Leadership Development in Context: Insights and Best Practices from Global Organizations

https://doi.org/10.22146/jlo.104787

Asrif Yusoff(1*)

(1) Durham University Business School, The Waterside Building, Durham DH1 1SL, United Kingdom
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract


Introduction/Main Objective: This study explores the diverse leadership development practices of three global organisations to identify effective strategies and their alignment with organisational performance. Background Problems: Leadership development is recognised as critical for organisational success, yet approaches vary widely across industries and regions, requiring contextual alignment with workforce needs. Novelty: The paper contributes by comparing leadership development strategies in diverse organisational contexts, and linking them to Adult Learning Theory (ALT) and Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to explain how adults learn and sustain motivation in leadership training. Research Methods: A document-based comparative analysis was conducted using secondary public data from academic literature, industry reports, and company sources. The analysis focused on three multinational organisations known for pioneering and innovating leadership development practices. Finding/Results: Findings show that successful leadership development is contextualised, incorporates experiential learning, and leverages digital technologies. Organisations emphasise alignment with strategic goals and a blend of formal and informal learning to strengthen engagement and long-term effectiveness. Conclusion: Effective leadership development requires strategic alignment with organisational goals, some level of personalisation to ensure relevance and engagement, and blended approaches that combine the best methods that suit the targeted demographic. These practices enhance sustainability of leadership pipelines and provide models for organisations to emulate.


Keywords


Leadership style, work discipline, employee performance

Full Text:

PDF


References

Abedini, A., Abedin, B., & Zowghi, D. (2021). Adult learning in online communities of practice: A systematic review. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(4), 1663–1694. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13120

Ajunwa, I. (2023). The Quantified Worker: Law and Technology in the Modern Workplace (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316888681

Aljumah, A. (2023). The impact of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on job satisfaction: The mediating role of transactional leadership. Cogent Business & Management, 10(3), 2270813. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2270813

Avolio, B. J., & Drummey, K. C. (2023). Building Leadership Service Academies to Institutionalize a Strategic Leadership Development Focus. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 30(2), 137–154. https://doi.org/10.1177/15480518231157019

Ben Hur, S., Jaworski, B., & Gray, D. Re-imagining Crotonville: Epicenter of GE’s leadership culture. (2012).

Birch, K. (2023). How to make DBS – the world’s best bank – even better. Business Chief. Retrieved from https://businesschief.asia/leadership-and-strategy/how-to-make-dbs-the-worlds-best-bank-even-better

Blake, R. R., & Mouton, J. S. (1994). The managerial grid (Paperback rerelease of 1964 ed). Houston: Gulf Publ.

Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document Analysis as a Qualitative Research Method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27–40. https://doi.org/10.3316/qrj0902027

Bown-Anderson, E. (2019). Making Space for the Development of Autonomy in a Blended Learning Environment (Ph.D., Texas State University - San Marcos). Texas State University - San Marcos, United States -- Texas. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/docview/2354843277/abstract/CE2F30758C7445D5PQ/1

Bryant, A. (2011). Google’s Quest to Build a Better Boss. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/business/13hire.html

Cappelli, P. (2022). The end of GE’s Crotonville: What it says about L&D.

Chang, Y. (2019). Green Finance in Singapore: Barriers and Solutions. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3326287

Cheng, A. (2024). GE’s Sale of Iconic Crotonville Property Reflects Wider Shift From Company Training Campuses. CoStar. Retrieved from https://www.costar.com/article/726618739/ges-sale-of-iconic-crotonville-property-reflects-wider-shift-from-company-training-campuses

Cusumano, M., Yoffie, D., & Gawer, A. (2020). The Future of Platforms. MIT Sloan Management Review.

DBS Bank. (2025). Benefits and learning | DBS Bank.https://www.dbs.com/careers/life-at-dbs/benefits-learning?pid=sg-group-pweb-careers-cardtiles-benefits-learning

Delbert, & Jacobs. (2021). Best Practices in Leadership Curriculum Development: A Case Study of a Curriculum Designed to Foster Authentic Leadership Skills in Graduate Students. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 21(2). https://doi.org/10.33423/jhetp.v21i2.4126

Early, S. L. (2020). Relational Leadership Reconsidered: The Mentor–Protégé Connection. Journal of Leadership Studies, 13(4), 57–61. https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.21671

Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2020). From expectancy-value theory to situated expectancy-value theory: A developmental, social cognitive, and sociocultural perspective on motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101859. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101859

Franco, M. (Ed.). (2020). Digital Leadership: A New Leadership Style for the 21st Century. Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar: IntechOpen.

Frederick, M. (2020). Practitioner Insights from 25 Years of Developing Global Leadership. In J. S. Osland, B. Szkudlarek, M. E. Mendenhall, & B. S. Reiche (Eds.), Advances in Global Leadership (pp. 235–242). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1535-120320200000013008

Garvin, D. (2013). How Google Sold Its Engineers on Management. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/12/how-google-sold-its-engineers-on-management

Garvin, D., Berkley, A., & Kind, L. (2013). Google’s Project Oxygen: Do managers matter? Harvard Business School.

General Electric. (2025). GE history. https://www.ge.com/history-ge

Groves, K. S. (2007). Integrating leadership development and succession planning best practices. Journal of Management Development, 26(3), 239–260. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710710732146

Gryta, T., & Mann, T. (2021). Lights out: Pride, delusion, and the fall of General Electric (First Mariner Books edition). Boston New York: Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Guerrero, J. J. M., & Michelle, D. (2020). Social cognitive theory. In Routledge handbook of adapted physical education. Routledge.

Gupta, I. (2024). Behind Crotonville’s demise. Founding Fuel. Retrieved from https://www.foundingfuel.com/column/strategic-intent/behind-crotonvilles-demise/

Gutterman, A. (2023). Leadership Styles. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4560197

Henson, R. (2016). Building Global Leadership for Individuals: Implications for Practice. In R. Henson, Successful Global Leadership (pp. 183–259). New York: Palgrave Macmillan US. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58990-3_7

Hertelendy, A. J., McNulty, E., Mitchell, C., Gutberg, J., Lassar, W., Durneva, P., & Rapp, D. (2021). Crisis leadership: The new imperative for MBA curricula. The International Journal of Management Education, 19(3), 100534. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2021.100534

Housel, D. A. (2020). When Co-Occurring Factors Impact Adult Learners: Suggestions for Instruction, Preservice Training, and Professional Development. Adult Learning, 31(1), 6–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045159519849910

HROnline. (2015). How DBS develops future-ready digital leaders. Retrieved from https://www.humanresourcesonline.net/dbs-develops-future-ready-digital-leaders

HROnline. (2023). Creating impact beyond banking: 6 best practices that make DBS a purpose-led employer. HROnline. Retrieved from https://www.humanresourcesonline.net/creating-impact-beyond-banking-6-best-practices-that-make-dbs-a-purpose-led-employer

Ingale, A. (2025). Succession Planning And Leadership Development Are Important In Creating A Talent Pipeline Within Human Resource Management. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5031223

Irby, B. J., Abdelrahman, N., Lara‐Alecio, R., & Allen, T. (2020). Epistemological Beginnings of Mentoring. In B. J. Irby, J. N. Boswell, L. J. Searby, F. Kochan, R. Garza, & N. Abdelrahman (Eds.), The Wiley International Handbook of Mentoring (1st ed., pp. 19–28). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119142973.ch2

Jacobs, M. L. (2022). Mentorship Moments. World Journal for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery, 13(3), 278–279. https://doi.org/10.1177/21501351221089921

Karim, A., Bakhtiar, A., Sahrodi, J., & Chang, P. H. (2022). Spiritual leadership behaviors in religious workplace: The case of pesantren. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2022.2076285

Kim, H. (2020). The Analysis of Innovation Management in Google. Journal of Economics and Management Sciences, 3(4), p10. https://doi.org/10.30560/jems.v3n4p10

Kim, P. S., & Jin, J. (2008). Action Learning and Its Applications in Government: The Case of South Korea. Public Administration Quarterly, 32(2), 193–213.

Kiron, D., & Spindel, B. (2019). Redefining Performance Management at DBS Bank. MIT Sloan Management Review. Retrieved from https://sloanreview.mit.edu/case-study/redefining-performance-management-at-dbs-bank/

Knowles, M. S., Holton Iii, E. F., Swanson, R. A., & Robinson, P. A. (2020). The Adult Learner: The Definitive Classic in Adult Education and Human Resource Development (9th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429299612

Knowles, S. (2021). Coaching for Learning and Growth. In S. Knowles, Positive Psychology Coaching (pp. 127–137). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88995-1_10

K.Siambi, J. (2022). Leadership Succession Planning and Organization Transition: A Review of Literature. International Journal of Managerial Studies and Research, 10(3), 16–30. https://doi.org/10.20431/2349-0349.1003003

Kusnadi, K., Zaky, A., & Markonah, M. (2024). Analysis Of The Influence Of Compensation And Training On The Performance Of Bpo Business Partner Outsourcing (BPO) Employees At The Development Bank Of Singapore Limited. Management Research Studies Journal, 5(1), 21–36. https://doi.org/10.56174/mrsj.v5i1.711

Leskiw, S., & Singh, P. (2007). Leadership development: Learning from best practices. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 28(5), 444–464. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730710761742

Lewin, K., Lippitt, R., & White, R. K. (1939). Patterns of Aggressive Behavior in Experimentally Created “Social Climates.” The Journal of Social Psychology, 10(2), 269–299. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1939.9713366

Liow, E. D. (2012). The Neoliberal-Developmental State: Singapore as Case Study. Critical Sociology, 38(2), 241–264. https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920511419900

Lissillour, R., & Rodriguez-Escobar, J. A. (2023). Organizational ambidexterity and the learning organization: The strategic role of a corporate university. The Learning Organization, 30(1), 55–75. https://doi.org/10.1108/TLO-01-2021-0011

Manimala, M., & Poornima, K. (2013). Distributed leadership at Google: Lessons from the billion-dollar brand.

McKinsey. (2024). Transforming a banking leader into a technology leader. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/how-we-help-clients/rewired-in-action/dbs-transforming-a-banking-leader-into-a-technology-leader#lessons

Merkle, J. A. (2020). Management and Ideology (Reprint 2020). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520312104

Mizzi, R. C., Hawley, J. D., Rocco, T. S., Smith, M. C., & Merriweather, L. R. (2023). The Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education (1st ed.). New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003447849

Nicholas, T. (2023). Human Capital and the Managerial Revolution in the United States: Evidence from General Electric. Review of Economics and Statistics, 1–47. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_01400

Onatolu, A. (2012). Cultural Revolution - Just What Multinational Companies Need: A Case of GE. Journal of Business Case Studies (JBCS), 9(1), 59–62. https://doi.org/10.19030/jbcs.v9i1.7545

Pearson, J., & Sadacharam, T. (2023). Peer-to-Peer Learning at Google and Peloton: The Power of Internal Experts. In D. Guralnick, M. E. Auer, & A. Poce (Eds.), Innovative Approaches to Technology-Enhanced Learning for the Workplace and Higher Education (pp. 296–301). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21569-8_28

Pollock, M., Holly, J., & Leggett‐Robinson, P. (2022). Inclusive leadership development for engineers. New Directions for Student Leadership, 2022(173), 119–128. https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.20483

Rajasinghe, D., & Allen, C. (2020). Coaching for Workplace Learning and Development. In M. Loon, J. Stewart, & S. Nachmias (Eds.), The Future of HRD, Volume II (pp. 147–175). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52459-3_6

Ratanjee, V. (2013). DBS Bank: A Force for Good in Asia. Gallup. Retrieved from https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/164279/dbs-bank-force-good-asia.aspx

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2020). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101860

Saeed, S. A., Lauriello, J., Roberts, L. W., & American Psychiatric Association (Eds.). (2023). Textbook of psychiatric administration and leadership (Third edition). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association Publishing.

Siddiqui, K. (2016). A Study of Singapore as a Developmental State. In Y.-C. Kim (Ed.), Chinese Global Production Networks in ASEAN (pp. 157–188). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24232-3_9

Silvennoinen, M., Parviainen, T., Malinen, A., Karjalainen, S., Manu, M., & Vesisenaho, M. (2022). Combining Physiological and Experiential Measures to Study the Adult Learning Experience. In M. Goller, E. Kyndt, S. Paloniemi, & C. Damşa (Eds.), Methods for Researching Professional Learning and Development (pp. 137–164). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08518-5_7

Singh, V., Verma, S., & Chaurasia, S. S. (2020). Mapping the themes and intellectual structure of corporate university: Co-citation and cluster analyses. Scientometrics, 122(3), 1275–1302. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-019-03328-0

Steiber, A., & Alänge, S. (2013). A corporate system for continuous innovation: The case of Google Inc. European Journal of Innovation Management, 16(2), 243–264. https://doi.org/10.1108/14601061311324566

Su, W. (2022). Leadership Development in Knowledge Management. International Journal of Frontiers in Sociology, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.25236/IJFS.2022.040218

Tang, J. K. K., & Hussin, W. S. (2020). Next-generation leadership development: A management succession perspective. Journal of Family Business Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFBM-04-2019-0024

Taylor, F. W. (1914). Scientific Management: Reply from Mr. F. W. Taylor. The Sociological Review, a7(3), 266–269. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.1914.tb02387.x

Tedla, B. A., & Vilas B, G. (2022). essence of leadership, its styles: A review and personal account commentary. International Journal of Health Sciences, 175–183. https://doi.org/10.53730/ijhs.v6nS2.5083

Tichy, N. (1989). GE’s Crotonville: A Staging Ground for Corporate Revolution. The Academy of Management Executive.

Tran, S. K. (2017). GOOGLE: A reflection of culture, leader, and management. International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, 2(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40991-017-0021-0

Trisca, L. (2024). How Google’s Innovative Training and Development Programs Empower Employees. Deel. Retrieved from https://www.deel.com/blog/employee-development-at-google/

Voronkova, V., Andriukaitiene, R., & Oleksenko, R. (2022). Google and Facebook as a Way of Life for Millions of People in a Digital Society. Newsletter on the Results of Scholarly Work in Sociology, Criminology, Philosophy and Political Science, 3(2x), 20–33. https://doi.org/10.61439/JCZO1299

Walker, D. O. H., & Reichard, R. J. (2020). On Purpose: Leader Self‐Development and the Meaning of Purposeful Engagement. Journal of Leadership Studies, 14(1), 26–38. https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.21680

Walters, R. (2015). Evolution of Leadership Development at General Electric. Engineering Management Journal.

Waritsman, A. (2022). Implementation of Blended Learning and Its Impact on Trainees. 12 Waiheru, 8(1), 29–35. https://doi.org/10.47655/12waiheru.v8i1.6

Waters, R. C. (2015). Evolution of Leadership Development at General Electric. Engineering Management Journal, 21(1), 42–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/10429247.2009.11431797

Wharton School. (2010). How GE Builds Global Leaders: A Conversation with Chief Learning Officer Susan Peters. Wharton.

Woo, J. J. (2023). Gradations of organizational autonomy in Singapore: A comparison of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Temasek Holdings, and the Development Bank of Singapore. Global Public Policy and Governance, 3(4), 375–389. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43508-023-00078-x

Zulfan, G., Kee, D. M. H., Khor, T. W., Lee, S. Y., Ali, H. J., Hanan, A., & Akansha, V. (2020). The Influence of Organizational Culture on Employee Retention: A Case of Google. Journal of The Community Development in Asia, 3(1), 25–32. https://doi.org/10.32535/jcda.v3i1.705



DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/jlo.104787

Article Metrics

Abstract views : 3177 | views : 2198

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.




Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Leadership in Organizations

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Journal of Leadership in Organizations

Journal

Editorial Team
Focus and Scope
Peer Review Process
Publication Ethics
Screening for Plagiarism      

Authors

Author Guidelines
Submission Guidelines               
Online Submissions
Copyright Notice
Privacy Statement   
Author Fees            

Reviewer

Reviewer Guidelines      
           

Reader

General Search
Achieves
Author index
Title index                       

 

 

Journal of Leadership in Organizations (JLO), with registered number ISSN 2656-8829 (Print) and ISSN 2656-8810 (Online), is published by the Center for Leadership Studies, Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada. The content of this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

© 2019 Journal of Leadership in Organizations