Leading a Postmodern Workforce (2007)

ABSTRACT This paper explores contemporary leadership theory within a postmodernism society in the public sector. The paper investigates leadership theory by comparing and contrasting bureaucratic theory, transactional leadership theory, and transformational leadership theory in the ever changing workforce of federal employees. The study is significant because there are government-wide human capital problems, and this is highly relevant to anyone who must lead in the public sector. The paper concludes with a set of five strategic implications for researchers and practitioners. This effort contributes to further exploration into understanding leadership and organizational culture in the public sector. INTRODUCTION With sixty percent (60%) of the government's 1.6 million employees eligible for retirement, the federal government finds itself in a hostile environment. The changes in workforce demographics will create leadership challenges in the future as Baby Boomer employees make their massive exodus from the workforce. For complementary leaders, there is a caution sign that reads, Proceed cautiously, danger ahead. Currently, the government has declared its human capital practices as a high risk area of concern (Blunt, 2003). Linda Springer, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director, calls this issue a retirement tsunami and feels managers need to start taking this cultural shift seriously (Ziegler, 2006). In the past, corporate culture has been able to stabilize such influences; corporate culture gives employees a blueprint for understanding organizational values and beliefs. What happens to an organization when the leader's values are no longer aligned to the belief system of the employees? Reacting to changing cultural influences and global threats abroad, the federal government finds itself in a major transformation process (Blunt, 2003). These situations are made more complicated due to the massive exodus of its leaders. The leadership training for senior executives has been sparse and inadequate in relationship to these culture changes. The purpose of this article is to provide an exploratory insight related to leadership theory and its application in the postmodern era. This paper examines several aspects of leadership theory consisting of bureaucratic theory, transactional leadership theory, and transformational leadership theory in the public sector. The primary objective is to identify the current values attributed to contemporary leadership and compare varying leadership theories in the postmodern period. The following discussion will be investigated: (a) the current organizational changes, (b) the postmodern culture and its impact upon the workforce, and (c) understanding leadership theory in the postmodern period. These issues are significant because of the potential conflicts that can exist between leaders and employees in organizations. CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP THEORY Leadership Theory provides researchers an opportunity to understand leader-follower relationships in a cultural framework. Prewitt (2004) noted that the current leadership theories are based on modernist assumptions and are out of date with leading postmodern organizations. Schmidt (2006) argued that leadership definitions reflect the viewpoint of an industrial society, and a new era begat a new definition for leadership. Nevertheless, this paper defines leadership as a contextual influence that has an impact on subordinates' attitudes and performance through effects on the subordinates' perceptions of their job characteristics (Northouse, 2004). Therefore, leaders have the capacity to influence the values needed in a changing organizational environment (Ferguson, 2003). POSTMODERN CULTURE Postmodernism is a philosophical term with a cultural context. Modernism places man at the center of reality by utilizing science to explain the meaning of life. In contrast, postmodernism places no one at the center of reality and has no core explanation of life (KeIm, 1999). …