Contemporary Leadership Styles: How relevant are they in today’s changing world?

What comes to your mind when you hear the word leadership? In simple English leadership is defined as a relationship through which one can influences the behaviour or actions of other people in organisation/team or in general life (Mullins and Christy, 2016). According to Belbin leadership is not a job but a quality that can be brought to a job for effective performance of both organisation and individuals, the work that leadership comprehends in the context is not allocated but comes about instinctively (Belbin, 1997).  In this blog I would debate on how leadership theories need to be developed in future. Also, ponder on the implication of why research should be conducted on feminine leadership.

John Adair’s simple Action-Centred Leadership model delivers a constructive outline for leadership and the management of any team, group or organisation (Adair, 1973). The three parts of model including ‘tasks needs’, ‘individual needs’ and ‘group needs’ are commonly represented by three overlapping circles. In this model the author argues the close relationship between management and leadership.

I would like to use Imran khan as the great example for understanding this model in a vibrant context. He is one of the world’s most influential leader who has made a huge impact in lives of many individuals with his strong will, determination and struggle. Imran khan is the current prime mister of Pakistan. In one of his interviews Imran stated that leadership comes when you think for others, a leader is always selfless. From cricket to politics, he’s been on a rollercoaster for making a change in a corrupt and mismanaged country (Zeidan, 2019). From the beginning Mr khan knew he had to structure his approach towards understanding tasks, knowing individual needs and group needs, as seen in Adair’s model. This led him to his success.

Imran khan’s advice on leadership: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejlKy8ZFRxc (YouTube, 2019)

Leadership issues in the world

Leadership is misunderstood in many organisations. It is not a title or a job, it is a quality that some people are born with (Loftus, 2016). Leaders can model an optimistic response by transmuting their own thinking and by being open to new ideas. Embracing emotional reactions can have a significant change in one’s life. Cognition and emotions are deeply fussed into human system. A good leader needs to show empathy and understanding towards employee’s emotions. The backlash faced by the Wells Fargo was result of poor leadership and an exemplary leadership issue in the world, Well Fargo is an American multinational financial services company (Loftus, 2016). In 2011, the employees created 1.5 million accounts and half million credit cards for the banks existing customers, which according to Well Fargo consent order with the U.S consumers Financial Protection Bureau ‘may not have been authorised’ this resulted in charging the customers with the fees for account they did not know they had, the company is refunding those fees (Loftus, 2016). This led the company to millions of fraudulent acts, due to fiddled customers the company had a major fall in stock price, millions in fines for bad behaviour due to which the CEO resigned shortly thereafter. This is also a clear example of how technology is impacting on the leadership style of the company. As mentioned in the theory of power and influence by French and Raven, power is contrasted with attraction and resistance. Similarly, in this situation positional power influences and personal power influences the working ability and performance of individual resulting in good or bad impact on the company (French and Raven, 1968).

Scope of Research on feminine leadership specifically in Asian

Power and Empowerment framework fits right into feminine leadership. Giving women the equal opportunity to lead and authorise with acceptance and responsibility without making gender an issue can make a huge impact on leading in a changing world (Mullins and Christy, 2016). I believe women of our time are as capable as men in any field, sector or industry. Allowing juniors, the freedom of action with confidence with not only play a part in increasing the productivity but also in making a difference that can influence the working environment all around the world (House1971). Gender plays a vital role in Asian, African and Middle Eastern countries because they are perceived as a male dominant pacific. As explained in Path- goal theory by House and Dessler, based on the belief that the individuals encouragement is constructed on the expectations that increased effort to succeed will lead to an improved level of performance which will be fundamental in achieving positive rewards and avoiding negative outcomes (House and Dessler,1974). Path- goal theory also advocates that performance of workers/assistants is affected by the level to which their manager pleases their expectations.

I believe leadership theories should develop more in regards with the crisis the world faces which includes gender discrimination, technology, economic crisis and globalisation. These issues can impact the world to a great extent therefore, it is essential to pay close attention towards the behavioural issues and working environment problems that could be altered in time and influence once’s actions.

Refences:

Adair, J.E. (1973), “Action-Centred Leadership”. McGraw-Hill, London

Belbin, R. (1997). Changing the Way We Work, Butterworth Heinemann, p.98.

French, J. and Raven, B. (1968). ”The Bases of Social Power,” in Studies in Social Power, ed. Dorwin P.. Michigan.

House, R. (1971). A Path Goal Theory of Leader Effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 16(3), p.321.

House, R. and Dessler, G. (1974). ‘The Path-Goal Theory of Learderhsip. Southern Illinois University Press.

Kotter, J. (2009). What leaders really do. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 37(3).

Loftus, G. (2016). The Bad Leadership All Stars Of 2016. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/geoffloftus/2016/10/27/bad-leadership-all-stars/#f1d556363f8f [Accessed 8 Jul. 2019].

Mullins, L. and Christy, G. (2016). Management and organisational behaviour. 11th ed. Pearson Education Limited.

YouTube. (2019). Advice on Leadership | Imran Khan | Oxford Union. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejlKy8ZFRxc [Accessed 22 Jul. 2019].

Zeidan, A. (2019). Imran Khan | Biography & Facts. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Imran-Khan [Accessed 8 Jul. 2019].