The online survey, administered earlier this month by Right Management Consultants, found that nearly half of senior-level HR executives believe their company's leadership development efforts were haphazard and undisciplined.

"These results point to a leadership vacuum in the world of business today," said Chris Pierce-Cooke, Executive Vice President and head of Right's Organizational Consulting practice. "Corporations have been so distracted by the challenges of surviving this dismal economy that they haven't been paying attention to preparing the next group of leaders to move into the executive suite."

Pierce-Cooke said the leadership vacuum has been fueled by three factors -- the global economic downturn of the last several years, an aging workforce that will soon be depleted as Baby Boomers begin exiting the workplace, and a fiercely competitive environment that has forced businesses to slash their workforces as a way to meet short-term Wall Street expectations.

While nearly three-quarters of respondents said their organization considered leadership development a priority, one-third of respondents said their company had not undertaken any significant leadership development work in the past two years.

Pierce-Cooke said that companies need to refocus on leadership and ask themselves who will be responsible for leading their company forward in the next two to five years.

"Many organizations are so depleted from layoffs, cost-cutting, and new financial pressures that the last thing they've had time to think about is, 'Who will be moving into the executive suite when our current management team retires or moves on?' But this question is going to take on new urgency as the economy begins to improve and employees start getting 'itchy' to explore new job possibilities."