An Exploratory Look at a MENA Leadership Yardstick

It is held that contemporary Western organizations would neither exist nor develop without leaders who efficiently and effectively manage. Researchers assert that in modern business enterprises, leadership requires the skill of working with and through people and other organizational resources to accomplish organizational goals. In addition, many business leadership studies posit that a key skill is that unique ability to work with the additionally challenging behavior of Millennials and Generation Z geared 24/7 towards accelerated development. Nonetheless, Drucker (2003) looking at modern organizations from a much broader perspective asserted that effective management in the post-industrial arena is probably the main resource of the developed world and the most needed resource in the developing world. This research paper explores perceptions of a leadership yardstick in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Ninety three participants drawn from different departments in business organizations were randomly selected as a sample. Two research questions were posed: (1) In your opinion, are business leaders operationally efficient in reaching goals in the SME where you work? (2) In your opinion, are business leaders effective in reaching goals in the SME where you work? The results found that Millennial and Generation Z business leadership in the MENA had a novel moral compass that networked, coordinated, cooperated and united employees into a communal context. Additional research is recommended to further explore and understand the modern MENA business leadership yardstick as it is the first worldwide horizontal generation that seems to be socially accountable.