INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEADERSHIP QUALITIES IN THE CONTEXT OF MANAGERIAL TRANSFORMATIONS AND THE DYNAMICS OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

The article examines scientific approaches to understanding leadership and substantiates a model for the formation of leadership qualities of self-employed persons based on self-regulation and the internal determination of behavior. The study is grounded in the recognition of the multidimensional nature of the leadership phenomenon and the need to systematize leadership competency models with regard to the nature of influence, the level of manifestation, and the mechanisms of development. Classical, value-psychological, organizational, and self-leadership models are generalized, which made it possible to trace the evolution of scholarly approaches from the description of individual leader traits to a comprehensive understanding of leadership as a systemic and internally oriented process.

The proposed model for the formation of leadership qualities of self-employed persons integrates psychological, philosophical, and managerial approaches, the principles of Stoicism, and also takes into account the specific features of internal and external loci of control. It is proved that the defining mechanism of self-leadership development is self-regulation, which ensures responsibility, initiative, stress resistance, behavioral flexibility, and the capacity for independent decision-making. The leadership qualities of self-employed persons are structured into four competency clusters: personal-behavioral, cognitive-analytical, social-communicative, and managerial-organizational.

It has been established that, for self-employed persons operating independently, the dominant competencies are self-management, responsibility, adaptability, and individual decision-making. For those employing hired labor, the structure of leadership qualities becomes more complex due to the development of teamwork, delegation, mentoring, staff motivation, and orientation toward collective results. It is substantiated that the formation of leadership qualities of self-employed persons is differentiated in nature and is determined both by the internal characteristics of the individual and by the organizational conditions of entrepreneurial activity. The proposed approach creates a basis for further assessment of leadership development and for designing instruments to foster it, taking into account the specific features of self-employment.