Leadership Challenges in a Changing Workplace

Regardless of the theoretical foundation, it is clear that the process of leadership is complex. Within the world of work, leadership effectiveness is affected by numerous factors such as the type of organization, work relationships, task demands, employee and leader personalities, and organizational culture and design. This week, you will explore leadership challenges that have emerged due to the constantly changing nature of the work environment – namely, how do issues like technology, greater reliance on teams, and changing workforce demographics influence leadership?

Technology is a key component of the world you live in today and it has a major impact on organizations across the globe. Importantly, as technology evolves it changes the way in which organizations communicate and accomplish their goals. For instance, technology allows for a greater number of employees to telecommute on a part or full-time basis. While telecommuting provides cost savings for employers and flexibility for employees, it also provides a number of challenges for leaders. Namely, leaders with employees who telecommute may not have regular face-to-face access to subordinates creating the need for greater technology-based communication (i.e., phone, email, IM, and web-conferencing) to complete work objectives. In addition, collaboration and conflict management can prove challenging for employees working from different locations.

Aside from telecommuting, technology also allows for teams of geographically dispersed employees to work together towards achieving organizational objectives (Landy & Conte, 2013). These virtual teams present novel challenges for leaders (Bell & Kozlowski, 2002b). Notably, socializing new members into a team can be difficult if team members are working from separate geographic locations. In addition, monitoring team progress is a challenge for e-leaders due to a lack of regular face-to-face communication (Landy & Conte, 2013).

While virtual teams certainly create unique challenges, the increased use of traditional teams in today’s organizations poses complications for leaders as well. Teams are composed of members who hold different roles. Team leaders must consider multiple subordinates, as well as the dynamics of the entire team in order to achieve their goals. Depending on the nature of the team, sometimes an individual is formally placed in a leadership role; while in other cases, an individual may informally emerge as a leader because they have a high level of expertise, a great deal of experience, or simply due to the leadership qualities they possess. In still other situations, teams elect to follow a shared leadership model where leadership responsibilities are distributed amongst team members. Shared leadership is most effective when the tasks to be completed are very complex or if tasks require a great deal of coordination, interdependence, or knowledge sharing amongst members with specific areas of expertise. While shared leadership gives teams members a sense of ownership, it can also cause group dysfunction due to conflicting interests, disparate leadership styles, lack of clarity, and laborious decision-making processes.

Aside from technological and team-based challenges, the demographic makeup of the workforce is also changing. For one, organizations are making greater use of temporary workers in order to run “lean” and respond more quickly to market changes (Landy & Conte, 2013). Given the transient nature of their employment, temporary workers (i.e., consultants, contractors) are thought to have less commitment than their full-time counterparts; thus, serving as a leader in an organization with a high number of temporary employees is challenging.

There is also a far greater number of women in the workforce than ever before; despite this increase, women hold only a disproportionately small fraction of leadership positions (Eagly & Karau, 2002). This is thought to be due to a number of factors, including discrimination in the work environment, stereotypes, and unconscious bias held against female leaders (Vial, Napier & Brescoll, 2016). In recent years, research has been conducted to determine whether there are gender differences in leadership. In particular, researchers have found there is virtually no significant difference in the effectiveness of men and women leaders and that men and women leaders present equivalent levels of cognitive ability and communication skills (Hyde, 2005). However, researchers have found that men and women leaders do tend to differ in terms of style – with women leaders adopting a more participative style than men who tend toward a more autocratic approach (Eagly & Johnson, 1990). Interestingly, these gender differences in leadership style were much more evident in laboratory studies than in field research conducted in organizations (Eagly & Johnson, 1990).

Be sure to review this week’s resources carefully. You are expected to apply the information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

References

Bell, B. S., & Kozlowski, S. W. (2002). A typology of virtual teams: Implications for effective leadership. Group & Organization Management, 27(1), 14-49.

Eagly, A. H., & Johnson, B. T. (1990). Gender and leadership style: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 108(2), 233-245.

Eagly, A. H., & Karau, S. J. (2002). Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders. Psychological Review, 109(3), 573-591.

Hyde, J. S. (2005). The gender similarities hypothesis. American Psychologist, 60(6), 581-600.

Landy, F. J., & Conte, J. M. (2013). Work in the 21^st century: An introduction to industrial and organizational psychology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Vial, A. C., Napier, J. L., & Brescoll, V. L. (2016). A bed of thorns: Female leaders and the self-reinforcing cycle of illegitimacy. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(3), 400-414.

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