Strategic Leadership and Future Leaders - Research Paper Example

? Strategic Leadership and Future Leaders Influence processes are vital in day to day management of an organization. In most cases, to management of an organization are mandated to provide strategic leadership rather than be involved in day to day running of the organization. However, the top leaders are at liberty to adopt a leadership style that they deem fit for the organizational culture. Others adopt resort to shaping an organization to fit there style of leadership. Five influence processes have been identified: direct decisions, resource allocation, reward system, selection and promotion and role modeling. Strategic Leadership and Future Leaders Introduction The influence process can be defined as the strategies applied by leaders so as to provide vital leadership in the daily management of an organization. The top management of an organization is under obligation to provide direction to its followers other than participating in the day to day running of the organization. Many theories assert that organizational leaders are capable of employing their professional style to that of the culture of an organization (Griffin and Moorhead, 2011). At times, they may decide to shape the organization for which they lead to fit their style of leadership. Basically, there are five main influence processes as common witnessed among many leaders. The processes include direction, resource allocation, own behavior or role modeling, reward system, promotion of talented leaders and selection. It is argued that irrespective of the influence process used by the leaders in managing their organizations, the decisions they make in a great way impacts on their organization’s direction. Moreover, it also influences the organization’s employees through motivation and conduct. This implies how critical decisions made by leaders are for the organization as a whole. Andrea Jung, Indra Nooyi, and Brenda Barnes as top leaders of organizations are examples of leaders known to have used the influence processes in the daily management of their organizations. The purpose of this paper is to describe the various types of influence processes and the factors that affect them. The paper will also provide an analysis of the processes used by the three leaders to impact on their organizations. Direct Decisions Organization leaders are charged with the control of mission and vision of the organization. This implies that decisions made by the top leaders regarding the mission and vision impacts directly on the organization. It is the mission and vision set by the organization that shapes the culture of a given organization. This implies they are key in determining the direction taken by the organization. The mission and vision of an organization is attained through proper strategies, which are, in most cases influenced by top leaders of an organization. Essentially, decisions influence strategies include; issuance of directives to followers and appointments. Organization’s top leaders are exclusively under obligation for hiring individuals who manages crucial segments of the business such as the sales which is vital in determining the direction taken by the organization (Raelin, 2003). Resource Allocation An organizations resource is composed of money, technological and human resources. An organization’s top management has a lot of control over the resource be it allocation or distribution. This implies how profoundly top management in an organization influences considerably activities and events within an organization. A case in point to elaborate this is a situation where organizational leaders may decide to allocate more monetary resources to a particular department such as sales and marketing while limiting fund allocation to other departments. By allocating and directing the organization’s resources, the management’s aims at working toward meeting the organization’s missions and visions by putting in place structures that are capable of promoting these. By doing so, the organization’s top leaders affect and influence the functions of the organization as a whole (Griffin and Moorhead, 2011). Reward System The reward systems in an organization can either formal or informal. The reward system adopted by a business contributes greatly in molding the workers’ culture. Most systems of reward involve monetary rewards in which good performers in an organization are recognized and rewarded with monetary incentives. Rewards sometimes involve recognition and promotion. This is usually done in conformity with the culture of the organization (Raelin, 2003). Selection and Promotion of Other Leaders Selection of employees that run various departments within an organization is very crucial. This is because poor selection and hiring may result in poor workers that may not perform their duties as expected. The role of selection and hiring is vested on the hands of top management of an organization especially the human resource. They determine workers that the organization has which in turn influences the overall performance of the organization. This shows how top leaders influence the overall performance of an organization through selection and hiring (Griffin and Moorhead, 2011). Recognizing an employee’s effort in an organization has been seen to be particularly crucial since it acts as a motivating factor. Most leaders are aware of this and strive towards ensuring that their employees are motivated. Most of them do this by awarding promotion to hard working employees. Some leaders do this by promoting those employees who have worked long for the organization and have attained the requisite experience. Under normal circumstances, motivated employees work harder towards the achievement of the organizations goals and vision (Mind Tools Ltd., 1996). Role Modeling Role modeling is an influence process that many leaders use to impact on the overall performance of their employees. In this case, leaders tend to influence their employees by being ethical. This involves showing admirable conducts and minimizes issue that may paint them negatively before employees such as corruption, in competencies among others (Scheerens, 2012). Analysis of the Influence Process used by Andrea Jung, Indra Nooyi, and Brenda Barnes In managing an organization, the most effective approach, to use is the leadership style. Transformational leaders are ethical and inspire followers with a shared future vision, set clear goals and motivates workers toward achievement of those goals. They also manage the delivery of resources and effectively communicate well with the team. Nevertheless, leadership is absolute. As such, an individual leader must adapt his own style to fit a group or situation as exhibited by Andrea Jung, Indra Nooyi, and Brenda Barnes. The three leaders share some leadership styles and differ in others. This is attributed mainly to the type of organization that each leader manages (Griffin and Moorhead, 2011). Indra Nooyi is both an autocratic as well as Bureaucratic leader. This is evident since he has absolute control and power over the management of the entire organization. In this case, he gives his followers remarkably little opportunity to make decisions or suggestions irrespective of whether they are at the best interest of the organization as a whole. His bureaucratic leadership style is manifested in the fact that he “works by the book.” In this case, he ensures that every employee follow the rules laid down toward the attainment of the organization's mission and vision. He adopts this leadership style to help fit the environment and nature of the work done. This is because his organization has a lot of safety risks and involves large sums of money. This style has also helped him in the allocation of resources for the different department in the organization. He also ensures that hardworking employees are properly rewarded for their effort by offering monetary rewards and promotions. This is because; he understands that the key to motivation of workers is through reward and good-working environment (Griffin and Moorhead, 2011). Andrea Jung for instance is people oriented/Relations-Oriented leader. This is evident sin his leadership style that mainly focuses on organizing, developing and supporting his followers within the organization. In most cases, he ensures that every worker is given a chance to take part in the management of the organization to attaining the organization’s mission and vision. He encourages good team teamwork and creative collaboration. This is because he understands that the key to achievement of the organization's mission and vision entails participation of all employees. Moreover, he ensures that all employees are treated equally. He is also approachable and tends to pay attention to the welfare of every worker. He also ensures that he is available whenever required (Scheerens, 2012). Andrea Jung also ensures that organizations resources are effectively allocated and distributed to the areas required at the right time and in right quantity. Before allocating resources, he first establishes those segments that require a lot of funds. He does not make decisions independently, instead being also a democratic leader; he seeks the opinion of other heads of departments. This has ensured that there is a close relation between him and the entire team. Moreover, he also ensures that the right employees with requisite qualifications are hired for effective functioning of the organization. In order to motivate his employees, he rewards them through promotion from one grade to another depending on the employee’s effort and experience. His style of leadership; people oriented and democratic has helped spur the organization to greater heights than his competitors (Griffin and Moorhead, 2011). Brenda Barnes, on the other hand, adopts a variety of leadership styles in his organization. It is evident he is a charismatic, democratic as well as people oriented leader. This form of leadership styles has helped him influence the management of his organization significantly. His charismatic style is manifested in the fact that he inspires enthusiasm among his followers and is skilled at motivating others to carry on with the work. Through this style of leadership, he directs the directions of the organization regarding the attainment of the organization’s missions and vision. Just like the other two leaders, he participates in the allocation of the organizations resources in accordance with sensitivity. As people oriented leader, he ensures that employees are highly motivated by providing monetary reward and promotion. He also ensures that high caliber staff is hired who are capable of performing. This style of leadership is what has help spur growth is his organization (Mind Tools Ltd., 1996). In conclusion, the success of an organization is extremely much dependent of the influence processes. This is because it helps in directing the workers towards the achievement of the organization’s mission and vision. However, the influence process varies and depends on the leadership style adopted by top leaders of an organization. References Griffin, R.W. & Moorhead, G. (2011). Organizational Behavior: Managing People and organizations. London: Cengage Learning. Mind Tools ltd (1996). Leadership Styles Choosing the Right Style for the Situation. Retrieved on 14 May 2012 from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_84.htm Raelin, J.A. (2003). Creating Leaderful Organizations: How to Bring Out Leadership in Everyone. California: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Scheerens, J. (2012). School Leadership Effects Revisited: Review and Meta-Analysis of Empirical…New York: Springer. Read More