Leadership Management in Contemporary Organizations: An Interpretive Qualitative Review of Practices, Challenges, and Implications

Abstract

Over recent decades, organizations have undergone accelerated transformation driven by globalization, intensified competition, and rapid technological advancement. These forces have reshaped organizational structures, work arrangements, and cultural expectations, significantly increasing the complexity of leadership and the demands placed on managers. Despite the extensive body of academic research on leadership styles and competencies, the literature remains conceptually fragmented across key domains—such as strategic alignment, trust-building, communication, emotional intelligence, motivation, inclusion, and ethics—particularly within hybrid and digitally mediated work environments.

This study presents an interpretive qualitative review of the literature that synthesizes contemporary leadership management practices highlighted in foundational and recent leadership studies. Employing a reflective and bibliographic analytical approach, the review identifies a set of interrelated leadership requirements for contemporary organizational contexts: (a) strategic alignment and shared leadership, (b) trust-building through continuous feedback and psychological safety, (c) communication grounded in active listening and transparency, (d) emotional intelligence for conflict management and performance regulation, (e) recognition practices to sustain motivation, (f) cultural adaptability and inclusion to leverage diversity, and (g) ethical accountability and social legitimacy as central leadership imperatives.

These findings are integrated into a conceptual framework that positions communication and emotional intelligence as transversal enablers shaping the effectiveness of trust, recognition, inclusion, and adaptive decision-making—especially under conditions of digital acceleration. The study concludes that effective leadership management cannot be reduced to a single universal model; rather, it depends on leaders’ contextual adaptability while maintaining ethical responsibility, inclusive cultures, and the long-term development of both people and organizational systems.