Customizing leadership practices for the millennial workforce: A conceptual framework

This study is a critical review of literature to develop a conceptual framework that offers new insights on the complicated interaction between the millennial workforce and leadership competencies. The current study applies contingency approach as a theoretical foundation to answer the question of which leadership practice is suitable for leading the millennial workforce. The study contributes to research on leadership by developing a theoretical framework in which the contingency approach becomes a theoretical basis for the analysis. The analysis investigates the contingent style of leadership needed in different situations. The framework is built on two suggested factors (the millennial workforce and leadership competencies) as a critical means to answer to the question raised. Literature that shows the theoretical interaction between the two factors was used to build this framework, which in turn develops three complementary parallel leadership practices (ethical-tournament, servant-tolerant, and authentic-stringent). The three practices provide a foundation for theoretical development in the field of leadership in order to actively engage, retain, and develop millennials within their current organizations. While the current study provides a theoretical framework, there is a need for empirical work to examine the three proposed practices and examine the relationship between the two suggested factors: the millennial workforce and leadership competencies.