Critical Issues in Business Leadership: A 21st Century Perspective

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes the role of leadership in organizational strategy.

CRITICAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS
Leadership in the 21st century and strategic development of organisations
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review............................................................................................................................2
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6
1

Introduction
In present situations of businesses, leadership is the key aspect that deals with the several areas
of the business and are a vital part of any organization. Goetsch and Davis (2014) have
illustrated that, with the dynamic needs of the consumers and changing business scenarios,
managing the quality and excellence for the organisations is becoming difficult. So, in these
conditions of the businesses, the role of 21st-century leaders in these scenarios can be highly
positive for the organisations that can help in developing them strategically. Regarding this same
concept, this paper is an exploratory study that will involve the review of the several kinds of
literature, articles, journals and academic sources in order to determine the role of Leadership in
the 21st century and strategic development of organisations.
Literature Review
The notion to develop excellence operating organisation in the 21st century, have to deal with the
effective leadership and managerial aspect within the business. According to Jaques (2017), the
strategic development and growing organisation is the one which is working under several
leaders at different levels. Drucker (2012) has mentioned several challenges that occur and arise
in this digital age of the businesses like market competition, unbalanced political situations, the
advent of new technologies, dissatisfaction and stress level of the employees etc. Jaques (2017)
gave a highly efficient solution for these concerns and described that imposing effective
leadership practices in this 21st century can lead towards the desired directions for the business in
future. The study conducted by Schalock and Verdugo (2012) has opted the concern for the
several disabilities and shortcomings and they found the results that, in order to enhance the
strategic capabilities and value of the organisation, the management should impose and develop a
critically analysed strategic business plan to be implemented and for this, leaders of the
organisation plays a very crucial role in the business. one of the greatest examples for effective
leadership shown to the world is by Lee Kuan Yew whose rule for 30 years in the country has
taken the country towards prosperity. From the British colony, people dying from food scarcity,
economic crisis etc. has now become the hub for several operations of the world (The
Washington Post, 2015).
2

Beetham and Sharpe (2013) said that there is a need to rethink on the businesses as the situations
are changing and with the advent of the latest technologies that can help a business in achieving
the higher standards and milestones are also the forces that have affected severely at some areas
as exceptions. Rethinking and being creative is what it requires to be a successful leader, and a
simple example is of Sim Wong Hoo known as a Creative man with vision in developing
countries like Singapore. But, in order to overcome those challenges and concerns, leaders can
play a crucial role in resolving these intermediate issues. Schalock and Verdugo (2012) have also
illustrated the highly effective approaches for making a strategic change in the organisation like
leadership and effective thinking skills, communication, problem-solving ways, quality
improvement, develop high-performance teams etc. and all of them can be achieved effectively
with the help of effective leaders.
Morden (2016) has created an effective study defining the strategic management principles for
an organisation and there is a need to involve some of the models for making change like Kurt
Lewin's three-step model of change, Kotter’s theory, McKinsey’s 7S model, ADKAR model etc.
which can be easily implemented within organisations in order to redesign the organisations
under the effective leaders. Hallencreutz and Turner (2011) have also explored the best possible
practices for the organisational change and the results are almost the same with the additional
focus on the leadership and its benefits. In this subject, Hitt et al. (2010) presented the strategic
leadership approaches for the 21st century organisations and described that the leadership with
capabilities like sharing a common vision, try to develop new core competencies, emphasise on
new core competencies of others, deploy new technologies and engage in the valuable strategies
for the sustainability of the businesses to create a healthy organisational culture. Inspiring
Leadership Now (2019) has published an article on 10 most successful and popular leaders in
Singapore and the first and most dominant name is of Lee Kuan Yew, referred as LKY in his
nations and neighbouring countries because of his leadership skills and talent with dedication
and passion to lead the world.
Bush (2013) has taken this subject and illustrated that distributed leadership has now become the
normatively preferred model for the leadership in the 21st century. He also said that leadership is
the phenomena that may arise anywhere within an organisation and it is not just confined to the
formal leaders with the position. For instance, the Loo Leong Thye who took the challenge from
3

himself and now the largest and most successful computer and software stores owner (Shazni,
2016). The challenges of the 21st century require leadership at every level to make the things
right and lead the people towards desired aims. Beetham and Sharpe (2013) reconsidered the
value of the leaders in growing organisations and has discussed in some ways, theories, models
or concepts that leaders should follow in order to gain a strategic and competitive advantage in
the markets. Voon, et al. (2011) performed a study on the relationship between the job
satisfaction of the employees and the leadership styles implemented and said that these two
factors are the fundamentals for any organisation’s success. He also said that the capable leaders
facilitate a strategic direction to the organisation and lead followers to achieve the desired goals.
In a similar vein, he illustrated that satisfied employees can lead to the greatest results for the
organisation and positively affects its sustainability.
Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy (2014) and Du, et al. (2013) has researched on the subjects of
leadership and both the studies can be linked with the benefits by effective leadership skills for
the organisation. One illustrates several types of leadership styles that can be utilised to enhance
the operations functions and practices within an organisation. At the same time, another paper
has linked these types of leadership to create a global value of the organisation with the
implementation of the corporate social responsibility respectively. The supportive study by
Yahaya and Ebrahim (2016) also states that leadership is the key to organisational commitment
for the employees and other stakeholders. They focused several areas within the businesses that
can be related to the leadership and tried to determine the best possible ways to enhance the
performance of the organisation as a whole. There are leaders with transitional styles,
transformation styles, situations styles, diverse traits and skills and some unique core strengths
that can make the others grow or the whole organisation. So, in today’s world, developing the
organisation from within can be successfully be achieved through the support and guidance of
effective leaders and dynamic personalities.
Carter and Greer (2013) have pointed out the organisational performance subject and the role of
strategic leadership which has made this possible for everyone in the diverse and complex
business fields. The studies conducted by several researchers and philosopher's sayings is
complete goes in only one direction, that the leaders are the key players in the development of
the organizations and its strategic development in the 21st century. House et al. (2013) have
4

researched a while and obtained results for the CEO’s and global leaders from 24 countries and
the results are found to be positive for those who have a vision to succeed and a workforce who
follow their leadership. There are several examples that can be used to demonstrate this
vivacious role in the strategic development of the organisations and in focus to the various
sceneries in the countries like Malaysia, Singapore, India, China, UK etc. the leaders are not only
taking their organisations to the global stages but also enhancing the name and value to their
countries successfully through their skills, traits and knowledge to lead.
Conclusion
The study has been aimed at delivering a deepen knowledge about the role of the leaders in the
strategic organizational growth in the 21st century and has illustrated the saying, results and pose
a highlight on some effective articles, journals or open source academic data so as to achieve the
best possible results. The aforementioned report can be concluded with the statements that
whenever a successor the growth of an organisation is talked about, the name of their leaders will
not be convicted by other dominating forces. Almost all the research papers, articles and books
have pined towards a single result that the leaders play a very crucial role in the strategic
development of the organisations in this highly complicated market situations. In addition to this,
it can also be stated that the role of the leaders is important not only for the growth of an
organisation but also to the whole country and these people should start focusing on their tasks
and leaders who are taking them towards sustainability in future.
5

References
Beetham, H. and Sharpe, R. eds., 2013. Rethinking pedagogy for a digital age: Designing for
21st-century learning. routledge.
Bush, T., 2013. Distributed leadership: The model of choice in the 21st century.
Carter, S.M. and Greer, C.R., 2013. Strategic leadership: Values, styles, and organizational
performance. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 20(4), pp.375-393.
Drucker, P., 2012. Management challenges for the 21st century. Routledge.
Du, S., Swaen, V., Lindgreen, A. and Sen, S., 2013. The roles of leadership styles in corporate
social responsibility. Journal of business ethics, 114(1), pp.155-169.
Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Hallencreutz, J. and Turner, D.M., 2011. Exploring organizational change best practice: are there
any clear-cut models and definitions?. International Journal of Quality and Service
Sciences, 3(1), pp.60-68.
Hitt, M.A., Haynes, K.T. and Serpa, R., 2010. Strategic leadership for the 21st century. Business
Horizons, 53, pp.437-444.
House, R.J., Dorfman, P.W., Javidan, M., Hanges, P.J. and de Luque, M.F.S., 2013. Strategic
leadership across cultures: GLOBE study of CEO leadership behaviour and effectiveness in 24
countries. Sage Publications.
Inspiring Leadership Now, 2019. 10 Top Leadership Lessons To Learn From Singapore’s
Legendary Late Leader Lee Kuan Yew, online available at
https://www.inspiringleadershipnow.com/lee-kuan-yew-top-leadership-lessons/ last accessed on
15th April 2019.
Jaques, E., 2017. Requisite organization: A total system for effective managerial organization
and managerial leadership for the 21st century. Routledge.
6

Morden, T., 2016. Principles of strategic management. Routledge.
Nanjundeswaraswamy, T.S. and Swamy, D.R., 2014. Leadership styles. Advances in
management, 7(2), p.57.
Schalock, R.L. and Verdugo, M.A., 2012. A Leadership Guide for Today's Disabilities
Organizations: Overcoming Challenges and Making Change Happen. Brookes Publishing
Company. PO Box 10624, Baltimore, MD 21285.
Shazni, M., 2016. 21 Influential People In Tech Who Are Putting Singapore On The World Map,
online available at https://vulcanpost.com/590297/21-influential-tech-people-singapore/ last
accessed on 15th April 2019.
The Washington Post, 2015. Lee Kuan Yew, who led Singapore into prosperity over the 30-year
rule, dies at 91, online available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/lee-
kuan-yew-who-led-singapore-into-prosperity-over-30-year-rule-dies-at-91/2015/03/22/00f7ccbe-
d0d4-11e4-a62f-ee745911a4ff_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f82f8f2dfd10 last
accessed on 15th April 2019.
Voon, M.L., Lo, M.C., Ngui, K.S. and Ayob, N.B., 2011. The influence of leadership styles on
employees’ job satisfaction in public sector organizations in Malaysia. International Journal of
Business, Management and Social Sciences, 2(1), pp.24-32.
Yahaya, R. and Ebrahim, F., 2016. Leadership styles and organizational commitment: a literature
review. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), pp.190-216.
7