Cortellazzo et al. article published in 2019 identifies findings of various patterns across different social science disciplines and contributes to leadership studies by comprehensively analyzing the relationship between leadership and digitization. Moreover, Cortellazzo et al. (2019) contribute to leadership by demonstrating that leaders are fundamental players in how an organization’s digital culture is created. Their principal responsibility is to develop relationships with scattered and multiple stakeholders. Further, leaders in digitized institutions must focus on allowing collaborative procedures in complicated environments while addressing the organizations’ pressing ethical issues. Through a systematic and extensive review of leadership and digital transformation, Cortellazzo et al. (2019) show what key future research opportunities must advance their knowledge on the relationship between digitization and leadership. The implications of the article lie in its applicability to IT organizations, which could use the information for reframing leadership in their companies and implementation of the standards of top managers in practice.
Reflecting on the seven habits leaders must employ to help IT leaders succeed, a relationship exists between digitization-leadership association and the habits. Andriole (2007) demonstrates that leaders in IT have a critical role when developing a digital culture, which corresponds to Cortellazzo et al. (2019) findings concerning the personal role of leaders. For example, my practice suggests that the success of the implementation of informational tools depends on the decision-makers’ knowledge about them, which makes it necessary for leaders to be aware of innovations. The knowledge is important for leaders in terms of communication with the stakeholders. For example, Bolman and Terrence (2017) underline that leaders must have skill and knowledge of symbolism used to frame leadership in a context where it is applied as specific images to gain the most vital position to handle the challenges in their governance. The symbolism as a leader’s skill is also discussed in the work by Cortellazzo et al. (2019) who highlight that leadership success of a digitally transformed organization should be a symbol. The significance of the symbols used in the article lies in their ability to help leaders create a digital culture.
References
Andriole, S. J. (2007). The 7 habits of highly effective technology leaders. Communications of the ACM, 50 (3), 67–72.
Bolman, Lee, G. and Terrence E. Deal. (2017). Reframing Organizations. 6th Ed. Wiley Professional Development.
Cortellazzo, L., Bruni, E., Zampieri, R., & Bruni, E. (2019). The role of leadership in a digitalized world: A review. Frontiers in Psychology, 10.