Leadership Trends in a Globalized Environment - Coursework Example

Running head: LEADERSHIP TRENDS IN A GLOBALISED ENVIRONMENT. Client inserts his/her name Client inserts tutor’s name Subject of Study Date Leadership Trends in a Globalised Environment. Globalisation is a process of international integration that arises from interchange of economic, political and economic views. Moreover, it involves exchange of ideas, products and all aspects of culture. Advancement in technology increase world-wide exchange of resources through improved infrastructure in transport and communication systems. This advancement increase human interaction through international tourism, trade, sports, and conferences to address international challenges. Therefore, contemporary leaders cannot shy away from the consequences of globalisation (Alon & Higgins, 2005). Globalisation deepen international and intercontinental relationships. These roles of globalisation affect management and leadership in many ways. Market and customer base changes define leadership skills needed. Moreover, international employee transfers, global competition and increase in opportunities all over the world necessitate the need for transformed leadership. Before globalisation, companies relied on customer base within their countries only. But nowadays, the leaders consider the entire world as the market. Hence, the need to provide leadership that is appealing and appreciated by all people in the world (McCall & Mobley, 2001). Globalisation expand markets for commodities. Therefore companies are made to increase production. Leadership skills that target increase in production of commodities is highly valued. Leaders have to work beyond their traditional borders. They need more knowledge and skills to network with people in different nations. Therefore, leaders require skills, knowledge and global mind-set to be able to blend with people in various cultures (Lobel, 1990). Globalisation increase employee transfers to international working stations. This has caused integration of people who speak and understand varied languages. Therefore, leadership has to incorporate appropriate forms of communication. In addition to that, working far away from the main office require utilisation of communication channel that are suitable to communicate fast with a person all over the world. Leaders have to consider the rights of workers living in countries far from home (Steger, 2010). There is increase in competition among countries and companies as a result of increased globalisation. Leaders are under pressure to produce results in the midst of strong competition in the world. Due to competition pressure, global leaders are encountered with greater challenges beyond those experienced in the national and local scenes. There is more competition for talents and skills (O’Hara-Devereaux & Johansen, 1994). With globalisation, some leaders work in foreign countries. Good leadership values differ from one country to the other. A good leader is believed to be good due to certain traits that are valued in that country, these traits may not be recognised highly in another country. Every country has its own social standards and culture which are important when considering good leadership. Globalisation requires that leaders have good knowledge of the country that they are providing leadership skills. Knowledge of a county’s culture, ethics, and leadership skills is essential in providing leadership in that country (Alon & Higgins, 2005). Any good reader is not a good leader in all countries. There are skills that a good leader must embrace in in order to make a good globalised leader. Skills such as good business knowledge and sensitivity to cultural standards make a leader mores successful globally. Leaders are trained to be good leaders in all countries. Leaders with professional integrity and respects cultural standards of people from all over the world receive lots of respect and cooperation from the country that they are working (Storey, 2013). Change in decision making structures affect leadership. Global leaders are controlled by international laws and concerns. Most decisions are made almost instantaneously. With the use of technology, leaders use teleconferencing and media to consult and make decisions. Therefore, decision making process is swift and enable leaders to respond quickly to needs of their work (Pearce, Ramirez, & Branyiczki, 2001). Increased role of globalisation has affected leadership in several ways. One of them is expanded market and customer base. Before globalisation, organisations considered their customer base and market to be within the country. However, globalisation has influenced leadership to expand and view the entire world as a market for their goods or services. This has presented challenges to modern leaders as they strive to satisfy the needs of customers who have varied tastes and preferences (Gardner, 2011). Globalization has also impacted management because it has led to many employees transfers to international locations. This causes the need for more management and forms of communication. This also requires management to consider the needs of employees in other countries, and to offer compensation for relocation (McCall & Mobley, 2001). Leadership changes are as a result of changing trends in economic, social and business environments. In macroeconomics, increase in aged population demand new leadership ways of increasing production. Leadership now aims at increasing efficiency and creativity to keep up with economic liberalization (Morrison, 2000). Leadership attributes have changed. Leaders are focussing on building the world by becoming better leaders. Modern leaders are dedicated to thinking big in both local and international perspectives. Moreover, a leaders is seen as a servant unlike in the past when the leader was a king. Globalisation has encouraged recognition of leadership for all ages. In the past, the elderly were seen as suitable leaders. Today, young leaders are admired for their creativity, energy and the ability to dream big for the organisations they lead (Morrison, 2000). Today’s leaders are more secretive. Globalisation has led to spread of criminal activities and terrorism. With globalisation, it is much easier to execute crimes and run away without being caught. Crimes over the internet interfere with privacy of information in companies. Thus, it can lead to use losses. The banking sector has been on target by fraudsters. Leaders are more vigilant to avoid loss of private information (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). Modern leaders are using complicated techniques and sophisticated software to perform their day to day operations. Use of iPad and tablets is very common with modern leaders. They use them to communicate with employees working in various locations. This experience has enabled leaders to work away from working stations and still deliver to the expectations (Brzezinski, 2009). Leaders are made to adopt a global mind-set that make decisions to reflect global issues. In essence, they think globally and act locally. Leaders make decisions not only involving their locality but also involving the entire world. That is what it means to think globally. It involves putting intercontinental and international considerations into every day decision making in order to be at peace with everybody in the entire world (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). Another aspect of leadership that has changed is the need to build alliances and partnerships all over the world. Leaders are tasked with the need to identify potential partners and approach them in a view to partner. This concept is known as networking. It is well known that in this globalized world, no one leader can survive alone. This has influenced leaders to be friendly to each other and cooperate so as to fulfil their expectations (Bennis, 2007). Managing employees and motivating them is a challenging role of leaders. Leaders have to adjust policies and their actions to take into account factors such as ability of an individual employee, gender, ethnicity and employee wishes. Globalisation creates a workforce especially in information technology that add cultural and language factors to the above mentioned factors. Therefore, putting in place good personnel policies and procedures requires a lot of sensitivity and wisdom (Harris, Moran, & Moran, 2004). It is challenging to deal with employees from diverse backgrounds. An example is a a leader at an organization comprised of Nigerian and American workers. The organization is situated in America. Therefore it operates under American laws. One day, a man from Nigeria struck a lady from Nigeria. According to American laws the action was worthy sanction, which was applied. Other Nigerian employees revolted against the lady who was struck. This is because in Nigeria, women are inferior to men and deserve to be disciplined. That is how complicated it can be when dealing with employees from diverse backgrounds (Harris et al., 2004). Moreover, leadership as a concept has changed due to globalisation. It requires formal training and exposure for one to be a global leader. Leaders need to be trained so that they can get accurate perspective and concerns of people in the entire world. Unlike before globalisation, leadership is not an inborn skill but requires formal training. As explained above, leaders require understanding of different languages and the ability to speak different languages in order to communicate efficiently with people from different parts of the world (Yukl & Heaton, 2002). Globalisation has welcomed great ideas from different people. Leaders are made to adopt democratic leadership and not dictatorial. Globalized people are more outspoken. Often leaders consult with workers who have become experts in their areas of specialisation. Days when the leader used to be authoritative are over. Nowadays, leaders can only make decisions upon consultation with other stakeholders. Failure to which, they risk being taken to court. Therefore, a leader with a global mind-set appreciates diversity of ideas, respects people’s rights to take the organisation to greater heights (Bennis, 2007). The shift from authoritarian leaders who believed in strict rules and doing things exactly as ordered is coming to an end thanks to globalisation. People are progressing towards more individualised thinking. In the contemporary society participative leadership is inevitable. It encourages individualised performance of tasks. In a participative style of leadership, the group makes decisions and not the leaders alone. The work environment is more flexible and the leader is able to make use of the knowledge from more experienced members of the group (Hollander & Julian, 1969). In a globalized world, leadership is based on scientifically proved concepts. Concepts in strategic planning and employee motivation are very essential running organisation nowadays. Leaders seek expert advice to solve the numerous challenges that have arose out of globalization. These experts rely on scientifically proved methods to guarantee success of a leader. Leaders are faced with diverse teams with different aspirations and characters. Therefore, leaders are required to apply science when managing such teams and keeping them focused to the vision of the organisation or country (Morrison, 2000). Leadership has been redefined to the ability to manage priorities and expectations. With globalisation, leaders faced numerous tasks to handle. This environment require them to focus on priorities and meeting expectations of stakeholders. The ability to prioritise is one of the desirable traits of effective contemporary leadership in a globalised environment. Successful leaders articulate what the end results are and focus to meet them. They prioritise initiatives that have the most impact. The most rewarding initiatives are given more attention (Lobel, 1990). Effective leadership is marked by effective planning. This involves having a visionary path for the organization and ensuring the organisation remains on track. In localised environment, effective planning is relatively an easy process because factors affecting implementation can be predicted. Globalization has made effective planning difficult. The process of effective planning and determining proper direction is made complex by diverse customer base and environment. Leaders have to balance a large number of diverse and competing factors that influence implementation of an organization plan (Alon & Higgins, 2005). A new trend of leadership called ‘self-leadership’ emerged due to advancement in technology. Leaders who practice these style of leadership connect over the internet instead of face-to-face interactions. They only consult over the internet when need be. That is how they manage to perform home based work. They coordinate work from home therefore giving workers a chance to attend to duties without being monitored physically by their leader (Alon & Higgins, 2005). Moreover, leadership competencies have been renewed although the traditional competencies still matter. This is due to changing competitive competencies brought about by globalisation. These competencies include, the need for creative approaches to do business, agile leaders and diverse employee needs. Leaders of today have to cope with all manner of competition in advancing technology, social and economic grounds in order to stay ahead of the time (Dimmock & Walker, 2000). Globalisation has brought new opportunities as well as challenges. That is why today’s leaders are facing changes and challenges that determine how, where and with whom they do business. Leaders who keep practicing current strategies are keeping pace with this change. Leaders need to anticipate trends and act proactively to shape the future of leadership (O’Hara-Devereaux & Johansen, 1994). In conclusion, leadership has evolved with globalisation. From directive and autocratic leadership to a more democratic and participative leadership. This has changed the definition of effective leadership. Globalisation is at the centre of blame for leadership change. It is backed by a combination of issues that range from technology advances, shift in people’s attitudes and increased interaction of people in the entire world. There is need for today leaders to adapt and plan for the movement of these evolving trends of leadership due to globalisation. Ban Ki Moon Leadership and Communication Styles. The most important aspect of a leader is the communication skills. Effective communication enable a leader to understand people, inspire and motivate so as to create successful results. Leadership is all about the ability to influence a team towards achieving an outcome. Leadership is connected to ability to inspire and motivate people by effective communication. Ban Ki Moon is such a leaders who uses various leadership techniques to maintain his team focussed to achieving results (Gardner, 2011). Ban Ki Moon is a modern leader. He is the current U.N Secretary General a position that is responsible for maintenance of peace and order in the world. He is the eighth secretary-general and the second Asian to head that position. He was born in 1944 and raised in Korea. He is a humble man. He is ready to interact with people. He is always available to those who would like to talk to him. He is dedicated to work. As a matter of fact, he at times delivers more than ten speeches a day (Aldridge, 2009). The role of a U. N Secretary General is constrained by international relations and the organization structure in the United Nations. It leaves the secretary with very few roles to add. However, as an organizational leader, the secretary general has a lot of space to influence change in the organization he is leading. Mr Ban’s personality, value preferences, cultural background, experience and background defines his leadership as the secretary general to United Nations (Kille, 2011). His conversations are full of inspiring quotes that reflect his philosophical thoughts about his job. He maintains a low-key profile. He doesn’t believe in grandiosity. This aspect sometimes draw misunderstanding of his leadership. However, other people think it is absolutely the best style of leadership to address humanitarian issues (Gowan, 2011). Ban is described as highly consulting leader. He embraces democratic leadership. He gives his juniors a chance to reflect and make own judgements before he makes a decision. This aspect of him has provided a channel for critics to say that he is not independent when it comes to making decisions (Dongyan, 2007). He is loved by many of his workmates and the entire world. That is why he was re-elected in 2011. He just loves working for the good of the public. Those who are close refer to him as workaholic. He spends most of his time doing official duties. He has very little time to attend to personal issues. This is a valued aspect of modern leadership. He is a good example of a dedicated leader. Today’s leaders must lead by example. That is why during his tenure in the office of U.N Secretary General a lot has been achieved (Dongyan, 2007). Like Ban, modern leaders require a sense of mission. The leader has the greatest sense of the organisation mission and vision. This enables the leader to continually inspire, motivate and encourage other employees to remain focussed on achieving the ultimate goal. Ban is such a leader. Through his speeches he ensures United Nations workers are at their best attitude to provide the best services to humanity (Dongyan, 2007). He believes in collective leadership and independence of individual countries. The most remembered thing about his belief in independence of every country was during the time he was elected as U. N Secretary General. He refused to condemn the death penalty imposed on Saddam Hussein. He explained that the issue of Capital punishment was for every member country to decide (Jang, 2006). His appointments are drawn from all continents. He respects ethnic differences. For example he appointed a Tanzanian, Asha-rose Migiro to be his deputy. This was a show of his tolerance to work with people from diverse backgrounds. During his tenor, many women have been appointed to top leadership positions. He is strong believer in gender equality. He has no disregard to people of diverse religious affiliations. Through his leadership, he is able to build a united team from diverse cultural backgrounds (Jang, 2006). As a leader with global mind-set, Ban was keen to identify the most demanding issues that affect human race. Among these issues included global warming and militarisation in the Middle East. The greatest quality of a modern leader is the ability to identify the most demanding issues and accord them more attention and resources (Gowan, 2011). As a global leader, Mr Ban experiences challenges of leading across culture. He is admired for his modesty, competence and perseverance while serving humanity. While in his teenage he would walk miles to go and listen Americans speak English. He is always outgoing. He is an emblem of Confucian values that reflect his discipline, modesty and ability to mingle with crowds in an attempt to establish peace (Aldridge, 2009). Western countries admire leaders who are strong and charismatic. Western leaders are expected to show strong values and believes. In addition to that, they are expected to lead by example. Mr Ban is different from western leaders. This is because the Confucian cultures admire leaders who are able to maintain harmony in a group, do not boast and do not take credit for all achievements of the group. Every culture has its own expectations of a leader. Therefore global leaders have to find a way to blend cultures and adopt communication styles to suit interests of all people (Plate, 2012). In conclusion, Mr Ban’s cross-cultural leadership style is worthy recognition by all global leaders today and in future. He reminds them that leading across cultures can influence a leader’s own and other people leadership expectation and styles. Global leaders are challenged to anticipate and manage cross cultural barriers that different cultures create. This is by adopting all kinds of mannerism depending on the context to meet expectations of people that a leader is leading. References. Aldridge, R. (2009). Ban Ki-Moon. Infobase Publishing. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=hFMotW7-vE8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA5&dq=ban+ki+moon&ots=zdOKoRDI7Q&sig=TmSuo1bf03SXSlw1GCmuMSLBRZc Alon, I., & Higgins, J. M. (2005). Global leadership success through emotional and cultural intelligences. Business Horizons, 48(6), 501–512. Avolio, B. J., & Yammarino, F. J. (2013). Transformational and Charismatic Leadership:: the Road Ahead. Emerald Group Publishing. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=injU8hsY300C&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=leadership+trends+&ots=50kG8pTS3o&sig=hldjSy59TWs3_H1sdn0moale9Ec Bennis, W. (2007). The challenges of leadership in the modern world: introduction to the special issue. American Psychologist, 62(1), 2. Brzezinski, Z. (2009). The choice: Global domination or global leadership. Basic Books. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=5p7-CrFrjc0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=leadership+trends+in+a+global+world&ots=CqPP1N-EBk&sig=hCSMMj8eGuk59cxUm5NdULpKE30 Dimmock, C., & Walker, A. (2000). Globalisation and societal culture: Redefining schooling and school leadership in the twenty-first century. Compare, 30(3), 303–312. Dongyan, L. (2007). The Influence of the UN Secretary-General on Organizational Change: A Comparison between Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon. World Economics and Politics, 2, 007. Gardner, H. (2011). Leading minds: An anatomy of leadership. Basic Books. Gowan, R. (2011). Floating Down the River of History: Ban Ki-moon and Peacekeeping, 2007-2011. Global Governance, 17(4), 399–416. Harris, P. P. R., Moran, R. T., & Moran, S. S. V. (2004). Managing cultural differences: Global leadership strategies for the twenty-first century. Routledge. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cWuLurrWvLQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=global+leadership+skills&ots=Jsh9b9T6_b&sig=lOiln4V4x0h6l3DDFH4lfEhadVI Hollander, E. P., & Julian, J. W. (1969). Contemporary trends in the analysis of leadership processes. Psychological bulletin, 71(5), 387. Jang, M. (2006). Who is Ban Ki-moon? International Journal, 62(1), 161–168. Kille, K. (2011). Secretary-General Leadership Capacity: Arguments and Evidence from the UN Secretary-Generalship. Retrieved from http://www.ru.nl/publish/pages/638476/killewchs2011.pdf Lobel, S. A. (1990). Global leadership competencies: Managing to a different drumbeat. Human Resource Management, 29(1), 39–47. McCall, M. W., & Mobley, W. H. (2001). Advances in Global Leadership: Vol. 2. Vol. 2 (Vol. 2). Emerald Group Publishing. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=dK4bw9E_btcC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=effects+of+globalization+on+leadership&ots=ELKLHqRQkK&sig=ZboplTBbUbpVAbPHaFwx8m5SyFE Morrison, A. J. (2000). Developing a global leadership model. Human resource management, 39(2-3), 117–131. O’Hara-Devereaux, M., & Johansen, R. (1994). Globalwork: Bridging distance, culture, and time. Jossey-Bass Publishers San Francisco. Retrieved from http://www.getcited.org/pub/103171295 Pearce, J. L., Ramirez, R. R., & Branyiczki, I. (2001). Leadership and the pursuit of status: Effects of globalization and economic transformation. Advances in global leadership, 2, 153–178. Plate, T. (2012). Conversations with Ban Ki-Moon: What The United Nations Is Really Like: The View From The Top. Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BfqIAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=ban+ki+moon+leadership+style&ots=XW6XTQhFPz&sig=3sve1PYcbo9yRF8w4b_-O9aLVuY Steger, M. (2010). Globalization. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1ExsTX8z4j8C&oi=fnd&pg=PR6&dq=effects+of+globalization+on+leadership&ots=C1GolX75EU&sig=hvibwOLqnbd6AMGbQZVQwbVS2Zc Storey, J. (2013). Leadership in organizations. Routledge. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gFxMaFQz1ToC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=leadership+trends+&ots=FYZ9i_w8Xi&sig=AFwUDIRBxqb_KIvszNPA8zPaBm8 Yukl, G. A., & Heaton, H. (2002). Leadership in organizations. Retrieved from http://files.liderancaecoaching.webnode.com/200000015-31f5732fb3/media-F7B-97-randd-leaders-business-yukl.pdf Read More