Introduction to Business
The Global Economy/Business
Thesis Statement: In order to succeed in the emerging business trends in the 21st century, the leaders of the 21st century should be able to adapt to the new configuration of attitudes and abilities to compete with the global needs of the market.
The success of multinational firms and companies shall be dependent on their leaders’ ability to keep pace with the modern business challenges. The leadership in the 21st century is affected by factors such as geography, organizational level, and individual conditions. Perrin et al., (2013) stated that the new strategy of leadership has identified six zones of best practices composed of Reflection, Society, Diversity, Ingenuity, People, and Business. On the part of the leaders, efficiency is best achieved is they are able to recognize their strong points and weak points, fine-tune their existing strategies, embrace fresh strategies, acknowledge the capabilities and liabilities of their subordinates and find ways on how to improve them. For those organizations or firms that cover broader global operations, they must be able to determine the most demanding challenges within their area of responsibility by establishment of create virtual workplace structures and to succeed through mergers and acquisitions (Perrin et al., 2013).
Based on the report of Perrin et al. (2013), the six zones of action had changed for the past decade by identifying the strategies of the past leaders with the modern leaders. In the aspect of the Reflection zone, the past leaders committed mistakes because of their over-confidence in their own knowledge and abilities believing that they can make everything work. The present leaders have the ability to recognize their weaknesses and take measures to develop the limits of their knowledge and abilities. In terms of the Society zone, the past leaders did not pay attention to the health of the people, the economy, and the environment. Nowadays, the modern leaders promote their own success by making decisions with the goal of promoting for the greater good as the end result. In terms of Diversity zone, past leaders merely accept the fact of having a diverse workforce and global economy. Perrin, Daniels, and Jefferson (2013) state that this interpretation had been changed by the modern leaders by respecting and taking into consideration the key elements such as the distinctions in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, and viewpoint of the people. In the case of the Ingenuity aspect, the past leaders have mainly focused on the ways on how to preserve the status quo or the existing state of the present circumstances. On the other hand, the modern leaders take proactive response by re-thinking of the core assumptions in order to deal with the current threats and opportunities in the global market. The past leaders manage and motivate their people by giving them incentives and the use of rational argumentation. For the new leaders, the motivation of the people is by building strong relationships that is based on mutual trust. Finally, in making business decisions, the past leaders had sacrificed everything in the business with the end goal for short-term performance. The modern leaders plan for the future and make hard decisions in order to maintain long-term success (Perri et al., 2013).
In the study conducted by Hernez-Broome and Hughes (2004), the past two decades have revealed that the understanding of leadership in organizations was driven by the standard two-factor approach that is focused on task and relationship behaviors among the people. This typical approach has been regarded as transactional in nature, as opposed to a qualitatively dissimilar method that is characterized as transformational (Hernez-Broome and Hughes, 2004). The transactional leadership refers to the mutually exchange of benefit between two parties in order to maximize their mutual benefits by successful accomplishment of their organizational responsibilities. With this method, the mutual exchange approach in the nature of transactional leadership has a greater probability of resulting to anticipated and short-lived effects. On the other hand, the transformational leadership has the capability of developing the employees’ deeper values by having a sense of higher commitment towards the achievement of goals for the organization, which in effect will have lasting results. These transformational leaders have the ability to provide forceful visions that ensures better future for the majority and stimulate trust within the organization through firm commitment, self-confidence and assurance towards the achievement of goals.
These identified zones can be attributed to the enhancements made in the global competitive business environment during the time when the competitive pressures are forced on the employees to reinvent themselves and forced commitment among the people (Hernez-Broome and Hughes, 2004). This is a clear manifestation that in the past, leadership researchers were not able to map the borders between the roles of leading and managing the people. However, the modern leaders at present have defined development of the employees as a way to give them opportunities where they are able to learn from their work, instead of taking them away from their work in order to learn. To illustrate further, the modern leadership development enterprises at present provide performance support to the employees by allowing them to have the global application of skills by giving out training programs that will mentor and coach them to achieve learning and personal development. In this manner, by blending instruction with the real business simulation environment will assist the people develop fundamental skills for the benefit of the organizations to address critical and real-time concerns (Hernez-Broome and Hughes, 2004). The objective of leadership development is mainly focused on the ability to respond to relevant issues and not merely knowledge-based. Hence, the development of present organizations is able to give the employees the opportunities to learn from their work, instead of taking them away from their work for their own learning. It is crucial to incorporate these experiences with each other along with other developmental approaches to be able to compete in the current global market. For the leaders of the 21st century, it is vital that the art leadership development revolves around present work initiatives that are combined with the strategic business necessities (Hernez-Broome and Hughes, 2004).
In addition, the study of Mlodzik and De Meuse (2009) had emphasized that 21st leaders must be able to motivate the fullness of the employee’s abilities by focusing on the central organizational variable which include commitment and work/life balance of the employees. Based on the report of Griffin and Moorehead (2011), in the 2009 study conducted by the Corporate Executive Board (CEB), which is a global network of business professionals, there was a conflicting view on how Human Resource managers appreciate services in comparison to what other employees give high value. There are some managers who supposed that the steep and pricey services such as gym access and healthcare programs are the kind of benefits that employees need in order to achieve a good work-life balance. However, it was shown by actual surveys that only 20 percent of the employees have seen the worth of such high-cost benefits. While the 60 percent of the workers have identified flexible schedule as the most important work-life benefit that the company can give them. With the opportunity of flexible schedule, they have the liberty to control their time by spending it with their families and loved ones. These companies want their employees to become more driven and ambitious by motivating them. By promoting the culture of flexibility, their employees will be able to manage the complexities of work and family life.
Perin et al. (2013) stated that becoming an effective leader of the 21st century requires the adaption to the new configuration of attitudes and abilities in order to compete with the global needs of the market. In addition, there should be extensive research on the core competencies or skills future business leaders in order to lead the multigenerational workforce. The companies that have multigenerational workforces are different in the aspect of operations and performance. There must be an assessment of the efficiency of programs that are designed to capitalize on the global workforce. Cross-cultural generational differences should be taken into consideration to determine the graphic shifts in the workforce (Mlodzik and De Meuse, 2009). Blades and Fondas (2010) stated that there are many of the organizations that have explored creative, custom work arrangements to draw motivation for the workforce and to be able to keep the business and the country competitive. To conclude modern leadership means getting work done through others (Perrin et al., 2013). The real challenge involves the skill to engage the employees to join in the team effort. The leaders are effective in this sense because they are able to earn the trust and loyalty of the people and be able to withstand the global challenges through a broader support network that will relax the human impact of rigid decisions, and encourage shared commitment to organizational objectives (Perrin et al., 2013). 21st century leaders face challenges that include rapid growth of technology and demographic shifts in the workforce to be able to response to future trends in the global economy. This view has been supported in the work of Perrin et al. (2013).
References:
Blades,J. and Fondas, N.(2010). The Custom-Fit Workplace. New York: John Wiley and
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Griffin, R.W. and Moorehead, G.(2011). Organizational Behavior. Mason, OH: Cengage
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Hernez-Broome, G. and Hughes, R. L. (2004). Leadership Development: Past, Present,
and Future. Human Resource Planning, 27(1), 24-32.
Mlodzik, K. J. and De Meuse, K. P. (2009). A Scholarly Investigation of Generational
Workforce Differences: Debunking the Myths. Web. Retrieved on July 27, 2013,
Perrin, C., Daniels, S. and Jefferson, K.C. (2013). Developing the 21st-Century Leader.
Achieve Global. Web. Retrieved on July 27, 2013, from
http://www.achieveglobal.com/resources/files/AchieveGlobal_21st_Century_Leader_Report.pdf.
Perrin, C, Perrin, P.B., and Blauth, C. and Daniels, S. (2012). Factor analysis of global
trends in twenty-first century leadership. Leadership & Organization
Development Journal, 33(2), 175 – 199.
