Diversity and Leadership

Organizations today require proper leadership to survive and excel in the competitive world that we live in today. Leadership is often described as the methods or process that are applied by individuals in order to motivate the workforce and direct them to successfully carry out the tasks that are required for an organization to deliver its mandated obligations or the set objectives. Leadership process, therefore, can differ from one leader to the next or from one organization to another. There are, however, six commonly used leadership styles, these styles include Visionary, Affiliative, Democratic, Pacesetting, Commanding and Coaching leadership. Eagly, A and Jean L. “Diversity and Leadership In A Changing World.

” American Psychologist, Vol. 65(3), 2010. In this article, the authors examined the works that scholars have done on leadership and noted that the issues of diversity in gender, race, ethnicity and culture or sexual orientation are rare addressed or researched on. They, therefore, argue that such gaps in leadership studies weaken the ability of leadership theories being more proactive in addressing contemporary leadership. According to the authors the omissions limit individuals from accessing diverse views and leadership roles on leadership from the various existing diverse groups this according to them may limit an individual’s potential, if one belongs to the excluded group.

They advocate for more inclusive studies in order to contemporary leadership. Harding, G. “Mixing And Managing Four Generations of Employees.” FDU Magazine In this article, the author examines the challenges of anaging different generations of employees within an organization. According to the article employees who are from a different generation have different values and goals.

This means that they are motivated by different forces and hold divergent values. In order to run their organizations effectively, leadership in various organizations must adopt leadership styles that can effectively address the issues that may arise due to the different values and motivating factors of their employees. Heidei, J.”Four Leadership Theories Addressing Contemporary Leadership Issues As the Theories Relate To Scholarship, Practice and Leadership Model.” Academic Leadership Online Journal. November Wednesday, 2009.

Retrieved from http://www.academicleadership.org/pdf/ALJ_ISSN1533-7812_7_3_349.pdf (accessed November Tuesday, 2011.In the article, the author examined the relationships between the social networks and leadership today. She argues that social networks are responsible for the flow of information and are influential as vehicles in this process.

This, therefore, makes them a necessity in the modern management styles as a means of relaying the information in any given organization today. Leaders are, therefore, advised to build social networks which they can use to gain the trust of their employees. According to the article social networks can be very useful in building greater trust between the leaders and their employees. This, therefore, implies that modern leadership has to adapt to the current trends. Huang, Q.

, Robert, D, Hefu L, and Jiabao G. “The Impact Of Leadership Styles On The authoors argue that in the modern business world knowledge management has become one of major themes in contemporary organizations. They argue that leaders in such developing economies as China need to employ styles that encourage interpersonal trust between their employees in order to encourage knowledge sharing. Thus, the management styles employed by the various organization existing in such economies should clearly spelt out the organizations’ intention of sharing information and knowledge throughout the organization. In their study the authors employed a theoretical model that helped examine knowledge sharing among employees in China.

Their study concluded that knowledge sharing among employees was encouraged by leadership styles that enforce trust in interrelationship among workers. Lindgreen, A. Roger, P; Martin, W and Michael A. “Do different marketing practicesrequire different leadership styles?” In their article, the authors examined the various leadership styles that are employed by leaders in marketing their organizations’ products in order to carry their duties effectively. According to their article for leadership’s styles to be effectively employed there is needs to take into account the various needs that different organizations require in order to decide the most suitable style. They, therefore, view leadership styles as dependent on the needs that each organization requires.

In their study the authors also examined the relationship between the performances and the styles employed to conclude that excellent results were dependent on the styles of leadership meeting the required needs that are unique to different organizations.