Leadership in a Digital Age

Leadership in a Digital Age

Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
Section 1.....................................................................................................................................................3
Self-Analysis...........................................................................................................................................3
SECTION 2................................................................................................................................................7
Leadership Capabilities and Behaviors....................................................................................................7
SECTION 3................................................................................................................................................8
Business Transformation.........................................................................................................................8
SECTION 4................................................................................................................................................9
Personal Development Plan.....................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................14
2

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is the process of leading an individual or group towards a common goal in an
organization. It is a positive approach that assists in achievement of goals and targets with proper
and full capacity utilization of resources. Being a leader is not an easy task as it requires different
skills and capabilities to carry out the various roles and duties associated with this designation
(Conger, 2015). The impact of digitalization has further added more paradigm to various
industries and their structures. To understand the same concept in more detail significance and
models associated with leadership will be discussed in context of hospitality industry. Self-
understanding of the relationship between digital technical management and performance will be
carried out. It would be highlighted how leadership capabilities and behaviors can be applied to
the management of geographically spreaded teams and finally issue from professional practice
would be identified and evaluation of same would be done as to how digital technical leadership
can enhance business transformation and performance of this issue.
Section 1
Self-Analysis
Digitalization is the process through which most of the manual practices are
computerized and has changed the overall business carry outs. It is a great challenge for leaders
to perform in the continuous changing commercial scenarios where maximum operations are
carried out using the digital resources like computers, internet and cloud technologies (Kowalski
and Giumetti, 2017). There are many irreversible alterations that are made due to the digital
applications and leaders find it difficult to manage the day to day operations of the firms with it.
In order to better understand the interrelationships between digital tool and eh leaderships in
hospitality industry the six distinct attributes of digitalization will be highlighted here along with
the discussion of how these characteristics are affecting the different forms of leading people.
Goldie (2016), says that leading digital change is now a new role of leader to achieve the
competitive advantage in the hospitality industry as here there is close and tough competition in
this sector and operations needs to be carried out using the advanced sources. The innovations in
the working of leaders is such that it has completely reshaped the traditional practices. Business
which are successful in implementing the digital technology affectively is considered to be good
leader in the industry as they create a benchmark for other enterprises to achieve. The
3

capabilities of a leader are judged as how effectively they have implemented the digital tools in
the day to day working of the company. For this it is important that there are IT leaders too
employed in the company so that they can guide the employees in more improved way. Those
who are at the position of leading people frame the digital challenge for the followers. This way
the work force is made familiar with the positive chances which are there if new computerize
systems are followed (Gee and Hayes, 2011). Creation of such awareness also aid employees to
prepare themselves for the threats or danger which has the capacity to effect the day to day
operations of the work force. This way a common vision is formed in the sector as how and
using what all digital platforms the work would be done in more effective way. After this
investment are focused which are required to develop the infrastructure of digital tools and this
planning is used as a map for further activities to be performed. For successful implementation
leaders need to create urgency for digitalization as this will lead to better installation of various
practices and hence proper utilization can be ensured. Employees need to react positively to the
change and must be welcoming for advance techniques. It will reduce the unfavorable results and
will attract maximum participation.
Mayer-Schönberger, (2011) another scholar who has further given light on distinct
matrixes through which the hospitality industry can do the better utilization of different digital
platforms. He suggested multi steps which ranges from mobilization, synchronization and
speeding up of process which can be practiced in the firms as this will help in better carrying out
of operations and will aid in raising the overall effectiveness of digitalization.
Trait theory of leadership
Leadership in general is a process through which an individual with his/her core skills
and competencies perform the different roles and responsibilities. It is a very crucial designation
in any business as person leading the group is responsible for the overall results and hence needs
to ensure that the work is done as per the goals and objectives of the firm. In the digital age
leaders perform an important role of motivating and influencing other to work in a particular
manner so that full capacity utilization of different applications is made.
This is one of the most popular theory of leadership and is systematic approach which
maximizes the users understating of this concept. In this the different traits that are found in a
leader are disclosed under the broad categorization of his skills, particular characteristic and
4