Leadership in the 21st Century

This assignment content is a collection of scholarly articles, books, and conference proceedings related to leadership, particularly in the context of education and management. The topics include various aspects of leadership such as 21st century learning, professional standards for educational leaders, principal leadership, and organizational change management. The content also explores gender differences in narcissism, power motivation, and relationship management. Furthermore, it touches on HR metrics, financial performance, and legacy leadership. Overall, the assignment content provides a comprehensive view of leadership theories, practices, and applications.

Literature Review
21st Century Leadership: Evaluation and Analysis of key issues in relation to leadership

Introduction
The onset of 21st century has brought varying level of challenges to the leaders across the
organizations. The current paper looks into the 21st century leadership and evaluates and
analyses the key issues in relation to the leadership (Thomson, 2013). The market has rapidly
globalised due to the improved accessibility of the technological elements. This has increased
the responsibilities of the leaders from managing the mass markets to the efficient usage of
knowledge base and intelligent human resource. Earlier, the game of leadership used to be the
one man show with few at the top of the organization (Green, 2017). However, now the
dynamics has changed and the collective effort of the entire organization is needed in the
areas of the decision making. All the resources within the organization have the ability to
bring something of importance to the table (Jaques, 2017).
The need for flexibility within the organizations has increased which calls for different set of
skills for their management (Butler, 2016). The term innovation and creativity has become
the need of the hour for every organization that is willing to survive the ever changing market
dynamics (O’Connell, 2014). However, in this environment, it is important that the leaders do
not miss the strategic focus and take the management effectively (Hanna and Latchen, 2013).
In the second chapter of the paper, various leadership theories are compared and contrasted to
understand the possible changes. In the third chapter, the challenges that are faced by the 21st
century leaders are discussed. In the fourth chapter, the factors of change are discussed. In the
fifth chapter, the necessary core competencies of the leadership have been discussed in
relation to the 21st century requirements. This has chapter is followed by conclusion based on
overall study.

Changes in Leadership Theories
There are various leadership theories that have tried to explain the leadership, beginning from
“Great Man” theories to transactional and transformational theories (Amanchukwu et al,
2015). It has been found that the theories from earlier times were more focused towards
characteristics of the leaders and their different behaviours. However, the theories at the later
stage moved their focus towards followers and considered context based theories (Daft.
2014).
One of the leadership theories is the Trait Approach. It has come up from the Great Man
theory (Walter and Scheibe, 2013). The understanding the theory was that with the help of
this the individuals with particular set of traits can be hired and trained for the various
leadership positions within the organizations (Dinh et al, 2014). However, later it was found
that the number of traits identified were almost equal to the number of studies undertaken.
There were no particular set of traits which could be identified for the selection of the right
leaders. It was found that few set of traits of repetitive in all the studies, but overall, it was not
completely a conclusive list. In 1974, Stogdill found almost 12 traits and 9 skills that were
considered important for a leader (as cited in, Einarsen et al, 2016).
Another is behavioural theories which cover McGregor’s X and Y Theory, and Blake and
Mouton’s Managerial Grid. Though McGregor’s theory cannot be entirely attributed as a
leadership theory, yet it can be stated that leaders who act on Theory X will be more of
autocratic and that of Theory Y will be participative (Aithal and Kumar, 2016). However, it
clear that not one style can be enough as an organization can have human resources with
various characteristics (Mohamed et al, 2013). On the other hand, the theory of Blake and
Mouton considers production and people as the factor. Blake and Mouton has suggested that

the leaders should be able to focus on effective management of the employees as well as the
output (Gregoire and Arendt, 2014).
The studies have found that the leadership has mostly been oriented towards the male. The
researchers have found that there always been the gender differences in the leadership (Schuh
et al, 2014). The sex-stereotyping and considering other gender as less capable has been
found in some instances. However, the findings in relation to the gender differences and
leadership styles are confusing (Grijalva et al, 2015). Few researchers have strongly asserted
that there exist differences in the leadership styles (Smith and Bejou, 2015). However, there
are some who holds contradictory point of view (Tomal & Jones, 2015). As per Schein
(1989), there are some difference among men and women. However, Schien states that the
differences are less significant. The differences within the sex have been found to be higher
than between both the sex.
Later, James McGregor came up with the transformational leadership theory. As per James,
these leaders focus on converting the followers into the future leaders and instilling the moral
aspects into the current leaders (as cited in Goethals and Allison, 2016). As per McGregor,
transformational leaders focus on mutual growth. The factors such as values, purpose, and
goals are brought into the picture while taking the entire organization ahead. As per Covey,
the transactional leadership is different from the transformational leadership in many ways
(Covey et al, 2017). Transactional leadership has more of traditional orientation (Odumeru
and Ogbonna, 2013). It focuses more on getting things done from people using power,
position, shot-term need, tactics, and role expectation. On the other hand, transformational
leadership provides meaning to the individual’s need, gives purpose and values, and moves
towards long term missions and strategies. Here, it can be stated both the orientation is
necessary to manage the organization. However, transformational leadership is gradually
becoming important considering the changing global situation.

Challenges Facing 21st Century Leaders
The researchers have found that the leaders in the 21st century face many challenges. Fineman
(1997) and Higgs and Rowland (2001) have found that the values of the society has changed
drastically in the past 50 years (as cited in Sebrant, 2014). Williams (2014) asserts that now
the leaders are required to focus more on engaging the employees rather than just providing
wages. It is the need of the hour that the employees within the organizations are engaged
towards their work. Their level of engagement is important for their commitment. Another
challenge is the changes in the orientation of the investors (Bush, 2013). Now the success of
the Chief Executive Officer of an organization is more linked towards the value generated by
him or her for the shareholders (Wiengarten et al, 2017). This has become an obsession and
delivering at that level is a necessity. If the past few decades are considered, then Ulrich
(1999) states that the period between 1960 and 1990 witnessed linkage of the market
capitalization with the revenue generated by the business (as cited in Sen and Haque, 2016).
If the earnings of the organizations were good, then it was expected that things are moving
appreciably well. However, in the 21st century, the relation between the earning and the
market capitalization has reduced. Now, the investors look for the leadership within the
organization (Male and Palaiologou, 2015). The quality of the leader heading the
organization has become an element of importance. This requires that the leadership stands as
per the perception and expectation of the shareholders. Now the success and failure of an
organization is directly associated with the leader heading the organization.
Another challenge is the implementation of the changes within the organization. The market
has grown volatile and complex in comparison to few decades earlier. The organization, at
present, wants continued updates in the strategies, processes. It has become important that the
structural aspects of the organization are changed continuously so that the competition can be
responded accordingly (Stafford et al, 2015). Few researchers are of the view that the rate

with which the market dynamics are changing, the aspects of changes within the organization
will become core to the decision making (Austin and Hessel, 2014). However, it has been
identified that the ability of the organization to adoption is limited. Kotter found that the near
to 70% of the change efforts fail to hit the ground completely (as cited in Hornstein, 2015).
Thus, Munro and Capellino (2016) assert that there is a need of strong leadership within the
organization that can drive the expected change to meet the expectation.
Another challenging aspect is the increasing level of stress on the employees of the
organization. The increased volatility and complexity in the environment have gradually
increased the pressure on the employees to improve their performance every other day and
give results as per the expectation of the organization (Arroliga et al, 2014). It has been found
that the employees face fear of losing job, stress to learn new things in the shorter period of
time, and others (Schleicher, 2015). The researches have clearly identified that the increased
pressure at work is directly associated with the increase of stress experienced by the
employees. However, there are some contradictory viewpoint which asserts that the not the
pressure, but the behaviours of the organizational leaders impact the level of the stress on the
employees (Renzulli and D’Souza, 2014). Here, it can be stated that the need for a leadership
that can reflect good behaviour is necessary to reduce the stress and improve the work
condition for the employees.
Factors of Change for 21st Century Leadership
The turn of 21st century has changed the way things were being handled in the past. The
researchers have identified that the methods that were successful in the past are no longer
effective enough to drive the organization as per the expectation (Arroliga et al, 2014). It has
been found that the employees expect more than salary from the organization. The salary as a
single factor for motivation and pushing the productivity has changed (O’Connell, 2014). The

factors such as the recognition of good work, information sharing, participation in the
decision, and others have assumed the roles in improving the employee productivity (Frankel
and PGCMS, 2017). The changes in the orientation among the employees towards the
organizations in terms of increased expectation require that the leadership take right decisions
to retain them (Green, 2016).
The 21st Century leadership requires orientation towards handling the unique challenges and
the opportunities that are hitting the horizon every other day (Ayub et al, 2014). The pace in
the technological advancements has opened new opportunities and changes in the way
products were marketed and the customers were acquired (Beethan and Sharpe, 2013). The
present scenario requires that the employees are equally engaged with their activities as their
leaders (Bellanca, 2014). The collective engagement at all the levels is imperative for the
success of the organization.
Core Competencies for Leadership
In the 21st century, it is important that the leaders should be able to use their strategic vision
to increase the motivational level of the employees within the organization (Thomson, 2013).
The presence of strategic vision with an organization allows the leaders to build the future of
a vision on predefined framework instead of hunting less important actions that have limited
relevance to the organizational success (Green, 2017). The researchers have identified that
keeping the strategic visions of the company confined to select few within the organization
has limited effect on the progress. In the 21st century, the inclusion of all the employees
within the company has become a necessity (Jaques, 2017; Butler, 2016). The leadership
should be able to effectively communicate the vision to the employees in a manner that it can
motivate them to perform appreciably well. It is imperative to ensure that the employees
agree to adopt and learn complex things for the success of the organization, which in turn can

be possible with an appropriate vision for the organization. The employees should be able to
identify themselves with the vision (O’Connell, 2014). The leader should be able to build
effective strategic vision that achieves multiple goals such as employee growth and welfare,
shareholder value achievement, and client satisfaction.
The leaders should be able to empower the employees of all levels. The reduction in the
favouritism within the organization and paving path to accommodate all the employees on the
positive assessment metrics are likely to improve the collaboration and efficiency (Hanna and
Latchem, 2013; Amanchukwu et al, 2015). The effective leaders are those who are able to
bring together each of the players and get things done. The researchers have identified that
instead of power brokering and controlling the resources, the leaders should consider
themselves as flexible enough to assume various positions such as coaching the employees,
providing necessary information, making decisions, and supporting and listening to the
employees (Daft et al, 2014). The leaders should enable the employees to be self-sufficient
through right empowerment.
The importance of information sharing has increased more than ever before. The appropriate
dissemination of information throughout the organization is important to ensure that all the
employees are on the same page and working towards the betterment of the organization
(Male and Palaiologou, 2015). Apart from the information, the knowledge within the
organization is required to be accumulated, and analysed periodically. The leaders should
ensure that the organization has the repository of knowledge which is easily accessible by all
the individuals within the organization (Staffard et al, 2015; Austin and Hessel, 2014). This
will facilitate learning which will eventually convert into growing organization. The leaders
should be able to pave path for the unrestricted sharing of ideas and information. Moreover,
the researchers suggest that the leaders should be able to tap into the informal channels of
communication (Arroliga et al, 2014; Renzuli and D’Souza, 2014). The formal

communication channels within the organization keep the leaders out of the loop. Therefore,
to ensure that the leaders have access to the true feedback and orientation of entire workforce,
tapping into the informal communication system is suggested.
Conclusion
Overall, it can be stated that the leadership requirement has evolved to a greater extent in the
21st century. The contemporary perspective requires that the leaders should be involved with
the employees to a greater level. The leadership theories that were considered as extremely
effective in the earlier times are less fruitful in the current situation. The theory such as
transformational leadership is being considered as the need of the hour. The employees
within the organization are looking for the leaders who can be the guide and help them
envision the future with which they can resonate. Moreover, it is expected that the leaders
will take all the necessary steps to increase the improvements of the leaders. The study has
helped understand the market situation has become volatile and it has become a necessity that
the along with the leader, the entire organization adapts to the changes. This requires strong
leadership.

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