Contemporary Leadership Styles: How relevant are they in today’s changing world?

Nash (1929)suggested that “Leadership implies influencing change in the conduct of people.”The influence of leadership style is a central issue in leadership research: the attitudinal patterns of leaders and their behaviors (Anderson and Sun, 2015). This blog intends to discuss the direction of leadership theories in a changing world through Volvo’s case.

The 21st century is an economic era where knowledge is the core commodity, and a rapid production of knowledge and innovation is critical to the survival of organizations (Boisot, 1998). Hitt (1998) mentions that “we are on the edge of an era,” in the past. Leadership methods based on rigid controls and mandatory orders are decreasingly compatible (Manville & Ober, 2003). 

Early theories tended to focus on the characteristics and behaviors of successful leaders, and later theories began to discuss the pursuit of the role and background nature of leaders.

(Bolden et al, 2003)

The challenge of modern leadership theories

Uhl-Bien et al. (2007) suggest that the leadership models of the last century have been top-down. These models are very effective for the economy premised in which physical production, but not suitable for a knowledge-based economy. They propose leadership as a complex, interactive, dynamic that produces adaptive outcomes (such as learning, innovation, and adaptability).

Anderson and Sun (2015) reviewed several works of literature that have emerged since 2000 and the various new leadership styles they have proposed: ideological leadership, pragmatic leadership, authentic leadership, ethical leadership, spiritual leadership, distributed leadership, integrative public leadership and servant leadership.

On the other hand, some experts and scholars have criticized these leadership theories, arguing that they are mainly male theories based on Western work practices. Eagly is one of the essential researchers at this stage. Eagly and Johannesen-Schmidt (2002) provide a framework that incorporates many of the complexities of the empirical literature on female and male leadership styles. 

Beaman et al. (2012) used a random natural experiment in India to demonstrate those female leaders can influence the career aspirations and education of adolescent girls.

Research on female leadership behaviors suggests that women tend to adopt a more lenient strategy than men when it comes to employee performance and goal achievement. Women often form alliances adaptively when engaging in competitive activities, while men are more exploitative and use partnerships to obtain personal benefits (Brad Chapman, 2017).

Gender equality challenge in the automotive industry

According to Eagly’s (2007), although women have excellent leadership skills, they are more likely than men to demonstrate leadership styles that are relevant to the effective performance of leaders. But more people prefer men than women as being their bosses, and women are more difficult to become leaders than men. The increasing attention of women leaders reflects significant progress in gender equality, but the issue of inequality cannot be eliminated. This is especially true in the automotive industry, 90 percent of auto examples say they need to change how they attract and retain talent, but only 10 percent say they do a good job of bringing women onboard (Autonews, 2016).

Sweden is recognized as a leader in affirmative action, and Volvo in Sweden faces the challenge of gender equality.

Volvo Car is committed to achieve an inclusive and gender balance with leaders. They plan to have a leadership position of greater than or equal to 35% by 2020, which should be held by women (Volvocars, 2019).

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(Volvocars, 2019）

Future development of leadership style

Eagly and Chin (2010) argue that in a changing world, there must be a theory that is parallel to change and diversity, not only culturally but also sexually (pp. 216-224). Chin (2013) concludes in a survey on gender and population that the future leadership of the world is diversified. Diversity leadership is to be inclusive of all groups and all perspectives.

(Chin, 2013)

(Chin, 2013)

Volvo is not only a Swedish company, it is also a large multinational company, and they are particularly good at diversification. Volvo currently has more than 32% of its leadership positions as non-Swedish and has made plans to increase by more than 3% in the next two years (Volvocars, 2019). So the Volvo Group has done an excellent job in terms of gender, geography and ethnicity. 

To some extent, contemporary leadership style is closely related to the changing world. A variety of leadership styles are parallel. On one hand, in line with the needs of organizational development. On the other hand, the inevitable choice of corporate management and humanization, to cope with this era of knowledge and innovation. 

References

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Autonews (2016) Auto industry must do more to close gender gap in leadership roles, report finds. Auto News[Online].Available at: https://www.autonews.com/article/20160428/OEM/160429825/auto-industry-must-do-more-to-close-gender-gap-in-leadership-roles-report-finds[Accessed 6 Mar. 2019]

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