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Reply to MIFR 1

In the 20th century, business organizations were characterized by a bureaucratic horizontal organization. The ways of doing business revolved around production and supplying the products to the market. A significant percentage of the firms were large corporations that dealt with the manufacturing of industrial goods for the vast global market, for instance, US steel. Having a popular product brand was enough for success in business. In the 21st century, multiple changes have occurred leading to a change in the system. Competition has increased. Therefore, production of goods and services has changed. Business organizations have varied to maximize productivity. Firms are now exploiting new entrepreneurial ventures. (Cole, 2014). Innovation is vital in the 21st century. The roles of leaders have changed to being a guide to the juniors. The analysis foreshadows the coming century. Businesses are more likely to become integrated, and globalization will continue to increase the market. Firms will use networking to counter competition and enhance their marketing efficiency (Cole, 2014). Technology will replace human labor, in turn, increase the rate and quality of production. New business opportunities will arise to bridge the gaps created by change, for instance, online marketing, app development and product innovation (Baulant, 2016).

Reply to EVHA 2

Based off of our readings, the differences between 20th and 21st century leadership is really how the leaders view themselves and how the leader uses their knowledge to motivate the followers to move toward a shared vision. In the 20th century a business leader was considered the “top of the food chain”. They were the decision maker and mostly were driven by obtaining the business goal of making profits for the business. The 20th century leader would run all types of businesses. The normal business practice was a hierarchical decision making structure. The leader valued employees who were order takers and expected employees to give their best work the first time. These leaders took their position as manager as a symbol of status among the employee pool. 20th century leaders were majority male.

The ideal 20th century leader would be an individual who could lead with a confident authoritative tone. This leader would possess a certain level of charisma that would inspire followers to want to take orders and perform at optimal work levels. The 20th century leader would have a professional working relationship with their employees. The 20th century leader that would match the ideal persona is Franklin D Roosevelt. According to the article, What Made Franklin D Roosevelt a great leader?, he possessed some key leadership traits: charisma, an effective communicator, self-confidence, and resiliency (Informa Australia, 2013). Roosevelt successfully led the American nation through controversial events during his tenure as the President.

An ideal 21st century leader possesses some of the same characteristics as the 20th century leader such as high self-confidence and having charisma. The ideal persona of a 21st century leader is one who leads from the front. The 21st century leader has a transformational leadership style and a mental attitude to continually learn and grow. They are able to influence through motivation and take a invested interest in professionally developing their followers to become leaders. These leaders are not afraid to fail and encourage mistakes as long as a lesson is learned.

A 21st century leader that comes to mind is Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com. Even though he has been known to lead with a strong sense of ensuring that his leaders work long hours to get the job done. His leadership style is transforming to a more 21st century approach. One can definitely see it reflected though the leadership chain from top to bottom. Having an insider’s perspective, Amazon encourages employees on all levels to take ownership of a situation and empowers employees to make the decision to help customers. In addition, Jeff Bezos and his leadership team also do a yearly activity that has them taking live phone calls. Bezos states that he does this to remind himself and others of the importance and key role these “front line” employees have. He also has an empty chair in his boardroom specifically reserved for “the customer” to help remind everyone that the customer should always be the strategic business focus.

Reply to MIGA 2

Role of management in the 20th century organization was significantly different than that of in the 21st century. In the 20th century, the managers used to set short term objectives for the organizations. These short-term objectives were related with the execution of tasks governing the processes, procedure as well as production of the organization.

Contrary to this, in the 21st century, managers are involved in planning, organizing, as well as execution of different procedures and production process of an organization. In 21st century, the role of managers has expanded as the managers need to perform the role of facilitator as well. Earlier the management was required to deal with relatively smaller organizational issues. But, with the increase in globalization, technology development, and workforce diversity, the management in 21st century needs to deal with several issues including global challenges, huge competition, enterprise mobility, human capital management, management of cultural diversity, and establishment of sustainable socioeconomic environment.

Furthermore, companies need to continuously restructure their business model with the change in market environment. Simultaneously, they need to downsize the employees and change their job responsibilities. It also creates a challenging task for the managers as they need to maintain job satisfaction of the employees in such dynamic environment. The managers need to ensure that the employees maintain a balance between their personal and professional life. Besides, they need to create an environment that will help to attract and retain competent employees. Hence, it can be said that change of purpose in business along with change in work attitudes and behavior of workers has expanded the role of management.