Respond to…

The industrial age was a very unique age because it was such a revolutionizing age. “The business world was relatively unregulated; consequently, many captains of industry emerged as giants who were able to build large empires, such as Henry Ford, the Rockefellers, and Andrew Carnegie. Legends and stories dominated the study of leadership.” (Warrick, 2016, 3.1). The leadership during this time, was very laid back because they did not know what a true leader is, since it was such a new concept to them. Everybody just started working for a leader during this age so there was not a role model and for the leaders that made it during this age became major leaders throughout history.  At the same time, the information age is a completely whole new era. With that being said, the leadership during that era was unique because everything became technical. Everything is computer work, so a leader may never even meet his or her employer but instead only speak through technology. Also, leaders had to be able to know everything about the computer in order to gain buy in from the leader that they knew what they were talking about. Each era has their own set of leaders with their own traits and behaviors. During the industrial age, I would not have a clue of how to be a leader. Since it was difficult to see what a leader in an organization looks like. So, I would have been doing my thing during that time. At the same time, during the information age, I would be able to research what a good leader looks like so i can find out exactly how I should be treating my employees and what they expect from me as a leader. 

Warrick, D.D. (2016). 

Leadership: A high impact approach

[Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Respond to…

Two of the most prominent situations affecting leadership from the Industrial Age to the Information Age are the shift from private factories to corporate entities and the rapid advancement of the digital age. These situations affect my place of employment because they not only change how things are done, they also change how people get work done and shift in what they value. In the move from factories to consolidated office work, employees began to work eight hour days and have improved workplace standards due to regulation. With these new standards and more available free time, people have more time to enjoy their out of work lives and consider what makes them happy. These considerations lead people to no longer see their job with the perspective of earning a wage, they began looking at work as a source of fulfillment. A place where they feel they are productive in a meaningful way and where they want to valued. As defined in the text by Warrick, “motivation consists of the processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort in obtaining an organizational goal.” (Warrick, 2016, sec. 6.7). Leaders have to adapt to the changing values and needs of the demographic they support. Different environments and demographics require different motivational approaches. In this situation, I would conduct industry data analysis, surveys and hold focus groups to better assess what the talent pool I am interested need to be interested in working for an organization and to feel motivated in their work. The other situation discussed is digitalization in which the use of technology brings many efficiencies in how employees and leaders get their work done. One can look back 10 or 15 years to when everything to do with banking required you to go to a branch. The way the system worked was on the banker’s terms as they directed the hours they were available to you and the processes you had to follow to get things done. Looking at our present situation, everything looks different, you can now accomplish most banking activities 24/7 though online websites, mobile applications and ATMs. This shift occurred due to competition amongst banking institutions in the customer experience arena that was made possible through new technology. Another impact of the digital age is globalization due to the ability to collaborate across the globe using email, chat, virtual conferences and other communication tools. As a leader dealing with this situation, I would explore how to best incorporate technology into my business and how to use it to improve efficiency. The use of technology should always be strategic because great ideas don’t often pan out due to poor execution and myopic views of impacts. Take for example the ability for people in my firm to work remote and to use email from the personal devices, does this now mean we are always “on”?

Reference:

Warrick, D.D. (2016). Leadership: A high impact approach [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/