Main Aspects of Strategy and Leadership - Coursework Example

Running Head: Strategy and Leadership Strategy and Leadership [Institute’s STRATEGY AND LEADERSHIP Drawing from at least onetrait, style and contingency approach, develop your own philosophy of effective leadership (i.e., a model of effective leadership). The according to the situational leadership, there is no “one size fits all” (Sims et al, 2009, p. 152) approach to leadership. Conditional on the circumstances, different approaches of leadership and management are required. Nonetheless, leaders must first recognize their key tasks and / set the priorities. After that, leaders should think about the willingness of their team by assessing its ability and motivation. In accordance with the level of these variables, leaders should adopt the most suitable leadership approach that goes well with the current situation. The three steps of situational leadership include recognizing the most essential tasks; checking the inclination of the team members; and finally deciding the most suitable leadership approach (Thompson & Vecchio, 2009). Leadership achievement always begins with vision. A persuasive vision has the power to motivate, clarify and concentrate on the work of employees - and if possible, work of the entire organization - for an extensive time period. However, even a really persuasive vision will not do much good if it stays in one’s mind. Therefore, another key aspect of successful leadership is communicating the ideas and views. For busy leaders, there is always “the temptation to keep the thoughts to themselves” (Davies et al, 2008, p. 209), mostly because there are many other demanding tasks to do and avoiding these tasks to converse can appear to be wastage of time. It is simple to interrupt discussion very early, particularly during the economically demanding moment. Still, “mustering the discipline as well as time” (Davies et al, 2008, p. 212) to talk about strategies with the workforce or to have a discussion directly with the customers is only “half the fight” (Davies et al, 2008, p. 213) - one still has to communicate efficiently. Another essential component of successful leadership is judgment. Good policy judgment often implies that a leader should find a fresh path when his company is going in a wrong way. How effectively a leader can do this depends on his aptitude to look at the possibilities and raise the appropriate questions. However, unless the leader has the suitable, committed set of individuals, he cannot implement his approach. He has to acquire the proper talent, and ascertain that it is placed suitably all over the organization - and this is a persistently developing process. 2. Putting your philosophy to a test, evaluate Charles Tangs leadership. Charles Tang’s leadership style has the following key traits: Combination of Eastern and Western approaches; however, the Western approach manifested more powerfully Being a confidant for workers Ascertained that workers requirements were fulfilled Established trust Trust is the essential aspect in communication with Chinese, as the type of communication would alter from an acknowledged associate and a stranger. The communication style will be more open if an individual is acknowledged and would be inhibitive with a foreigner. Moreover, an additional key aspect here is the selection of words when communicating with Chinese as they might misunderstand discussions. Li, when told to discontinue the project, might have noticed a concealed agenda by Tang that made him to step forward and resist the decision. The manner in which the information regarding discontinuing the project was communicated to Li by his supervisor Qing Chen on behalf of Tang can as well be a cause for further confusions (Theng, 2010). Li got the trust of his previous manager regarding the project and was working on it for two months. Even though not pertinent to his key responsibilities, the job had been valued and as he took a big leap in the project by preparing a book rather than a straightforward manual, he was not guided in a proper manner. According to his perception, he was doing his job very well until all of a sudden Tang told him to stop the project. That high level of enthusiasm - perhaps as a result of intrinsic aspect of self-approval - suddenly turned into a feeling of being mistreated, not being acknowledged, dissatisfaction and discontent. Even though Tang is taught to value the philosophy of “disagree and commit” (Malone, 2014, p. 102) pursued by Intel, Li does not know about any such concept as he was not trained appropriately. Rather than giving a direct solid order, which caused opposition in this case, Tang should have arranged a meeting and then explained to Li about the problem. Tang had been viewed as an expatriate and conventionally thought to be an expat manager who did not give admiration to his staff and changed the working conditions without providing them with any explanation. 3. Informed by your leadership philosophy, if you had to coach Charles Tang to become a more effective leader, what would you do? There are certain points that Charles Tang should have taken into consideration to become a more effective leader. To begin with, Charles Tang should have taken a step back and watch a broader picture as to what he believes will eventually assist and work toward Intel’s objectives in the Chinese market. When a person is in the position of taking on a leadership role within an organization, he cannot ignore anything and have to take each and every aspect into consideration when working with different kind workers. Not every leadership style is suitable in certain conditions and these styles have to be adjusted according to the need. The basic factor is the company and the accomplishment of the business. Tang should provide Li a set time frame and adjusted project objective to complete the project at hand letting him to “save face” (Zhang et al, 2011, p. 855), show his aptitude and not be discouraged. Given this opportunity would help Tang to “forge a ‘guanxi’ with Li” (Zhang et al, 2011, p. 856), keep him motivated and win his trust; all of which would facilitate in keeping the talented Li who definitely has lot of potential. This would as well assisted Tang to gain thrust of other Chinese workers, as Li would spread the word to others creating an environment of recognition and factor of trust for Tang within the company. Taking into consideration the facts regarding the workers as well as the organizational setting, Tang should have initially thought about having a “guanxi going with his workers”, gaining their confidence and turning into a part of the group. This would have eased the process of the communication with his workers and the reallocation of the tasks them would have been more friendly instead of being surrounded by the doubt and opposition that Tang created as a new manager (Zang, 2013). Li should have been guaranteed that even though there have been alterations within the management; there is no basis for doubt and uncertainty because he is a competent as well as capable worker. Tang was considered as an ‘outsider’ as he stayed outside China for a long period of time and the only way forward to develop a pleasant working environment was to gain the trust of the staff. Li and the other workers had a basis to suspect, oppose and investigate Tang’s decision as he changed employees’ roles according to his judgment (Li, 2001). Chinese believe in long-term orientation and because of this fact, expatriates (outsiders) do not get an easy approval into the Chinese group, which might have further isolated Tang. The basis of the problem is the strategic management style. Charles Tang needs to look for the best possible approach for the reallocating the projects and work to his Intel workers. Being an expatriate plays an enormous part in this case. Other workers in the division perceive him as being casual about the employees work and do not show admiration while shifting the workplace to their liking (Luo, 2000). Tang cannot go quite far in his assessment due to the trustworthiness that he holds at Intel in China and is restricted to what the top management as well as direct supervisors has to say on the issue under consideration. Tang is also restricted in another way - he was used to the Western management approach, which was a lot more flexible as well as open-minded where workers in fact listened to their manager. Therefore, being used to Western style approach and working in the closed-system approach in China, Tang was certainly at a disadvantage. He should learn how to cooperate with workers since the Western and Eastern management styles are very different. References Davies, H., Leung, T. K., Luk, S. T., & Wong, Y. H. (2008). The benefits of “Guanxi”: the value of relationships in developing the Chinese market. Industrial marketing management, 24(3), 207-214. Li, J., Lam, K., & Qian, G. (2001). Does culture affect behavior and performance of firms? The case of joint ventures in China. Journal of International Business Studies, 32(1), 115-131. Luo, Y. (2000). Partnering with Chinese firms: Lessons for international managers. Ashgate Pub Ltd. Malone, M. S. (2014). The Intel Trinity. HarperBusiness. Sims Jr, H. P., Faraj, S., & Yun, S. (2009). When should a leader be directive or empowering? How to develop your own situational theory of leadership. Business Horizons, 52(2), 149-158. Theng, T. W. (2010). Embedded: Intel in China: The Inside Story. Marshall Cavendish Corporation. Thompson, G., & Vecchio, R. P. (2009). Situational leadership theory: A test of three versions. The Leadership Quarterly, 20(5), 837-848. Zang, X. (2013). Elite dualism and leadership selection in China. Routledge. Zhang, A. Y., Tsui, A. S., & Wang, D. X. (2011). Leadership behaviors and group creativity in Chinese organizations: The role of group processes. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(5), 851-862. Read More