Each organization undoubtfully requires choosing the appropriate for particular aims leadership approach. However, there are common changing tendencies in the labor market provoking shifts in leadership priorities. To establish sustainable leadership advancing the organization, the management strategy should include a response to the recent changes in the world. Recently the pandemic has significantly influenced the market and many organizations’ activities. In association with this problem, the current paper will be devoted to analyzing the leadership approaches from the point of their relevance to contemporary market needs. The research aims to prove that participatory and regenerative approaches are the future of business management, while traditional leadership should be annihilated.
In current business conditions, traditional leadership can often be inefficient. Scientists believe that there are three significant drawbacks to this approach (Duignan, 2020). The first is weak efficiency during long-term collection. Based on my experience, people cannot be motivated by fear for a long time and under constant pressure. The second one is poor productivity in today’s business-changing environment (Duignan, 2020). The most significant problem is that traditional leadership prevents the development of employees (Johnson, 2021). This factor is the most essential in any modern organization’s advancement. The other contemporary leadership approaches, such as regenerative or transformational leadership, ensure more rational human resource management.
Even though these concepts have appeared recently, their implementation in practice shows more results than the traditional one (Caulfield, Lee, and Richards, 2021). The rational choice which can change the nature of the labor market is the combination of transformational and regenerative leadership. The first one focuses on the development of workers advancing the whole organization (Andriani, Kesumawati, and Kristiawan, 2018). The second one is more complicated and implies the reconsidering of the business in the values system of society (Hutchins and Storm, 2019). Regenerative leadership discusses the combination of the holistic and materialist concepts of consumption (Hutchins and Storm, 2019). Based on practical knowledge, I can conclude that the capitalistic system is the core problem of all spheres of modern society. The changes should start with the leadership and management approach (Subrahmanyam, 2018). Regenerative leadership contributes to more conscious business leading. It includes the ecological and moral problems regarding work opportunities and organizational development (Ferch et al., 2020). Combining it with transformational leadership can contribute to positive changes in the whole society.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the work of thousands of organizations. Without a competent leader, not all of them will survive the pandemic. New leadership challenges are also associated with remote work. People need to find how to unite a team that is no longer tied to the office and shared space. Teams start to interact in a new way using video chats and instant messengers, and managers have to look for new quality control methods (Wilson, 2020). Including, for example, more trust in the workers themselves and in how much they can organize their work process. According to experts, in the context of the pandemic, leadership skills will also acquire a new meaning in uniting the team in challenging times (Edmondson and Kerrissey, 2020). The focus is set on inspiring people to reach their potential, not just being more productive. Based on my personal experience and what I have experienced, pandemics have changed the focus of leadership. The efficiency of the work today is achieved by increasing the workers’ motivation and developing skills. Such an approach is related to participatory or transformational leadership (Humuntal, 2018). From my perspective, this is the perfect opportunity to change the labor market for the better.
Therefore, the conducted research proved the hypothesis provided in the beginning. Today, under the impact of a pandemic, business management requires a more human-oriented leadership approach such as transformational or regenerative. As mentioned earlier, the combination of these concepts can be considered an action plan for leadership sphere development. The acquired skills and knowledge will be applied in my future career building. I plan to implement the gained knowledge about leadership in practice.
Reference List
Andriani, S., Kesumawati, N., and Kristiawan, M. (2018) ‘The influence of the transformational leadership and work motivation on teachers’ performance’, International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 7(7), pp. 19-29. Web.
Caulfield, J., Lee, F. and Richards, B. (2021) ‘Leadership as an art: an enduring concept framed within contemporary leadership’, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 42(3), pp. 735-747. Web.
Duignan, P. (2020) ‘Traditional leadership approaches can be a liability in times of disruption’, in Leading educational systems and schools in times of disruption and exponential change, Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 9-32.
Edmondson, A. and Kerrissey, M. (2020) ‘What good leadership looks like during this pandemic’, The Harvard Business Review, Web.
Ferch, S., et al. (2020) Servant-leadership and forgiveness: how leaders help heal the heart of the world. SUNY Press.
Humuntal, B., et al. (2018) ‘Job satisfaction as a mediator between directive and participatory leadership styles toward organizational commitment’, International Journal of Instruction, 11(4), pp. 870-888.
Hutchins, G. and Storm, L. (2019) Regenerative leadership. Giles Hutchins & Laura Storm.
Johnson, R. (2021) ‘Effects of contemporary leadership styles and employee engagement on customer satisfaction in the retail grocery industry in the US’, in Melvin, L. (ed.) Handbook of Research on Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Managerial and Leadership Psychology, IGI Global, pp. 274-298.
Subrahmanyam, S. (2018) ‘Corporate leadership: a review of literature of contemporary leadership theories’, International Journal of Research, 5(16), pp. 582-601. Web.
Wilson, S. (2020) ‘Pandemic leadership: lessons from New Zealand’s approach to COVID-19’, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 16(3), pp. 279-293.