Leadership in the Modern Business World

Running head: LEADERSHIP ARCHIVE
LEADERSHIP ARCHIVE
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Introduction
As stated by Storey (2016), the modern business world is much more complex in
nature as well as the business activities that it deals in contrast to the business earlier times.
Hoch et al. (2018) are of the viewpoint that the complexity as well as the dynamicity of the
modern-day business world becomes evident not only when an analysis of the business
processes used by the business firms but also in terms of the commodities or the services that
they offer. More importantly, it had been noticed that the emergence and the widespread
usage of the different types of innovative disruptive technologies, the widespread usage of the
machinery of internationalisation or globalisation and others have significantly contributed
towards the same (Clinton, 2018). In this context, it needs to be said that this change which
had occurred in the modern business world acts both as a challenge and also as an
opportunity for the business firms. On the one hand, it is seen that the business firms are
facing an ever-increased amount of rivalry or competition within the spectrum of the business
markets of their operations and this in turn is adversely affecting their business prospects
(Sosik & Jung, 2018). On the other hand, the business firms have the option to take full
advantage of the business opportunities presented by the business markets of their operation
and thereby not only earn a higher amount of financial returns but also to attain competitive
advantage (Boyd et al., 2017). However, at the same time it needs to be said that one of the
most important aspects which substantially affects the business processes used by the firms
and also their success is the management as well as the leadership style which is being used
by them within the cauldron of their business operations.
Shamir, Arthur and House (2018) argue that in the face of the extensive changes
which had taken place within the mould of the present-day business world the processes of
leadership and management used by the modern-day business enterprises had undergone a
stark change. The primary purpose of the innovative or disruptive leadership and

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management styles which is being used by the business enterprises is not only to adjust to the
changes that had happened in the world of business but also to take the full advantage of the
opportunities presented by the same (Cashman, 2017). In particular, mention needs to be
made of the changes that had taken place within the framework of leadership and also the
manner in which it is being used by the different contemporary leaders for the execution of
the job roles that they are supposed to perform in the modern business enterprises (Ward,
2016). In this regard, it needs to be mentioned that the job roles or tasks that the
contemporary leaders are complete itself had significantly changed over the years and the
resultant effect of this is that rather than just being limited to the job roles of the leaders, the
contemporary leaders are required to perform a whole gamut of jobs within the contemporary
business enterprises. This paper intends to critically analyse the concept of leadership while
highlighting the changes which had taken place within the same.
Leadership: A Critical Overview
Shapiro and Stefkovich (2016) have noted that the field of leadership is the one which
had been subjected to much change in alignment or conjunction with the changes that had
taken place in the spectrum of the business world. In this regard, Mendenhall et al. (2017)
have noted that leadership is the process through which the individuals or for that matter the
leaders try to influence or modify the attitude or the behaviour of the groups or individuals
for the achievement or attainment of the group objectives or goals. On the other hand, Kruse
argues that “leadership is the process of social influence, which maximises the efforts of
others, towards the achievement of a goal” (Forbes.com, 2019). The resultant effect of this is
that the idea the leaders are required to help the followers towards the achievement of the set
goals had gained prominence in the present times. However, at the same time it needs to be
said that the leaders are required to execute a wide gamut of roles rather than just leading the
followers towards the achievement of the set goals. The different leaders within the

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contemporary business setting are required to perform various job roles like motivating the
followers, offering them mentoring, coaching, creating effective job designs, managing the
process of change management, creating an effective workplace or organisational culture and
others (Schofield, 2019). On the score of these, it is seen that the job roles of the leaders often
coincide with the job roles or the job attributes of the managers and it is because of this that
in the present times it had become very difficult to distinguish the leaders from the managers.
As a matter of fact, the concept of leadership had been in existence since the traditional times
and in the ancient times it was mainly attributed to the particular context of military or
warfare activities (Dart, 2019). However, over the years it had been seen that rather than
merely being associated with the aspect of military or warfare activities, the concerned
concept had been integrated within the framework of politics, business and other aspects of
the lives of the common people (Spears & Lawrence, 2016). This in turn accounts for the
extensive popularity that the concept under discussion here holds within the spectrum of the
contemporary world and also its widespread usage.
Leadership in the modern business setting
According to Bill Gates, “as we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those
who empower others” (Forbes.com, 2019). In this regard, Heifetz and Linsky (2017) have
suggested that the contemporary leaders, be it the business leaders, political leaders or other
kinds of leaders rather than merely seeking to lead them for the attainment of their goals or
objectives should aspire to empower them as well. As stated by Lussier and Achua (2015), an
important development that had taken place within the cauldron of leadership is the fact that
the contemporary leaders are increasingly being looked upon as the stewards of the business
enterprises on the score of the diversity of the job roles or tasks that they perform. The
modern leaders unlike those of the earlier times need to perform the job roles or the tasks
traditionally attributed to the managers along with the job roles of the business leaders that