ABSTRACT
It was suggested at the end of the previous chapter that certain new themes and concerns are emerging in leadership research and practice. These grapple with a number of vital questions, including the kind of leadership behaviours now thought to be required (and, conversely, those which are deemed worthy of discouragement); the allocation of leadership responsibilities across organizational members; and the kind of leadership training and development methods which are deemed to be appropriate in new contexts. In large part, these current issues and concerns in leadership and leadership development reflect key changes in the environment within which organizations have to operate: for example, global economic uncertainty, climate change, massive trade imbalances, shorter product life cycles, debates about re-regulation versus deregulation, globalization of competition, turbulence in markets and technologies, and higher expectations from public services in a context of cuts in funding. They also reflect structural and cultural changes within organizations themselves, such as devolved, delayered and downsized corporations alongside more permeable organizational boundaries, if not outright ‘boundaryless’ enterprises. It has been suggested that it is the increased complexity of society and its faster pace which explains the demand for leadership. Thus, as argued by Fullan, ‘The more complex society gets, the more sophisticated leadership must become’ (2001a: ix). In today’s context, one might add that the challenge is heightened because of the numerous instances of spectacular corporate failures.
