First, consider the conclusions you developed in Assignment 1 regarding how leadership roles have changed over the last decade. Select a specific industry as the focus of your leadership analysis, preferably one with global reach. Then prepare a paper ana

Leadership

Leadership entails taking charge and steering an organization or a group of people towards a certain direction to achieve predetermined goals and objectives. The leaders influences the behavior of the employees or the people under their charge to achieve the desired results. The leader has to fulfill their roles by being visionary and a motivator and taking initiative to guide everyone else through the work process. Strategic leadership is concerned with influencing and persuading the parties of an organization such as employees and stakeholders to believe in a vision and offers a strategic plan so as to achieve the vision (Abbas, 2010). In strategic leadership, the leaders establish an organizational structure, plan the use of resources and manage the process of implementing the strategic plan to achieve the organization’s objectives and goals. The leaders utilize strategy in managing both human and physical resources.

Strategic leadership aims to increase productivity and create an environment that fosters employee creativity. The employees are encouraged to give their input in creating the strategic plans and executing them. This form of leadership focuses on perception of the vision, invention and innovation to solve problems and most importantly planning to achieve the required results. On the other hand enterprise leadership is concerned with the leadership of an organization as a whole (Gosling, 2003). Enterprise leadership seeks to yield organizational outcomes by linking individual, team and organizational strategies to achieve a unified force working in the same direction. This emails organizational alignment so ensure every department is in sync with the objectives of the entire organization.

In the last two decades, leadership has changed substantially. In the 1970 and 80s the popular leadership models include the decision making models in which the managers had to follow certain guidelines in making decisions and the task oriented leadership styles. However, the current state of leadership is more focused on the followers or the employees. The emerging leadership styles are transformational and shared leadership in which the leaders are encouraged to engage, motivate and guide the employees to achieve the organizations objectives (Abbas, 2010).

Impact of changes in economic conditions on leadership roles

Economic conditions are unpredictable and fluctuate over time such as inflation and changes in the market interest and exchange rates. Economic recessions are chaotic and therefore leaders have to adapt to working in an uncertain, volatile and complex environment. The changing economic conditions call for leaders to go an extra mile to as to lead the organization through the tough times therefore the growth of crisis leadership (Steven Walker, 2016). The great recession of 2008 left the global markets on the verge of collapsing and caused the closure of banking institutions such as the Lehman brothers. At the moment of the recession, leaders such as Ben Bernanke who was the chair of the federal government had to practice crisis leadership to navigate the country and the markets through the tough economic conditions.

The roles of leaders are mostly planning, managing and guiding employees throughout the work process but with the advent of the great recession, this was no longer enough and therefore the concepts and frameworks of leadership changed. Leaders assumed the roles of taking critical actions to save their instructions from collapsing. Leaders assumed the roles of crisis anticipation and preparation so that their organizations are not caught off guard by the unfavorable economic conditions (Steven Walker, 2016). The changing nature of economic conditions forces leaders to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their institutions and their adaptability to external factors so as to effectively manage their operations

Another role of the leader s communication in which leaders are expected to maintain communication channels across the entire organization to keep everyone informed on the changes and plans regarding the institution.

Impact of societal and demographic shifts on leadership roles

Societal and demographic shifts entail the changes in the structure of the society including families whereby single parent families and parents seeking a work and life balance, the growth of the aging population and diversity in the labor force. In today’s society, there is arise in the number of women and people from minority groups taking up leadership positions in organizations (Abbas, 2010) .This demographic shifts bring about diversity in the work place therefore making it necessary for the organization to put in place structures to effectively manage the diverse work force. Diversity in the work place pools together people from all walks of life. The diversity in culture necessities the development of cultural sensitivity amongst the workers so as to foster unity and cohesion in the organization.

The impact of the demographic shifts on leadership include the requirement for leaders to create a working environment that is suitable for everyone without discrimination. Leaders have to establish a flexible working environment while ensuring that the quality of work and employee performance does not decline. With more women serving in leadership positions ,organizations have develop work policies that enable greater integration of work and family and also deal with prejudice against women leaders (Gosling, 2003). Diversity enriches the organizations and the leaders are able to access a vast resource of ideas to develop the enterprise through team working however it posse the challenge of managing a diverse work force.

Impact of technology on leadership roles

The advent of technology has revolutionized leadership roles .The diverse uses and applications of technology has made inevitable or every organization and institution to rely on it. Technology has changed the definition of success and now leaders are charged with the role of finding innovative ways to solve problems. The role of the leader is to maximize the use of technological resources hence the rise of the new post of the chief information officer (Gosling, 2003).

Technology has changed how leaders fulfill their roles from authoritative bossing to leadership by influence. Leaders seek to influence their workers to develop solutions to problems rather than simply tell them what to do. The internet has made information easily accessible and social media provides platforms for people to interact from their remote Areas (Steven Walker, 2016). This aspects of technology has changed the role of the leaders by enhancing collaboration. Since there are more channels of communication and easily available information, leaders are left with the role of mobilizing their work force to work together as a team and develop innovative methods and solutions. The use of social media enables leaders to engage and encourage everyone to participate in the leadership role.

Disruptive technology is his development of new technologies and products that create new markets or displace preexisting product markets. Technological trends are always changing and each organization is working to keep its competitive edge .Disruptive technology has made the global markets very competitive and the role of the leader has morphed into protection. The leaders have to protect their organizations from being disrupted by investing in research and development to develop innovative ways to counter competition. The leader is charged with the role of identifying emerging technologies to survive the disruptive environment.

Impact of political developments on leadership roles

Political development comprise of government regulations and laws of the administration of business activities. Organization’s leaders have to comply and adhere to the laws set by the government in their operations. Leaders have to identify the laws that concern their business operations and ensure that they are applied in the organizations. The affordable care act (ACA) was enacted in 2010 to increase the accessibility of health care to American citizens by imposing taxes and fees on businesses to raise funding for the program (Amato, 2015). The affordable care act require employers to provide health coverage to their fulltime employees therefore increasing the cost of business. The act has impacted leadership in that employers are seeking ways to undercut the employer mandate therefore negatively affects the hiring process and business leaders are less willing to hire full time employees to cut insurance costs (Amato, 2015).Organization leaders feel that the act increases their costs of business operations and therefore in unfavorable and needs amendments.

Impact of ecological changes on leadership roles

The ecological environment has undergone drastic changes overtime with the advent of climate change, global warming and increase in environmental pollution. This has impacted leadership in the sense that, organizations have to take responsibility of the environments they operate in and how the operations affect the environment (Abbas, 2010). As a result, organizations leaders have to develop sustainable business models that are sensitive to climate and environmental issues. The leaders are now charged with the ole of ensuring that the environment is protected by shunning harmful business practices. Corporate and social responsibility imperatives impose on ceiling on the operations of organizations therefore forcing leaders to develop ways to fulfill their responsibilities while keeping their business afloat.