Essay on Leadership Challenges: A Study of Modern Organizations

This essay delves into the multifaceted challenges confronting leaders in the contemporary business environment. It examines critical issues such as maintaining managerial effectiveness, the difficulty of hiring and retaining talented employees in a competitive market, and the complexities of motivating a diverse workforce. The essay also explores the challenges of team building, managing change within organizations, and the importance of time management and role clarity. The author highlights the need for leaders to adapt to changing business systems, emphasize employee development, and adopt strategies like mentoring and building synergistic teams to achieve positive outcomes. The essay emphasizes that effective leaders should be committed to time management, clear communication, and fostering a culture of support and development to navigate the challenges of the modern workplace. The essay underscores the importance of adaptability, strategic thinking, and a focus on employee engagement as essential qualities for successful leadership in today's complex and dynamic world.

2019
The challenge of leadership today

Leadership challenges
Essay on: The challenge of leadership today
Leadership in the workplace has a major role in controlling the organizational activities. It is
considered as the capacity of the company that assists in attaining the set goals. It can be said
that leadership is considered as the holistic approach that emphasizes on the culture of the
company and on its management. Leadership also offers the direction to the company that is
followed by the employees so that they can reach their destination in an effective manner. It can
be stated that leadership emphasizes on setting and attaining of the goals and according to that
the actions are taken to beat the high competition level but is concerned with the management
and the kind of culture that is built for the workers (Alavi & Gill, 2017). The paper will focus on
the challenges that leaders face in the business world. It is necessary for the leaders to maintain
control over the operational functions so that positive outcome can be attained.
The challenges that are faced by the leaders are different in nature and it is faced at the time of
managing the overall activities of the company. It can be stated that the major challenge is
concerned with maintaining the managerial effectiveness. In the present business world, it is
difficult for the leaders to enhance the skills among the employees such as strategic thinking,
engagement level and also time management. The leaders in the workplace tries to enhance the
overall effectiveness of the activities so they tries to maintain the managerial effectiveness but on
the other hand it can be considered as the major challenge that is faced at the time of managing
the activities (Bens, 2017). It is observed that to develop the skills among the employees is
considered as the tough job for the leaders as the employees have different attitude towards the
activities of the company. Every employee has a different attitude in relation to the activities of
the organization. So, to boost the managerial effectiveness is considered as the challenge for the
leaders in the present era.
Hiring talented employees is the challenge that is faced by the leaders. In today’s world, the
candidates have wide opportunity, so it creates difficulty for the leader to select the right
employee for the right job. It is not easy to select the employees who possess the basic skills that
are important for achieving the set goals and objectives. There are many employees who are not
dedicated towards their work, so these types of employees create barriers in relation to the
overall growth and development of the managerial operations in the workplace. In the highly
competitive market, it can be said that to find the talent employees for managing the work is the
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Leadership challenges
challenge that is faced by the leaders. There are many companies that have the capability to use
the latest technologies tools, so for this it is important to recruit the employees who have the
basic knowledge related to different tools and know how to manage the overall activities of the
company. So, in this case it is challenging for the leaders to find the employees who are
dedicated and possess basic skills in relation to controlling the functional activities of the
company (Lisak, Erez, Sui & Lee, 2016).
Motivation is considered as the challenging job for the leaders as the workforce keeps on
changing. The employees become an essential part of the company with different needs and
expectations. It can be stated that different workers have different values and beliefs and
thinking. But all the companies are not having in-depth knowledge concerned with diversity in
their employees and thus the leader’s face the challenge concerned with the different was of
motivating the diverse workforce. For the leaders it is the challenge to understand the different
needs of the people in relation to motivation (Chan et al., 2017).
To involve and encourage the employees to participate in the decision making process is the
difficult job for the leaders as they have to take accurate decision in relation to motivate the
employees by considering the effective strategies. So, to find out effective strategy for particular
employee is the challenge as it requires in-depth understanding of the employee’s behavior. It is
important for the leaders to cope up with the challenges in context to the changing business
systems and also proper workload and distribution of work. If this remains a challenge for the
leaders then it can affect the growth and also the productivity of the company in the highly
competitive market (Guillaume, Dawson, Otaye‐Ebede, Woods & West, 2017).
It is examined that to lead a team is the difficult and a challenging job for the leaders. The
difficult situation that can take place is concerned with team building, team development and
also with the management of team. It is necessary to maintain the pride and to support a team so
that it could be easy to enhance the productivity in the workplace. To build a team is the toughest
work as there are many people who different reactions to the activities that are allocated to them.
The leaders also have to think that what should be done to make the new team (Mayfield &
Mayfield, 2016).
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Leadership challenges
For leaders the challenge also takes place at the time of guiding about the change in the
workplace. The difficulty is faced at the time of managing the team and to reduce the resistance
to change behavior of the employees. To give proper understanding and also to accept the
changes by the employees, the leaders have to face the difficulty. There are many questions that
are asked by the employees at the time of implementing the change in the workplace. So, it is the
responsibility of the leaders to focus on creates positive thinking and also to make the employees
clear about the changes that are implemented. Answering to the questions asked by the
employees is the difficult situation that takes place when the leaders implement the changes in
relation to the activities performed by them. So, it can be said that this can also be considered as
the major challenge that is faced by the leaders at the time of managing the activities in Today’s
world ( Rapp, Gilson,Mathiee & Ruddy, 2016).
Leadership plays an important role in guiding the employees and also it assist in managing the
entire work of the company. But by analyzing the challenges faced by the leaders in the present
era, it can be said that there are many things that should be changed so that it could be easy to
minimize the overall challenges faced by the leaders in the present business environment. It is
essential that the challenges of leading in such a complex times should be managed by
emphasizing on different factors (Remington, 2016).
Time management is considered as one of the important aspect that should be considered by the
leaders so that it could be easy to achieve the positive results. If time management is considered
by the company then it would be possible for leader concerned with managerial effectiveness.
Time management can assist in dividing the time by focusing on giving priority to the activities.
So, it can be stated that time management is considered as the effective strategy that should be
considered by the leaders to deal with the challenges of the leading times. If leaders should focus
on proper allotment of time according to the priority then it would be easy to resolve the
challenges that are faced by the leaders in the present time (Kasemsap, 2016).
It is also important to make the changes in the overall scheduling of the meetings. The challenge
related to leading the team can be managed if the leaders emphasizes on conducting the meeting
on weekly basis instead of monthly basis. It is necessary for the leaders to schedule the meetings
on weekly basis so that it could be easy to solve the queries of the employees and it will also
boost the coordination with the other team members present in the workplace. To lead a team is
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Leadership challenges
not an easy job but it is important for the leaders to lead the team with proper planning and
coordination so that the efficiency in relation to the work of the employees can be maintained
and it will also help in boosting the success ratio in the highly competitive business world. This
is one of the major changes that should be considered by the leaders so that the organizational
operations can attain positive outcome (Santos, Caetano & Tavares, 2015).
Role clarity is also the factor in which the leader should emphasize so that the challenges can be
minimized. It has been noticed that there should be clarity in the working structure of the
employees so that they can complete their work on time and also it will assist in attaining the
positive results. If the workers have role clarity in their working then they will be able to be
efficient towards the allocated work. Clarity in the roles is also known as meeting the challenges
in relation to the difficult times. It can be stated that this is the basic responsibility of the leaders
to bring clarity among the employees in relation to the activities which they will perform in the
workplace (Chiu, Owens & Tesluk, 2016).
It relation to all the challenges faced by the leaders it is recommended that it is necessary to
focus on some traits related with leadership as it will assist in bringing improvisation in the
different leadership development programs. The challenge related with developing the personal
effectiveness in relation to the skills such as time management and decision making can be
minimized if the leader focuses on discovering and leveraging the overall power of the skills.
The leaders should focus on the factors such as goal setting, prioritization and also delegation of
the work so that it could be easy to attain the positive outcome. This can help the leader to boost
the personal effectiveness of the employees and also they will be able to give their best towards
the work (Sharma & Rai, 2015).
It has been observed that the challenge related with developing employees and leading a team
can be minimized if the leader focuses on the three strategies that can help in leading the team in
the competitive business world. To lead a team, it is important for the leader to focus on setting
an example by telling the employees about the importance of completing the entire task on time.
The leaders should emphasize on delivering the projects on time so that they can set an example
in front of their employees. It can be said that the employee considers the approach that are seen
by them. The second strategy on emphasis should be given relates with mentoring, coaching and
developing the teams. It is important to take time to listen to the queries of the employees and if
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Leadership challenges
they need any suggestions it should be offered to them so that the benefits can be attained
effectively. The leaders should focus on investing on the people so that they can get the benefits
in a proper manner. The third strategy emphasizes on managing the team effectiveness by
focusing on the strength and also by building the synergistic team that can help in attaining
positive results. Therefore, it can be stated that these are the strategies that should be considered
by the leaders so that the challenge related to leading the team can be minimized and it will help
in attaining the positive outcome in the competitive market. With the help of these strategies the
leaders can also focuses on the maintaining the values of the company (Fransen, Steffens,
Haslam, Vanbeselaere, Vande Broek & Boen, 2016).
It is recommended that guiding change is also the challenge that is faced by the leaders and it can
sometimes help in overcoming the resistance to change. Change is now considered as the nee
norm in the present business world that helps to manage the overall activities of the company. To
guide the change, it is important for the leaders to focus on starting early that can help the
company in managing the activities in an effective manner. The team members should also be
involved in the decision making process of the company as it will help in reducing the resistance
to change of the employees. It is not possible for the leader to implement each idea but this will
help the people to know that the value is given to their opinions. It also helps in maintaining the
overall process of decision making that can assist in accomplishing the set goals and objectives
of the company (Brescoll, 2016).
The leaders should emphasize on welcoming the resistance but there are many leaders who
believe that resistance is not good. But it can be stated that resistance is good as it helps to know
that the reason behind managing the overall operations of the company. The emphasis is given
on the phase in which it is said that Good leaders understands that resistance is considered a
natural side effect that can result in considering the right step. These are considered as the best
way that can assist in managing the resistance to change of the employees in the workplace and it
also helps in attaining the positive outcome in relation to the overall operations of the business
(Rapp, Gilson,Mathiee & Ruddy, 2016).
Training and development can also be considered as the strategy that should be implemented in
the workplace so that it could be easy to enhance the basic skills of the employees in the
workplace. Training is known as one of the essential aspect that assist in boosting the skills of
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Leadership challenges
the employees but it can be said that it is the responsibility of the leaders to plan the process of
training in a proper manner so that it could be easy to enhance the knowledge of the employees
in a proper manner. Through training the employees get the direction and the leaders should
determine that the workers who are not able to perform well should be offered training on the
first priority so that it could be easy to attain the positive results. Therefore, it can be stated that
this is one of the effective strategy that can assist in reducing the challenge related with boosting
the skills and knowledge of the employees in relation to the operations that are offered to
employees to be completed on time (Su & Baird, 2018).
It is recommended that leaders should also focus on Individualism and collectivism approach so
that the challenges that are present in the present world can be minimized effectively. This is one
of the important approaches that help in focusing on the activities that should be conducted with
the each team members. The leaders should focus on giving time to each employee and also the
permission should be given by the leaders to its employees to share their views and opinions with
the management. It can be stated that it is known as one of the best trait in leadership that assist
in guiding the employees when they are facing issues in relation to the overall process (Wu &
Wang, 2015).
Optimism is known as the leadership trait on which the leader should emphasize as it relates with
the source of positive energy. The leaders should communicate with the employees effectively
and also they should be concerned about the welfare of the employees. It is important for them to
inspire and motivate the employees so that they can avoid the personal criticism and focus on
strategic thinking. It is important trait that can help to achieve the consensus of the employees
and can also assist in managing the work in an effective manner. So, it can be stated that the
leaders should be optimistic and should consider this approach of leadership as it will help in
enhancing the leadership (Sommer, Howell & Hadley, 2016).
Accountability is also the leadership approach on which the leaders should emphasize as it
relates with the responsibility concerned with the employee’s performance which is considered
by the leaders. It is important for the leaders to focus on this approach so that it could be easy to
monitor the overall effectiveness of the organizational policies that will help in solving the
problems of the issues faced by the employees. It is known as the best way that can help in
maintaining trust between employers and employees in the workplace. So, it is said that this is
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Leadership challenges
known as the leadership trait that should be considered so that it could be easy to attain the
positive results (Worline & Dutton, 2017).
It can be concluded that leaders has an important role in relation to attaining success in the
market. If leaders do not oversee the organizational operations then it can affect the profitability
and growth ratio of the company. But at the time of managing the activities in today world, the
leaders face many challenges such as managerial effectiveness, Hiring talented employees,
Motivation, leading a team and guiding the employees. These are the challenges that are faced by
the leaders. But to minimize these challenges, the focus should be given on different factors such
as scheduling of the meetings, role clarity, time management, training and development,
Individualism and collectivism approach, accountability and optimism. These are the approaches
that should be considered by the leaders as it can assist in resolving the issues or the challenges
that are faced in the Today’s business world. So it can be said that the leaders should be smart
enough so that the challenges faced by the leaders can be resolved in a smart way. If the
challenges are handled effectively then it can directly affect the employee’s retention in the
workplace and also affect the success ratio of the company in comparison to the competitors
present in the market.
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Leadership challenges
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