Strategic Management and Leadership - Assignment Example

Strategic Management and Leadership Managers and Leaders Effectiveness of managers as leaders The definition of a manager entails a person who carries out the execution of work through the activities of others. An efficient manger endeavors to execute the entire organizational function starting from recruitment, planning, organizing, delegation of authority and responsibility, training, motivation and staff management through a set of people grouped to achieve organizational goals. The concept of leadership operates in synchronization to managerial goals and responsibilities. Leaders are persons who reflect some specific characteristic traits and in turn motivate other persons to achieve higher goals within specific periods. The feature of effective leadership identifies a person who thinks and acts differently from the rest in achieving a desired purpose. This defines that a leader must be bold enough to face oppositions and undue criticisms for his different approach. A person earns the recognition of effective leadership if he or she endeavors to gauge a situation by standing on the toes of others. The effective leader must also take care of the subordinates through acts of motivation and by extending needed help in times of organizational crisis. Existing in the changing environment entails a leader to be flexible enough to help the organization achieve future goals and set purposes. A manager turns out to be an effective leader in being an adaptor to the changing environment. Further, the manager decides on the planned course of action and directs the subordinates to walk on the treaded path to achieve the desired goal. The manager also endeavors to empathize through the acts of liaison between the upper and the lower levels. Moreover, an effective manager must take active role in motivating the subordinates through effective training and creating a positive environment for others to perform effectively. The function of effective management also entails that the working conditions must be made favorable and safer to help the employees succeed in their work. (Caroselli, 2000, pp. 1, 2, 4-5, 6, 8-9) Leaders as effective managers The leaders of the modern era must prove themselves as effective managers to sustain in a competitive environment. An effective leader in the context of the modern era is observed to be a person who endeavors to execute tasks through the delegation of responsibilities. Effective leadership entails in carving the organizational process and structure in such a manner that can help the staffs to become self-dependent in meeting desired goals. A person to become an effective leader must look forward to acquire huge amount of information from the rapidly changing external environment. This large amount of data gathered would help the business leader to draft the business plan in a successful manner to help the business stand the test of times. In addition to the delegation of responsibility and openness to the external environment, effective leadership also entails the act of proper communication. Simply gathering huge amount of data from the external environment and planning accordingly does not suffice. An effective leader must also device the process of a healthy communication to let the employees also be a part of the changing process. Furthermore, the process of effective leadership demands that a person must possess the potential of taking quicker decisions and again successfully fulfilling the future directives and organizational norms. Leaders to turn into effective managers must learn to earn the trust of the subordinates. Earning the trust of the subordinates helps the leader to fulfill the notion of collective action to achieve desired goals. The system of trust is generated if the leader operates based on a set of core values, which aims at organizational, and people betterment. In total, a leader to become an effective manager must not only look forward for self-development but should encourage the system of organizational development. They should actively encourage the process of collaboration in the organizational sphere through better communication. In that, the leader can easily solve the problems of the workers and subordinates and hence successfully generates trust, which helps cement the organizational bindings. (Harvard Business School, 2005, pp. 1-17) Balance between strategic management and strategic leadership Every organization must carve out desired organizational goals, which the organization will endeavor to achieve at future periods. The process of designing the future organizational goals taking into account the organizational resources helps to plan the desired course of actions needed for achieving such. Thus, the process of future decision-making involves a set of strategic plans to achieve future organizational goals. The process of strategic planning to become effective must bear close links with administrative and organizational functionaries. Moreover, the system should also possess an effective evaluation process to avoid redundancy of the plan drawn. The total system of administrative and evaluation machinery highlights in the evolution of strategic management as a distinct management functionary of the modern era. It is observed that effective strategic management helps an organization to make real projections of operational activities and hence helps to allocate resources accordingly. The process of strategic management bears a close relationship to the process of strategic leadership. In fact, it is observed that the system of strategic leadership helps in rendering directional guidelines to the process of strategic management to help fulfill desired organizational objectives. However, the system of strategic leadership centers on the activities of the organizational leaders consisting of the board of directors, the chairperson or the president and other council heads. Through the process of effective strategic leadership, the organizational heads would succeed in rightly carrying on the activity of taking proper decisions through the system of scientific evaluation. Strategic Leadership also helps the organizational heads to disseminate the ideas taken through strategic decision making to the lower organizational level by carving out proper communication structures. However, the process of strategic leadership to be effective must not be restricted to organizational inhibitions. Rather, the process of effective leadership must be cultivated effectively in the minds of the lower organizational groups to help them function freely in a collaborative sphere. Strategic Leadership also encourages the promotion of innovative thoughts and ideas in the organizational sphere through the activities of the management board in identifying real life talents. (Morrill, 2007, p. 74) Strategic Leadership and Organizational Philosophy Role of a strategic leader Organizational leadership becomes effective when it is tied to the structure of organizational philosophy containing of elements like mission, vision and a set of values. It is often found that the ideas of mission and vision framed by an organization become redundant when it fails to bear a link with the operational procedure of the concern. Organizational mission and vision are highly responsible for rightly motivating the people to thrive efficiently in achieving future goals and objectives. Thus, it must bear a steady linkage to the operational standards, which in turn would render a touch of reality to the elements of organizational philosophy. Through the effective development of the organizational mission and vision, the process of leadership management can be steadily incorporated in the organizational system. The workers at all levels must be closely encouraged to come out with innovative capacities and newer procedures to help modify the operational process. Herein, an effective system of communication developed through the channel of organizational leadership would help in rightly communicating the concepts of mission and vision to the lower levels. It is further observed that the style of preparation of the mission, vision and values sometimes occur to turn vague which in turn fails to excite employee attention. In that, the construction of the ideology of mission and vision must incorporate related words like ‘professional accountability’, ‘commitment to work’, and ‘effective communication’ and ‘personal and professional development’. This helps in rendering a professional and practical approach to the organizational philosophy. (Byrne & Rees, 2006, pp. 15-16) The organization in order to meet the needs of the changing environment needs to adapt itself. In its process of adoption the organization can also change its mission and values to make them more pragmatic. The example of British Airways shows that the change in the organizational philosophy of ‘putting people first’ was based on its increasing needs to develop the airlines service parameters. The company to train the staff in delivering the right service to its customer base spontaneously carried out development of the training modules keeping tune to the new vision. Furthermore, the new vision also focused on the development of employees, which gave further motivation to the employees. (Murphy, n.d.) Factors that affect leadership styles their application in organizational development Separate leadership approaches need to be taken in an organization while dealing with persons with different levels of commitment, and energy levels. To this end, the McGregor’s X and Y theory is used to develop a better understanding of the different leadership approaches. McGregor had cited in the theory X that, the employees are observed to be lazy and hence have low commitment and energy levels. Thus, the management team in order to render organizational efficiency brings about a system of strong control in the organization. The system of strong control focuses on the close supervision of the performance of the individual employees and evaluates the same based on set standards. Moreover, the pattern of strategic leadership demanded narrowing the ‘span of control’ by delegating authoritative roles to the middle management. However, such closely-knit span of control emphasized in different management levels would tend to excite fear in the minds of the employees who would demand proper incentives. Moreover, the thrust of such closely grouped authorities in the organizational hierarchy would lead to create conflicts. The employees may develop an escapist tendency to the workload. This type of management approach was observed in the older period when the management team shared a negative understanding about the organization’s employees. In chief contrast to theory X the theory, Y suggests that employees are highly ambitious in taking newer workloads. Hence, Theory Y laid down by McGregor lays focus on the tenets of self-development and self-motivation, which the employees are found to exercise to succeed in fulfillment of organizational objectives. To this end, the management team of the motivated employees would develop leadership strategies, which would center more on identifying hidden talents rather than strictly monitoring their performance. It is observed that management with theory Y helps in delegation of organizational responsibility focuses more on trust, which they render upon the employees. Thus, the system not only motivates the employee to perform better but also cements the relationship with the upper management. (Leadership-Motivation and Douglas McGregor’s X and Y Theory, 2006) Ethical leadership and its impact on organizational development The modern era of business has become very complicated owing to the increase of organizational complexities. It is observed that larger business corporations like Enron have turned bankrupt as fallout of the severe fraudulent and corrupt practices. The above event has led to the increase of demand for ethical approaches to management functions. Thus, there must be an uninterrupted flow of ethical standards in the process of organizational leadership to help the employees and different stakeholders gain trust in the organization’s functions. The ethical paradigm of organizational leadership is observed as a twofold function. On the one hand, the flow of ethical behavior in organizational practice focuses on the business leaders to take recourse to corrective actions. The business leaders through morally justified roles focus on the cultivation of business trust. On the other hand, the ethically set business leaders would look forward to execute business activities and operations in an ethical environment. The demand for ethical behavior is closely studied in respect of the business leaders for they are observed to gain access to huge volumes of data, which is seemingly inaccessible to the employees. Moreover, the business leaders enjoy a higher set of privileges in respect to their employees. Such increased powers at the hands of the business leaders make them more fraudulent while dealing with operational activities. The leaders who tend to be unethical respond in a different way to certain situations. The characteristic traits of ‘fear’, ‘greed’ and ‘ego’ disturb the pattern of organizational creativity in the organization. Business leaders infected by fraudulent practices highly reflect the above features and do not desire to take risks. This in turn dampens the innovative environment of the organization and causes the employees to lack motivation in working. Management of ethics at the organizational level is carried out by the business leaders through the creation of strict ethical codes in the organization. Larger companies frame ethical policy guidelines and procedural standards, which is used to conduct ethical audits of business operations. Ethically strict business houses follow the practice of integrity closely and do not entertain any deviance from such. Larger organizations also carry out programs for rewards and punishment in respect of employees and department’s adherence to ethical standards. (Conger & Riggio, 2007, pp. 151-154, 157-159) Leadership and Organizational Culture Instructional Leadership The concept of instructional leadership relates to the education environment. It states that the principal of a school is the instructional leader of the organization. Being the instructional leader the primary work of the principal is in properly addressing the needs of the students. The educational and training system of the organization earns effectiveness in rightly imparting the students with proper knowledge and training materials. To this end, it is observed that the event of instructional leadership happens in an educational institution when the educational leader imparts proper suggestions to the instructors in bettering up the education system. An effective educational leader allocates proper resources to help the instructors to succeed in cultivating the right training environment. Instructional leadership entails that the principal should properly communicate with the teaching staff about the organizational expectancies. Moreover, the principal is also required to set the training standards, which is again used for conducting effective evaluation. An effective mode of instructional leadership focuses on the development of a strong organizational structure at the education level with shared interests among employees to cultivate a sound training environment. (Kruger, 2003. pp. 206-207). Transformational Leadership The process of transformational leadership greatly influences the acts of many interest groups in the organization like superiors, colleagues and direct contact groups. These interest groups share a strong relation to the employee base of the organization. The influence of transformational leadership in the organization sphere is observed to render both direct and indirect impact on the organizational groups. Moreover, the influential parameters of transformational leadership render impact along the hierarchy line whether from top to bottom or vice versa. The influence can also occur on a lateral plane between the same levels. Transformational Leadership on the part of the upper management level helps the development of the employees by rightly identifying the talent. This in turn helps the employees to work freely in a competitive atmosphere and to develop leadership traits for future period. Through the effective use of transformational leadership, the business leaders can rightly represent the organization to the external world howsoever distant. Specifically, the use of logos, punch lines, color patterns in the advertisements help to create the organizational image in the eyes of external interest groups like customers and other stakeholders. (Bass & Avolio, 1994. p. 44). Charismatic Leadership The concept of Charismatic Leadership occurs in the event of a crisis with the emergence of an individual who through his her characteristic enigma helps to cite a solution to the problem. These types of individuals by dearth of their charismatic personality are found to gather many followers who become keen to execute the goals and objectives laid by the individual. The charismatic leaders eke out a distinct position for themselves in possessing the capacity to innovate newer processes and methodologies. However, in the context of the corporate world the concept of charismatic leader is severely contested owing to the promotion of open market economy. The open market economy has brought with it intense competition for which the activities of a singular individual howsoever charismatic fails to render considerable impact. However, a second group opines that the entrepreneurs or organizational leaders are charismatic leaders for they distinctly highlight organizational values and philosophy, which in turn are followed by the employee groups. Different organizational leaders reflect different organizational and managerial traits in carrying out the activities of the organization starting from recruitment, training, planning and allocating, to the development of separate organizational objectives. Thus, such activities carried out by the business leaders’ help in shaping the business culture of the concern. (Alvesson, 2002. pp. 105-106) Laissez Faire Leadership The practice of Laissez Faire Leadership shows that the leadership group rendered complete independency to the subordinates. The laissez faire leaders in a particular survey carried out leadership activities in a highly innovative manner through distribution of study materials to a subordinate group but not taking resort to any evaluative action. Moreover, the laissez faire leaders in the survey conducted also refrained from intervening in the activities of the subordinates and answering only to the points on being inferred on a particular issue by the subordinates. However, the cultural atmosphere of the laissez faire leadership had negative impacts on the performance parameters of the employees in the work groups. The employees work was not at all monitored by their superiors, which rendered meager quality to the work performed. The significant drop in quality in the work of the individuals leads to huge amount of frustration and thus made the employees aggressive. Moreover, the lack of proper control in laissez faire leadership caused the disruption in the work force. (Bass & Bass, 2008. p. 145) Authoritarian Leadership The authoritarian leadership environment relates to a condition where the business or the organizational head conducts independent decision making irrespective of the inputs rendered by the subordinate team. The leader in an authoritarian environment fails to share the plan of actions, which he or she ought to take with the subordinate team. Business or organizational leader in an authoritative environment turns out to be the sole decision taker in regards to design of work groups. The tasks imparted to such business work groups are rather dictated than imparted. A business leader operating in an authoritative environment carries out individual criticisms and appraisal of the group members. However, the authoritative leader refrains from participating in the group activity. Another trait of the authoritative leader closely understood is his impersonal nature to the group members. (Victor, 2010) References 1. Caroselli, M. (2000), Leadership skills for managers. McGraw-Hill Professional 2. Harvard Business School. (2005), Becoming an effective leader. Harvard Business Press. 3. Morill, R. (2007). Strategic leadership: integrating strategy and leadership in colleges and universities. Greenwood Publishing Group. 4. Byrne, J. & R. Rees. (2006), The successful leadership development program: how to build it and how to keep it going. John Wiley and Sons. 5. Murphy, J. (n.d.) The Concepts of Mission and Vision Revisited. Available at: http://www.calumcoburn.co.uk/articles/articles-vision-mission/ (accessed on December 15, 2010) 6. “Leadership-Motivation and Douglas McGregor’s X and Y Theory”, leadership-basics.com. (2006). Available at: http://www.leadership-basics.com/leadership-motivation-X-andY-theory79.shtml (accessed on December 15, 2010) 7.  Conger, J. & R. Riggio, (2007), The practice of leadership: developing the next generation of leaders. John Wiley and Sons. 8. Kruger, A. (2003), Instructional leadership: the impact on the culture of teaching and learning in two effective secondary schools, South African Journal of Education, Vol. 23, No. 3. pp. 206-211. 9. Bass, B. & B. Avolio. (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership, SAGE. 10. Alvesson, M. (2002), Understanding organizational culture, SAGE. 11. Bass, B. & R. Bass. (2008). The Bass handbook of leadership: theory, research, and managerial applications. Simon and Schuster. 12. Victor, D. (2010). Leadership Styles and Bases of Power. available at: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Int-Loc/Leadership-Styles-and-Bases-of-Power.html (accessed on December 15, 2010) Read More