Analysis of Strategic Leadership Qualities Needed In Modern Organisations - Dissertation Example

?LEADERSHIP Analysis of Strategic leadership qualities needed in modern organisations September 26, Table of Contents Analysis of Strategic leadership qualities needed in modern organisations 1 September 26, 2011 1 1. Introduction 3 References 8 1. Introduction Modern organisations are faced with new challenges and opportunities that did not exist in the previous decades. Among the challenges faced are short product cycles, increased competition, globalisation, outsourcing and rapidly changing market conditions. Opportunities can be arrived at by using innovative methods and using a strategic approach that manages all these challenges. Therefore, the leader in modern organisation needs to understand that while the potential market is global in nature, competition also exists from low wage nations such as China and India. The argument that seems to emerge is if the leadership should be transformational, transactional or any of the other leadership styles. Strategic leaders such as Charles Branson of Virgin Group, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. have managed to innovate and create a new market thus leading their organisations to be market leaders. It becomes important to understand and evaluate the leadership qualities that a strategic leader has. This dissertation will examine the role of strategic leadership and the qualities that leaders need to lead their organisations to success. 1.2. Literature Review Leadership style has assumed some element of importance and it is assumed that a leader with a certain leadership style will have certain qualities. Tests such as the Belbins test help in understanding the type of leadership that a person has. According to Higgs (2003), there are six types of emotional leadership styles and these have different types of impact on the emotions of people who are followers or employees. The styles are Visionary Leader; Coaching Leader, Affiliative Leader; Democratic Leader; Pace-setting Leader and the Commanding Leader. Kanter (2008) points out that these leadership styles are not mutually exclusive meaning that if one is present the other style is not present. Ulrich (2002) notes that an effective leader would be using and combining a number of leadership styles, depending on the situation at hand. So at times, the leader would have a coaching style while at other times there would be a commanding style. Kelly (2000) argues that while leaders are free to adopt styles as per the situation, however, the leader would have one dominant style that would force all interactions. Some even though a leader would shift between visionary styles or pace setting style, the leader would ultimately be following the dominant style. The gap in the literature is that the desired qualities in a leader are not apparent. The subject of strategic leadership in organisations has been discussed in a number of publications (Boal, 2000), (Crossan, 2008), (Daily, 2002). Strategic leadership is about the quality of leadership in providing a direction for a planned and strategic direction for the growth of a firm. The focus is on adopting a growth plan that has a fully reasoned and logically structured growth plan. A strategic leader would be planning the organisation activities. The leadership is predictive and this means that the actions taken by the organisation are planned to meet the stimulus from the market forces. The actions are not reactive in the sense that the organisation would not be pulled in all directions by the market forces. A strategic leader would play many roles, that of a friend, mentor, guide, disciple, critic, detractor and well-wisher. Crossan (2008) speaks of five features that strategic leader should demonstrate. It is assumed that a leader who manages these five qualities will have the ability to achieve the business objectives. The five lessons are creating organisation wealth, bringing in a culture of innovation, leveraging the present to focus on the future; leading teams with a vision and inspiration and relying more on personal charisma and personal example that using power structures. According to Ireland (1999), the strategic leader is different from the strategic manager. The strategic manager would only deal with the work at hand while the strategic manager would be interested in the future growth and strategic plans to achieve them. Organisations are meant to earn money for their shareholders, employees and the business owners. The term ‘earning wealth’ needs some clarification. Lynch (2008) says that wealth is different from sales revenues. It has more to do with understanding the market and investing for future growth and looking at opportunities beyond the present. While sales revenues are measured and consumed each financial quarter, wealth will be for the future. According to Scott (2004), strategic leadership would have the capacity to influence the employees, vendors and contractors to take cognitive decisions for the long-term viability and growth of the organisation. Consider strategic leaders such as Howard Schultz who bought Starbucks in 1987 when it had six outlets and 100 employees. Within a decade, the organisation wealth had increased to 25,000 employees and 1300 stores. Vera (2004) says that employees are also regarded as wealth since they form difficult to imitate resources and provide the means of a competitive advantage. Organisations such as British Petroleum, Coca-Cola had decades of presence, experience, and they grew to be sector leaders. However, the leadership has always focused on new markets new products and applications to generate wealth. Therefore, whether it was aviation fuel, bio fuel or diet Coke, strategic leadership provided the impetus (Wells, 2001). The role of innovation becomes very important in the evolving new age industries such as those of Internet, IT, Green technologies, alternate energy, biotechnology and so on. This does not mean that other traditional industries do not need innovation (Smith, 2005). Drucker (1985) says that when it comes to understanding the desired qualities, opinion has been divided among managerial skills and technical skills. Managerial skills help in organisation management while technical skills are ob related skills such as programming, designing and so on. These quality features and the rating applied to them would depend on the industry sector and the product nature. These quality features will need to be evaluated by means of a survey. 1.3. Research Strategy and Methodology It is proposed that a combination of literature review and primary research will be used. For the primary research, a survey instrument will be designed and administered to top managers of medium and large organisations in UK. These leaders would be approached through the college department and the cooperation of the managers will be requested. Contact will be made by calling up personally and through emails. The replies will be assessed and the results analysed. The difficulties anticipated are that these managers would not be willing or have the time to cooperate. The author of this paper will persist in his efforts to elicit responses. Secondary research will be performed by reviewing peer reviewed Journals and books on strategic leadership. 1.4. Expected Outcomes It is expected that the results from the research will be a set of qualities that strategic leaders would find useful in managing organisations. Some recommendations will be made on inculcating these qualities and in providing training. 1.5. Planned timetable It is expected that the project would take three months. Following Gantt chart gives the list of activities and the schedule. Figure 1. Gantt chart of schedule References Boal, K, B. (2000). Strategic leadership research: Moving on. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(4), pp. 515-549 Crossan, M., (October 2008. Transcendent Leadership: Strategic Leadership in Dynamic Environments. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(5), pp. 569-581 Daily, C. M. (2002). Governance and Strategic Leadership in Entrepreneurial Firms. Journal of Management, 28(3), pp. 387-412 Drucker, P. (1985). Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership Historical Research Reference in Entrepreneurship. Higgs, M. (November 2003). Leadership qualities in a leader. Leadership & Organisation Development Journal, 24(5), pp. 273-284 Ireland, R. (1999). Achieving and Maintaining Strategic Competitiveness in the 21st Century: The Role of Strategic Leadership. The Academy of Management Executive, 13(1), pp. 43-57 Kanter R, M. (January 2008). Transforming Giants. Harvard Business Review, pp. 43-54 Kelly, D. (2000). Using vision to improve organisational communication. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 21(2), pp. 92-101 Lynch, R. (November 2008). Strategic Management, 5th edition. Financial Times/ Prentice Hall Publication, London Scott, R. (2004). Reflections on a Half Century of Organisational Sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 30(1-21), p.p. 1-21 Smith, W. (2005). Managing Strategic Contradictions: A Top Management Model for Managing Innovation Streams. Organization Science, 16(5), pp. 522-536 Vera, D. (2004). Strategic Leadership and Organizational Learning. The Academy of Management Review, 29(2), pp. 222-240 Ulrich, D. (2002). General Electric’s Leadership Work-Out. Leader to Leader, Spring 2002, pp. 44-52 Wells, R. (2001). How Institutional Theory speaks To Changes in Organisational Populations. Health Care Manage, 26(2), p.p 80-84 Read More