Leadership development and its effects on organizational performance

Abstract

The current environment demands a better quality of leadership in organizations. In order to improve leadership capabilities, companies can create leadership development programs. However, not all companies embrace leadership development programs. Those who do usually have several types of programs and treat these programs as part of their strategic plan to address challenges that companies are likely to face in the future. Reviewing the leadership research, I find there is a positive relationship between leadership development programs and organizational performance. Reviewing the leadership program research, I find that most leadership development programs were created in response to significant challenges organizations were facing. I present the MIT Sloan Fellows program, as an alternative program that some companies and individuals are choosing for leadership development. The program uses the Four Capabilities Model as a leadership theory, focusing on the tasks and capabilities needed of leaders. I administered two surveys to the Sloan Fellows Class 2011. Surveys results suggest some of the benefits the program provides to individuals and organizations. Among these findings, my evidence shows that a higher percentage of "leader companies" have leadership development programs, in contrast to "follower companies" that usually do not have leadership development programs.