Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills - Essay Example

Introduction This paper intends to discuss the significance of leadership and strategic management in the life and progress of an organization. Before going into the niceties of strategic management and leadership skills, let’s first get to understand what these concepts actually are. Leadership Leadership is the supremacy to stimulate people by words, actions and deeds using vision, faith and honesty (Northouse, 2009; Giuliani & Kurson, 2005). Leadership involves fairly inspiring others to follow guidelines which should consist of both bureaucratic (procedural) and substantive (character-based) aspects. The procedural dimension of leadership includes problem-solving and decision-making practice within the circle of ethics. For instance, leadership demands that the leaders, before practicing their decisions, discuss them with parties which are going to be affected by their decisions, so as to make them feel respected. The substantive aspect of leadership includes knowledge, tough standards and guts to pursue directions regardless of opposition. “Ethical leadership predicts outcomes such as perceived effectiveness of leaders, followers’ job satisfaction and dedication, and their willingness to report problems to management”, affirm Brown, Travino and Harrison (2005). If the leadership is thriving, capable and bright, then the outcome is more prolific than anticipated. The accomplishment of an organization depends mainly on value-based actions and decisions. If a leader works according to his values and sees a manufacturing error in his product, then he will certainly tell the client about the fault without hiding the truth. He will discuss the issue with the personnel and the client to let them know that he genuinely wishes to remove the error. This endorses confidence between the company and the client. Furthermore, leadership will take care of the employees so as to preserve a vigorous environment within the organization. A leader will verify that the salaries are being paid in time; will pursue a system of rewards and bonuses; and, will listen to the employees’ troubles and will try to remove them. This will keep them working at high competence. The leader will make agreements with business partners while respecting their decisions. This confidence between the partners makes the organization grow and maintains its integrity. A leader will know how to schedule his projects keeping in mind the time frame and instructs the team to manage their work schedules accordingly. He knows that he has to abide by the rules and regulations he has agreed upon while signing a contract and will never back off. All this adds to the progress of the organization. The goal of leadership is to make the new comers follow the way the leaders work and behave in the organization. The leaders should show such an attitude at the workplace that would inspire others to follow their directions. The ultimate goal of the leadership is to create such teams that work effectively to produce greater results. The most important thing is consideration about internal and external communication. If leaders want that employees participate in a vigorous collaborative environment where they interrelate with each other in a better way to share their ideas and information, they would have to take steps to improve their communication with their workers, listen to their problems, talk to them and work out their issues. Workers will automatically start following them and the overall organizational culture will improve. This is the transformational leadership (Brown & Travino, 2006) actually in which the leaders produce such an effect on their subordinates that they inflict a “transforming effect” on them thus producing “sweeping changes in organizations and societies” (Priyabhasini & Krishnan, 2005, p.1). Strategic Management Strategic management is the process of determining goals and objectives while recognizing roles and responsibilities and meeting deadlines. It involves the implementation of strategic planning (Dess et al., 2009; Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2009). Ohmae (as cited in Joyce & Woods, 2001, p.8) asserts that strategic management is based upon three factors: “the corporation, the customer, and the competitors”. Thus, according to him, strategic management is defined as “the pursuit of superior performance by using a strategy that ensures a better or stronger matching of corporate strengths to customer needs than is provided by competitors” (p.8). Strategic management involves designation of policies; definition of objectives; recognition of strengths and weaknesses; realization of opportunities and threats; identification of key success factors and key decision; and, utilization of competencies and their implementation to attain competitive advantage (Sadler & Craig, 2003, p.9). Other main considerations of strategic management are the identification of what the company is striving for and what are the ethical values and standards the members should exhibit in order to achieve the organizational objectives. The organizational culture is considered and what effect it will have on decisions and work attitude is taken into account. Link between Strategic Management and Leadership Skills When strategic management is controlled through effectual leadership skills, then the combination is enough to guarantee business success. The leader, along with his personnel, designs the goals and then devises strategies to attain those goals. Thus, he uses his leadership skills to bring the organizational process to completion. While leadership qualities can be inborn, strategic management is learned through training sessions and consultations with strategic managers. Leadership is about guiding the personnel through the course of a project; while, management is about planning and organizing the modules of the project strategically. Although, the difference between the two concepts might seem blurred; however, both are two different dimensions that are equally important for the attainment of organizational goals (Bush & Coleman, 2000). Impact of Management and Leadership Styles on Strategic Decisions or on Organizational Strategy According to Bhushan and Rai (2004, p.4), “Competition and threat drive businesses and economies to make rapid choices amid a dynamically changing pattern of chaos. Those choices that are strategic critically influence success and failure in the long run.” Organizational strategy involves adjusting the inner capabilities according to the external environment; while, decision-making involves choosing the best option especially in a dilemma. Thus, strategic decisions are the most important prospect of an organizational success. But without effective management and powerful leadership, it is nearly impossible to work out strategic decisions that would be in the favor of the company in the short or long run. A good leader will think about the best decisions and the strategic managers will choose the best decision. The role of leadership is to create such an environment within the organization in which others are influenced by the leader’s intuitive powers and are motivated to make decisions using their own logic. The leadership styles affect strategic management. Hence, it is impossible for an organization to make strategic decisions and thrive and sustain if its leadership is weak or if the tasks are not being managed strategically. Adaptation of Leadership Styles to Different Situations The leaders of the organizations should be able to adapt their leadership styles according to the flexibility or complexity of the situation. Leadership styles have to be modified to bring them in accordance with the conditions and needs (Sprenger, 2010, p.99; Scope & Purdue University, 2006, p.64). This adaptation is important to make others embrace the transformation too. Alan Murray (as cited in Dow Jones & Company, Inc., 2011) asserts that leadership is more related to the needs of the organization than the needs of the leader himself. According to him, leadership styles “should be adapted to the particular demands of the situation, the particular requirements of the people involved and the particular challenges facing the organization.” Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee (2004, p.53) defined the six leadership styles and suggested that a good leader has the capability to adopt one leadership style for a given situation and is able to modify it or adapt it to suit another different condition. These leadership styles are: Visionary A visionary leader is able to motivate the personnel to move in a new direction for the achievement a new set of objectives, and always looks at the milestones to be achieved rather than thinking upon how to get there. When the leader has to focus more on thinking about strategies about how to get there rather than emphasizing upon attaining the milestones, then this approach will not be very suitable. Coaching Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee (2004, p.59) called this approach “the art of the one-on-one” and defined it as a style that makes an appreciable link between the needs of the person and the goals of the organization. This style focuses on the personnel’s improvement in performance considering their requirements and vision as important. This style is not effective in situations where the overall competency is little to achieve long term vision. Affiliative This style focuses on group-thinking and teamwork and motivates employees to make a collaborative effort to enhance productivity. The groups are encouraged to communicate and negotiate with each other. They are inspired to interconnect and enjoy a shared environment within the organization. This style is effective in situations where stress is high which is lowering down the morale. Democratic This leadership style consults the group for important decisions so that the personnel are actively engaged in the decision-making and problem-solving processes. Sometimes, this style becomes disadvantageous when critical decisions are to be made in emergencies or when consensuses do not help in making the most correct choices. Pacesetting Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee (2004) assert that this style makes the leader want him and others to be perfect so much so that other members start feeling frustrated and feel as if they are going to fail if they do not fasten up or make more improvement. Commanding This leadership styles lowers down the morale of the personnel as it involves more criticism than praise. Although the purpose is to achieve improved performance, yet it is not much effective. It is only useful in critical situations. The bottom line is that a good leader is one who is able to adapt his style and choose among the above or one which suits the circumstances he is facing (Duderstadt, 2007, p.120). This is actually the situational approach of leadership (Rowe & Guerrero, 2010, p.134) which recognizes the fact that situations vary with cultures, developments, geography, and within organizations. Change of situation is a basic human need and this need embark a significant impact on leaders’ choices and strategic decisions. “The situational approach to leadership is based on the assumption that each instance of leadership is different and therefore requires a unique combination of leaders, followers, and leadership situations” (Center for Leadership Studies, INC, n.d.). Creating a Leadership Strategy that Supports Organizational Direction “Leadership strategies are based on a thorough analysis of the current situation and an informed view of the future. The strategy then provides a series of recommendations to close the gap between the current situation and desired future” (Center for Creative Leadership, 2009, p.6). To create a leadership strategy, we shall first characterize organizational goals and identify business challenges and risk factors. Individual discussions and interviews can be held with the managers and the personnel for this purpose. Doing so helps in defining current competencies and discrepancies in the leadership style and in designing business strategies accordingly. This phase should take one month. The second phase is to identify the repercussions for leadership development. Here, we shall identify what skills and capabilities are required of a leader to achieve a particular goal or what kind of leadership style will be appropriate. The leaders will be required to develop a mission and vision in this phase. After this, we will enter into the next phase which will be about the development of measures and policies for each activity. A strategic leadership competency model will be created which will record leadership development processes and organizational goals. The next phase will be about reviewing the leadership strategy with the stakeholders, and for this, executive meetings will be held to find out any discrepancies in the strategy and its outcomes in the long run. We are also able to discuss resources and the stakeholders’ involvement in the project, in these meetings. In short, in our leadership strategy, we shall define the leader’s competencies; the way in which the organization will work for the development of leadership; the required organizational culture; and, the demands of the internal workforce and external stakeholders. How to Review Current Leadership Requirements Weiss, Molinaro and Davey (2007, p.143) affirm that “once the executives have a good understanding of their organization’s current and future states, they then need to validate their work with other leaders.” They state that leaders need to consult other leaders in order to review their leadership requirements and the leadership styles they want to adopt. This way they can assure themselves that “their assessments of the future leadership requirements are correct” (Weiss, Molinaro & Davey). The process will involve selecting a group of leaders from across the organization; bringing them together to discuss the collaboration of internal capabilities and the external environment; and, discussing how the leadership strategies are going to affect the external environment and the organization. Leadership Skills for a Specific Requirement Suppose the requirement is to meet the deadlines. Since the role of a leader is to influence the workers to follow him, he will himself have to be punctual and always in time so that others get inspired and do the same. He will arrange sessions to motivate the members to fasten up their progress so that the deadline does not pass. He will announce rewards and bonuses for employees who will work harder to meet the deadline. These are some of the many skills that should be adopted by a leader in order to motivate others to do what he wants them to do. Usefulness of Methods All the methods, stated in the paper, to develop effective leadership skills are very useful because these methods will help the leader to guide the members of an organization toward the achievement of goals along with expanding their vision and innovation. Conclusion The paper discussed the concepts of leadership and strategic management and the link between the two. Leadership is the most important requirement of an organization if it wants to attain the competitive advantage. Leaders inspire the followers and motivate them to step into their shoes. Workers look forward to the leader for all the problems they face during the course of a project. It is the leader’s decision-making capability that is needed to make correct decisions at correct timing. However, it is important for the leader to be able to adapt his leadership style according to the situation. He should be able to modify or change his style according to the organizational goals and the external environment. He should be able to deal with the internal personnel and the external stakeholders at the same time. A good leadership strategy is all about defining goals and directing the members toward the destination where the objectives will be achieved with high productivity. Side by side runs strategic management which involves wise and logical planning and organization of all project modules, schedules and meetings. In short, a good combination of strategic management and leadership guarantees the overall success of an organization. References Bhushan, N., & Rai, K. (2004). Strategic decision-making process. Strategic Decision Making: Applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process. India: Springer. Brown, M.E., & Travino, L.K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(6), pp. 595-616. Brown, M.E., Travino, L.K., & Harrison, D.A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97(2), pp. 117-134. Bush, T., & Coleman, M. (2000). Leadership and Strategic Management in Education. USA: Paul Chapman. Center for Creative Leadership. (2009). Developing a Leadership Strategy. 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