Leadership Styles in the VUCA World, Through the Eyes of Gen-Z

Abstract

Millennial employees have been a matter of concern and consideration for researchers for more than a decade. Past studies have tried to explore the attributes, values, beliefs and expectations of the millennials and the best mechanism to engage them. The IT industry is currently witnessing an interesting team constellation with Gen-Y employees occupying the team lead roles and Gen-X forming the major workforce that needs to be led for best business outcomes. The current research aims to study the leadership dynamics of Gen-Y managers by assessing relationship between emotional intelligence (EI), as reported by managers and their transformational leadership style as perceived by their Gen-Z followers. Gen-Y managers (194) were administered by the Mayer, Salovey and Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Gen-Z followers were administered by the leadership effectiveness scale and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) 5X scale. Results indicated that transformational leadership had a significant positive association with perceived leadership effectiveness. Emotional intelligence and personality did not show a significant relationship with leadership effectiveness. Results have been discussed in the light of Gen-Y leadership patterns and Gen-Z followers' expectations.