Leadership Challenges and Issues: A Comprehensive Report

This report delves into the multifaceted realm of leadership, focusing on the challenges and issues faced by leaders within organizations. It begins by identifying key challenges such as flexibility, creativity, change capability, strategic leadership, and the management of fiscal and human resources. The report then explores several leadership theories, including the Trait theory, Contingency theory, and Transformational Leadership theory, providing a rationale for their application in addressing these challenges. A literature review summarizes the views of various authors. Finally, the report outlines a systematic process for overcoming these challenges, emphasizing the importance of sound interpersonal engagement, strategic decision-making, and the implementation of effective communication strategies to foster a collaborative and productive work environment. The report highlights the need for leaders to adapt to dynamic environments, embrace change, and effectively manage resources to achieve organizational goals.

POSITION
PAPER

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Leadership Challenges And Issues:........................................................................................1
A Rationale And Theorized Approach To The Leadership Challenges :...............................3
A Systematic Process Of How These Challenge And Issues Can Be Addressed:.................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is the ability of the person to influence others to work towards the
accomplishment of the common goals. There are various leadership approaches and concept
which helps the business in managing their execution so that the business can attain their goals
within the given time frame. Every business is required to have leaders who are capable of
influencing individuals, managing operations, formulating plans and strategies and also guiding
the employees with the appropriate direction so that work can be carried out in the best possible
manner. This assignment is prepared so that the emphasis on the certain factors can be given
such as different challenges and issues which are faced during the leadership. This written
document will also cover the study about various leadership theories and procedures which is to
be used to overcome these challenges and issues of the leadership so that the objectives and
vision of the business can be gained through the procedure of collectivism.
MAIN BODY
Leadership Challenges And Issues:
Every business association works well with the help of the leaders who leads in the
business in order to guide and motivate their employees. Leadership is termed to be the wider
concept in every business as leaders are whole and soul of the business who drive the association
towards the attainment of their goals and objectives and also shares the vision with the others so
that all the employees within the firm can follow willingly(Northouse, 2018). While leading the
leaders within the business have to undergo number of issues and challenges. These issues and
challenges may leads to decreased level of productivity and efficiency of both leaders as well as
the employees working in the business. There are various challenges which are faced by the
organisation due to the lack of leadership such as :
Flexibility : This is the big issue and challenge to the concept of leadership as the
business is still operating their business with the traditional form of operations due to which they
are not able to compete with the competitors prevailing in the market. As the business which
were operated in the traditional period of times were wholly lead and managed by the leaders,
and the subordinates were not allowed to give their view regarding the business operation so
maintaining flexibility in the business is a big challenge to the leadership as in today's era of time
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no leaders can work on traditional way of doing business as this will lead to decrease level of
their productivity.
Creativity : Creativity is also a challenge to the leaders in the business as every business
believe on operating the operations with the same methods which were used in the past without
implementation of new and creative ways of doing business. Use of the traditional method of
operating the business will unable the business to survive in present scenario of the competitive
market. As during this modern time the businesses in the market are using different styles and
innovative ideas so that they can easily maintain their survival and can satisfy their customers as
per the requirement of the products with creativity and uniqueness(Luthans and et. al., 2013).
Change capability : Leaders in the business have to face this challenge of change
capability as this involves modification in the way of operating a business activity. The leaders
who are leading the business without any change in their procedure of doing business will also
leads the business in today's times to the decreased level of their profitability. As change is the
only constant thing which the business are required to adopt over a period of time to maintain
their sustainability and brand image in the mind of customers. If the business will produce the
same product without any change in its packaging and quality the customers will not buy that
product and this will decreased the goodwill of the business in the market which is a huge
challenge for the leaders.
Strategic leadership : Strategic leadership is also a huge challenge to the leadership as
this involves empowering each and every individual to form decision which is not possible for
the business to establish. As the organisation which is operating in the market believes that all
the necessary decision in the business are to be taken by the senior authority and the subordinates
present with the business will only follows the guidelines given by the senior manager. Which
will decrease the level of communication and engagement of the employees in the business. This
is the most important challenge which is now faced by the leadership.
Managing Fiscal and people resources: This is a huge issue to the leadership within the
business as it is not easy for the leader to manage all the monetary values, resources and policies
significantly. As managing these resources involves too much efforts, skills and knowledge
which is not necessary to be present in each and every leaders present within the organisations.
Because of this the challenge in front of the leaders arises for managing these in the best possible
manner(Northouse, 2018).
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Responding to competing tensions and remaining relevant : This is termed as the vital
challenge that is faced by the leadership as the business environment is full of uncertainties and
risk which are unpredictable. So the leaders have to face this problems as the leaders are not well
prepared to responds to these tensions and uncertainties at that immediate time when they occur
which can lead the business position to the stake. Responding to competing tensions and
remaining relevant will also lead to the leadership with number of challenges(Dinh and et. al.,
2014).
A Rationale And Theorized Approach To The Leadership Challenges :
There are various theories of leadership which will enable in understanding the implementation
of these theories with the relation of these different challenges and issues of the leadership.
These theories are as mentioned under:
Trait theory of Leadership : This theory of leadership as been given by The Great Man
who stated that leaders are not made they are born inhabiting the qualities of the leaders in them.
This theory is considered to be as the Yardstick which help in assessing the individual leadership
qualities and character. This theory of the leadership can be a tool to resolve the problem of
flexibility which Is a huge challenge to the leadership as this is directly linked to the
psychological trait of the individual whether they can cope up with this situation or not. And this
will also assists them in identifying the strength and weakness of the mar4ket place so that
corrective measures to solve these problem can be taken(Sharma & Jain, 2013).
Contingency theory of Leadership : This is also situational based theory which states
that the success of the leaders does not depends upon his abilities and skills but on the factor of
how effective the approach of leadership styles matches with the particular situation. This theory
can be used to solve the problem of the responding to competing tensions and remaining relevant
as this theory is concerned with the situations which are caused uncertainly and also with the
responding to that particular situation in the most relevant manner. This will also aid in resolving
this challenge by enabling the leader to use the techniques so that these uncertainties can be
resolved(Heinecke Kloibhofer & Krzeminska, 2014).
Transformational Leadership Theory : This theory is related to the concept of
determining whether the changes are needed or not and also leads to inspire people to work
towards the accomplishment of the remarkable or unexpected results. This theory can be a useful
tool in resolving the challenge of change capabilities as this is mainly concerned with the
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adaptation of the changes so that the goal of the firm can be achieved in the most effective
manner. This will also support in resolving these issues by boosting the morale and motivation
of the employees to work within the business.
All these above mentioned theories are the one which can be implement in the business to
resolve their challenges and issues which the leaders are facing while operating the business
successfully in the market by competing their rival firms. Implementation of these theories
within the business will also enable the association with the detailed knowledge regarding the
problems which have been caused and the solution to resolve these problems in the best possible
manner(Hanisch & Wald, 2012).
LITERATURE REVIEW
AS per the views of Prachi Juneja ,2019, Leadership and the skills of leadership are
coined as the most important factor within the business. As the concept of leadership within the
business support the association in building strong relationship between employer and
employees. Along with this, this also help in building the morale and self confidence among the
employees by guiding them on each and every aspects of their performance due to which they
feel confident enough to perform operation with an effective manner. Leadership also influence
the workers within the business by motivating them to initiates the actions so that peaceful work
environment can be established(Importance of Leadership, 2019).
According to Jennifer Bridges, 2018, Leaders are the person who fosters some qualities
and attributes which enables them in their leadership. In order to lead a group of people their
comes so many challenges along with it. While leading there are various challenges which are
faced by the leaders such as conflicts between leadership and management regarding the
procedure to carry out the work, another one is lack of support to the leaders while managing the
organisation and employees working within the business. These challenges have lower the
business productivity and profitability margin. A leader also have to face the problem from
changing and challenging environment. All these challenges have also impacted the environment
of the association and its procedure of working. One of the major challenges in front of the
leaders is personal limitation where they have the fear to take risk and failure due to which their
effectiveness to lead and manage people within the business is also decreased and their
confidence for managing the people also gets decreased which is the key for becoming a
successful leader(Challenges for Leadership, 2018).
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As per the views of Kendra Cheery, 2019, leaders become excel in leading just because
of these different different theories related to the leadership. These theories are such as Great
man theory, trait theory, contingency theory etc. all these theories are based on the some qualities
and abilities of the leadership to lead a group of people. Implementation of these theories are
done within the association as per the requirement. As great man stated that a leader is the one
who inherit the qualities of leadership within them by their birth whereas the contingency theory
states that there is no particular style to lead people , leadership occurs by judging the situation as
per the requirement. All these theories has enables the business in operating their operations in
the most successful manner(Major leadership theories, 2019).
A Systematic Process Of How These Challenge And Issues Can Be Addressed:
There are many challenges which can arise in the business at any point of time. It is essential for
the business to overcome these challenges of leadership as these challenges have lower down the
productivity as well as the profitability of the business. These are several ways which can
support the business in overcoming these challenges such as :
Sound interpersonal engagement : This is the most important factor that can help in
overcoming the leadership challenges as this involves engagement of each and every individual
in the process of strategic decision making due to which the leader can easily communicate with
their subordinates regarding the problems and can come to the decisions which are beneficial to
the employees as well as the leaders within the business. This will also establish relationship
among all the employees due to which the leader can cordially manage the work and can avoid
the issue related to the duplication of the work(Giltinane, 2013).
Effective communication : The process of establishing effective communication within
the business will also enable the business to overcome the challenges of the leadership as in this
process each and every individual working in the business will be communicated about how the
working should be done and proper guidance by the leaders will be given through which the
employees will perform the task in the most effective manner. Through the effective
communication the leaders can also overcome their issue of flexibility as this will enable the
leader to easily guide their employees to modify their way of doing the operations.
Adjusting to the role : This is the core element to overcome the challenges which are
faced by the leaders in their leadership as this factor is concerned with the process of indulging
of employees to each and every situation prevailing in the business. Adjusting to the role will
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help the leaders to easily cope up with the drastically changing environment and demands of the
customers as through this the authority and responsibility to the employees will be given so that
they can cope up with the changes as per the requirement of the situation(DuBrin, 2015).
Proper delegation of authority and responsibility : This will enable the business in
overcoming the issues which the leaders face as delegation of authority and responsibility within
the business will empower the employees to take decision regarding the problems which have
arise uncertainly without waiting to get permitted from the top management (Dinh and et. al.,
2014). This will reduce the work burden from the top management and will engage the
employees in each and every activity due to which they will feel motivated to work for the
association.
Openness towards the adoption of changes : Openness to accept the changes will
enable the leaders to easily establish the changes in the organisation with the help of employees
so that the required demand for the product and services by the customers get fulfilled as per the
prevailing market situation. Adoption of the changes will also enable the leader to adopt new
ways to perform the business operations so that they can easily compete with the rival firms in
the market and can gain a competitive advantage(Lussier & Achua, 2015).
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CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report it can be concluded that the concept of Leadership in
the business plays a crucial role as this involves driving the individual towards the attainment of
the organisation visions and goals. Along with this various challenges and issues which have
been faced by the business in the leadership process have also been considered. All the different
theories which are trait theory, contingency theory and transformational theory have also been
mentioned. At last, some measures to resolve these issues and challenges have also been
inferred so that the issues can be resolved and the business can achieve their goals in the best
possible manner.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Luthans, F. & et. al., (2013). Meeting the leadership challenge of employee well-being through
relationship PsyCap and health PsyCap. Journal of leadership & organizational studies.
20(1). 118-133.
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Dinh, J. E. & et. al., (2014). Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current
theoretical trends and changing perspectives. The Leadership Quarterly. 25(1). 36-62.
Heinecke, A., Kloibhofer, M., & Krzeminska, A. (2014, May). Leadership in social enterprise:
how to manage yourself and the team. World Economic Forum.
Sharma, M. K. & Jain, S. (2013). Leadership management: Principles, models and theories.
Global Journal of Management and Business Studies. 3(3). 309-318.
Hanisch, B. & Wald, A. (2012). A bibliometric view on the use of contingency theory in project
management research. Project Management Journal. 43(3). 4-23.
Giltinane, C. L. (2013). Leadership styles and theories. Nursing Standard. 27(41).
DuBrin, A. J. (2015). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Nelson Education.
Lussier, R. N. & Achua, C. F. (2015). Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development.
Nelson Education.
Online
Importance of Leadership, 2019.[Online].Available Through;
<https://www.managementstudyguide.com/importance_of_leadership.htm>
Challenges for Leadership, 2018.[Online].Available Through;
<https://www.projectmanager.com/training/leadership-challenges>
Major leadership theories, 2019.[Online].Available Through;
<https://www.verywellmind.com/leadership-theories-2795323>
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