaders should be interested in knowing other cultures and be ready to manage the challenges that occur when communicating in a more competitive and dynamic global business environments (Goldsmith, 2009). Watkins (2013) examined the global perspective of corporate leadership specifically within a changing environment. He emphasized that leadership should not only be perceived as a concept, but also a major issue in this evolving global environment. The concept of leadership can be seen as both position power and a way of exercising personal power. It has been discovered that a number of leaders once they attain the position power due to their leadership, they often disengage from the idea of process and no longer involve in learning and improving but rather allow their inevitable obsolescence in this dynamic environment. It should be noted that today’s global environment has people with diverse cultural and social backgrounds. Global changes increases demand for various needs, while conventional efforts to promote loyalty at workplaces and job security are instead being replaced by mobility and demand for the new experiences. Thus, the leadership influence through power has been disregarded relevant in this environment. Today's leadership is understood in a counter-intuitive way because a person aspiring to become an effective leader in the current globalized environment, he must be ready to lead himself (Watkins, 2013). This clearly suggests that committed and effective leaders who have the abilities to influence others and their organizations, need to be competent in managing the challenges of changing, delivering results and working themselves towards higher levels in order to achieve the intended goals. The leadership and communication styles of a global leader most admired In every culture, state or organization there are leaders but the identification of their significant characteristics varies according to the environment and culture. This implies that successful leaders exist in a wide range of personal characteristics which include the ability to make inspiring speeches in the public and to create sustainable relationship with other individuals or groups. Mary Ann Mavrinac, the Chief Librarian at Toronto Mississauga defines leadership as the relationship of influence between two individuals who endeavor to achieve a shared goal that can cause meaningful and substantive change (Mavrinac, 2007). Multicultural awareness has been perceived by (Campbell, 2002) as being experienced and satisfied working with people and managing the organizations at different cultural, geographical and demographic boarders. The various dimensions of the Global Executive Leadership Inventory (GELI) suggested by Dubrin, Dalglish and Miller (2010, p.120-121) include tenacious as a way of leading with courage and being persistent to achieve business objectives within a complex environment, the ability to be resilient to stress by managing different work or life, being emotionally intelligent by ensuring trust, developing sound relationships and empathy with other people as well as sustaining a work-life balance. Boje (2008, p.1) examines the importance of developing storytelling organizations, arguing that stories told based on the organizational context are as ‘sense-making tools’. This is because they are considered as the best way employees to supplement individual memories with organizational memory. Organizational stories and legends help others to learn how to incorporate into new organizational culture. Basically, the stories may concern heroes that have acquired higher status for their achievements as stated in the story or they may inform about the epic tales of adversity and great achievements in the organization. Stories influence organizational culture, and thus a leader it is important to develop own visions for the organizations through stories that are inspirational, highly engaging and worthy of re-telling. This requires the leaders to develop stories that tell about the heroes and their behaviors that can be emulated by other people. However, it is crucial for the leaders remain positive and reinforce the organizational culture they intend to grow with others (Boje, 2008). Bass (1990) emphasizes that transformational leaders are recognized of qualities such as charisma, intellectual stimulation, inspiration and being considerate to each group member. Successful implementation of change and learning organizations can be achieved only if leaders have the ability to engage and inspire as well as influence culture and promote change that enhances organizational effectiveness. Although it is widely recognized across the world that Bill Gates was the youngest and wealthiest CEO of the time, his success was not just attained through luck he worked for it. According Hughes (2009, p.278) Gates was greatly interested in computing and studying models for quantitative mathematics that contributed to his expertise in software development. Today, Bill Gates is applying his talents to promote the Bill and Melinda Foundation services by addressing issues related to global health and development. Therefore, from Gates’ transformational leadership, the communication skills relevant to modern leaders include seizing the moment because success is rarely attained overnight as Gates says that “I was the mover who influenced others to call the true world and to sell an idea to it.” Playing it to win was another competitive leadership strategy of Gates. He could analyze factors that made established companies such as IBM and Digital Equipment Corporation successful and strongly believed that PC could transform such industries. In the early days of Microsoft, the vision of Gates was very clear and uncompromising “To ensure that a computer is on every desk and home.” The desire to love technology, Gates explained how his PC revolution turned out to be a success that “the entire new world has standards that need to be developed, my workers are competent in this area and there is no other person doing it.” Creating and maintaining a campus culture is also an attribute of Gates. He focused on recruiting highly competent employees and keeping them that boosted the Microsoft Campus particularly at Redmond, Washington as Gates’ larger environments to develop the Microsoft projects (Hughes, 2009). Charisma is often attributed to many leaders but a number of people seem not quite sure of what it entails. Charisma is a leadership style or the ability of a leader to attain great attention, respect and trust so quickly from other people. Therefore, honesty and trustworthy is one of the traits commonly admired than practiced. For example, President Clinton’s weakness of explaining his youthful marihuana smoking while with his famous and saying “but I couldn’t inhale” is a statement that shows lack of justifying his past actions. This clearly indicates that it is a difficult task to restore the reputation that has been affected with claims of dishonesty and questionable behavior. Generally, the famous leaders such as Martin Luther King and John Kennedy are great people known of charisma. Although this style is considered an effective tool for leaders some situations, it is not easy to learn. Conclusion Today’s social and business organizations operate in increasingly globalized environments. Effective leaders need to be competent enough and ready to succeed in a dynamic, complex and competitive world. It is notable that competitive advantage is only achieved by those organizations that make best use of their employees, create environments that engage and prosper all people in the organization. In order to effectively address leadership and communications challenges, cross-cultural and change management are vital in a globalized environment. Today’s global environment comprise of people with diverse cultural and social backgrounds. Leaders should develop interest in knowing other cultures as well as be willing to manage the challenges that occur when communicating in a more competitive and dynamic global business environments. Creating global leaders is a significant way of developing future of leadership because today’s business world demands for leaders who can think and act globally. Reference list Barker, C. & Coy, R. (Eds). (2005). Understanding Influence for Leaders at all Levels. McGraw Hill. North Ryde, NSW (Australia). Boje, D. M. (2008). Story-telling Organizations. London. Sage. Cheney, L. C, Zorn, T & Ganesh, S. (Eds) (2010). ‘Leadership in an Age of Globalization.’ Waveland Press. Carnegie-Bosch Institute (2012). Leadership and change management within a multicultural context. Pittsburg. Carnegie Mellon University. Campbell, P.D. (2002). Campbell Leadership Descriptor. Participant Workbook. Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer. Dubrin, A, Daglish, C & Miller, P. (2010). Leadership. (2nd ed). Queensland. 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