Organisational leadership Assignment PDF

Running head: ORGANISATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Organisational Leadership
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

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ORGANISATIONAL LEADERSHIP
In academic and management research leadership is one of the most popular topics. Over
the years the approach of leaders have observed a change in the approach due to the changing
environmental factors such as politics, economics, technology, society etc. Any organisation
regardless of its objectives and purpose needs leaders to fulfill the objectives, a leader is a person
who shared the perspectives of the followers and strives towards achieving the objectives set by
the organisation. The role that a leader plays in the organisation depends on the type of
organisation that they are associated with, this in turn reflects on the style of leadership adapted
by the leader as well. The role of a leader has evolved with time, the recognition of responsibility
and identification of duties beyond the job role has become evident in the 21st century. A leader
is a person who is can motivate, inspire and encourage a group of people and develop a sense of
enthusiasm among them (D’Innocenzo, Mathieu & Kukenberger, 2016). There are several types
of leadership explained in academics, but best style of leadership is said to be the one that is best
suited for the given situation and circumstance. A leader is responsible for the accomplishment
of the Organsiational goal as well as and the approach of the employee or subordinates towards
the organization they are associated with (Yang, 2015). The purpose of this essay is to establish
the difference in the “old paradigm” and “new paradigm” of leadership, thereby determining the
characteristics and behavior of a leader of the 21st century.
Firstly it is important to establish the significance of a leader, in order to fully understand
the characteristics of a leader in the 21st century. A leader guides the people in the direction of
success and this success can be measured by achieving the goal. This support and guidance is
important as people look ahead for another person to tell them what is to be done and how is it to
be done. Motivation among the people in an organisation is essential in order to improve the

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ORGANISATIONAL LEADERSHIP
efficiency and the commitment of the subordinate towards the organisation. He or she
encourages the people to strive better and achieve greater accomplishment. Leader also makes
the process of work streamline and develops confidence among the followers which also helps in
improving the performance in the long run.
With changing time and development of technology and lifestyle among the people the
concept of leadership is evolving as the attitude and the features of people are also changing.
Based on the features and the characteristics of people born in a certain time periods their
behavioral traits and approaches are judged. For example: there is clear different approach
towards work of Millennial compared to Baby Boomers or Generation X. this is the main reason
why there is a need to have a different approach in leadership as well. The old paradigm is based
on trait theory, contingency leadership etc, the focus of these theories that were formulated
during the 1960s is the relationship between the leader and the followers and it helped in
predicting the outcome of the venture and the performance of the people. The new paradigm of
leadership is based on the theories like charismatic leadership, and the highly influential
transformational-transactional leadership theory, laissez-faire leadership etc. The focus of these
theories is on the subordinate and the way a style is going to impact the subordinate rather than
focusing on the leader.
According to the trait theory of leadership, the characteristics of a leader are in born and
therefore a person is a born leader rather than developing characteristics of a leader in the
lifetime. The theory entails the qualities that make up a leader and it also states that a leader who
successfully establishes should have abilities and personality traits that are different from the
subordinates or the followers. Thus, the probability of having more than one leader in a
community is absent. The theory states some of the prerequisites that are essential for being a