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| Category | CMI Level 7 (Assignment) | Subject | Management |
|---|---|---|---|
| University | CMI Level 7 Certificate in Strategic Management and Leadership in Practice | Module Title | CMI Level 7 Unit 701Strategic Leadership |
Strategic leadership is an impetus to organisational success. In the modern work environment, leaders are required to be knowledgeable, innovative, adaptable and strong to address the organisational demands.
The unit will prepare leaders to have a profound knowledge of strategic leadership in an organisational environment. The leaders will examine the dynamics of the role and the theoretical views, approaches, behaviours and skills that can help them improve their professional practice.
The unit is concerned with the leader in relation to his or her creativity in addressing complex organisational issues and how to establish and present the sustainable strategic objectives.
Keywords: Strategy, leadership, culture, roles, responsibilities, outcomes, theory, approaches, success.
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Organisational context greatly influences strategic leadership; the leaders act within a context of purpose, structure, governance, culture and external pressures. The organisational context does not just affect the way leaders make their strategic decisions but also the extent of the implementation and acceptance of these decisions within the organisation.
The vision and the mission of an organisation are the purpose of the organisation and its strategic intent in the long run. Strategic leaders have the role of putting this purpose into some goals and a course of action. Coherence and motivation can be created by leaders when they have a clear purpose that is in line with organisational values. But in case of absence of a vision and mission or when it is old-fashioned, strategic leadership is not proactive but reactive, which inhibits competitiveness in the long-term and direction.
An organisation is a product of its historical growth that defines its identity and behaviour. Leadership behaviour of what is deemed as acceptable is often impacted by the organisational myths and stories. Though a good story can make people loyal and identify with each other, it can also increase opposition to change. Strategic leaders should be able to critically relate to the past and apply positive stories to foster trust and defy assumptions that inhibit innovation and strategic renewal.
The nature of authority, communication, and decision-making is based on the organisational systems, processes, and structure. Centralised organisational forms can enable strategic leaders to have more control, but this may lead to less agility and employee empowerment. Conversely, decentralised forms promote innovation but then demand leaders to strike a balance between autonomy and strategy. Poor systems may compromise leadership by creating sluggish decision-making and accountability.
There are differences in governance structures between the public, private and third-sector organisations, which have a direct impact on strategic leadership. There is a tendency to tighten regulation, openness, and responsibility in relation to public and charitable organisations, which reduces the possibilities of leaders making risky decisions. On the contrary, leaders in the private sector can be more autonomous but be pressured by financial results from shareholders. The legal status, thus, influences the leadership priorities, the ethical responsibilities, and strategic risk appetite.
Leadership complexity depends on the type of organisation, i.e. local, international, global, project-based or strategic business unit. Global and international organisations need strategic leaders to deal with cultural diversity and regulatory variance, whereas project-based organisations need flexibility and short-term strategic orientation. The leaders should be able to change their approach depending on the workplace scale and scope of strategy.
Strategic leadership is dependent on levels of organisational maturity. More mature organisations have processes, data-driven decision-making, and continuous improvement cultures in place, which allow leaders to be able to concentrate on innovation and long-term strategy. More often than not, lower-maturity organisations need leaders who focus on stabilisation and process development and restrict strategic ambition.
There are economic, political, technological and social forces that influence the strategic environment within which leaders are operating. The rate of environmental change brings about more uncertainty; hence, leaders ought to be adaptive and resilient. Failure to react appropriately to external forces may destroy the performance and leadership authority within an organisation.
The perception and performance of leadership are affected by organisational culture. A high level of ethics, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, equality, diversity and inclusion increases the level of trust and reputation. Strategic leaders are supposed to be role models in their ethical behaviour; otherwise, there will be reputational losses and stakeholder confidence.
The leadership priorities are determined by the expectations and perceptions of internal and external stakeholders. Balancing between competing interests, strategic leaders need to be accountable. Clear governance structures identify leadership responsibility, autonomy and accountability levels that directly influence the capacity of the leaders to lead change.
Lastly, organisational context defines the organisational change and innovation capability. Flexible organisations that focus on learning allow leaders to undertake strategic change better. The influence of leadership is limited in strict situations, and change is more difficult and time-consuming.
Answer:
The strategic leader becomes the key player in the definition, setting and realisation of organisational goals. Their performance is not only based on the strategic thinking but also their capacity to match people, resources and systems in responding to uncertainty and complexity. A critical appraisal shows that strategic leadership is both a planned and responsive process that is determined by the ability of the organisation as well as external forces.
Strategic leaders have the role of formulating and conveying purpose, vision, mission, culture and values of the organisation. These factors are guiding and will give meaning, and the staff can know how their efforts will contribute to the organisational objectives. They develop resonance and participation when articulately expressed. But when the values are not portrayed in the leadership behaviour, it leads to the loss of credibility, and the achievement of the strategic goals can be complicated.
Strategic leaders prepare long term orientation of the organisation and make it into action strategic plans a reality. This must entail a strike between ambition and realism and alignment of strategy and operational capability. Good leaders keep track of progress and make suitable changes where needed. Even having a good strategy, poor implementation may lead to the failure to achieve goals and the wastage of resources.
Leadership is a very important issue of communication. Strategic leaders should make sure that there is uniform, open and punctual communication throughout their territory. Effective communication aids in comprehension, minimisation of change resistance and the establishment of trust. Poor communication may create confusion, disengagement, and a lack of focus on being strategic.
Strategic leaders devise and set organisational objectives and analyse strategic options and risks associated with them, such as financial risks, reputational risks, legal risks and operational risks. Hoskisson, Hutt and Ireland discuss internal capability and the external opportunity, the management of which leads to the realisation of competitive advantage. In order to maintain performance in competitive environments, leaders have to make informed trade-offs.
Strategic leadership entails choice and development of strategy using various methods, which include planned, intended, emergent and opportunistic strategies. Whittington (2000) gives a strong emphasis on the importance of both deliberate and emergent strategies, as it is not always possible to plan the outcomes. The resource-based view, scenario planning and Five Ps of Strategy are also other tools used by strategic leaders in order to be flexible and resilient.
Strategic leaders have the responsibility to be ethical and legal leaders as required by the governance. Diversity and inclusion commitment improves decision-making and organisational performance. Leaders who inculcate values of ethics and inclusivity enhance trust and sustainable goal attainment.
Change and innovation are usually necessary in setting and realising goals. The strategic leaders drive and embark on incremental and transformational change, and the drivers of change include technology, sustainability and workforce expectations. The concept of structured change is promoted with the help of models like the Eight-Step Change Model by Kotter (2012), whereas the innovation may be implemented without disrupting the organisation with approaches like radical change within traditional structures (Oswick, 2015)
The strategic leaders encourage continuous improvement through the use of tools like Lean, Six Sigma and Statistical Process Control. These strategies aid in efficiency, quality and consistency so that the strategic goals are attained in a sustainable way instead of there being short-sighted solutions.
The use of systems thinking helps the strategic leader to learn about interdependence throughout the organisation. This integrated approach enhances improved decision-making and also minimises the unforeseen consequences that can be detrimental to the strategic objectives.
Strategic leaders are people who inspire individuals and teams by being aware of various roles of teams and building organisational capability. They also work with partners and address various stakeholders, establishing trust and addressing evolving expectations. Employing boards and corporate structures effectively makes the operation accountable, financially viable, and strategic.
Last but not least, horizon scanning tools, like SWOT and STEEPLE, need to allow strategic leaders to predict future risks and opportunities. Resistance to disruptive technologies and the shifting markets would require the ability to respond to these forces to maintain long-term organisational objectives.
Answer:
Powerful headship behaviour, besides characteristics are paramount to the development of any association. Most of the studies show that the immediate pioneers have the largest impact on their associations. Gallup articulates that, taking into account the transformational leadership trait, it has been observed that 70 per cent representative commitment is due to such Leaders Behavioural Impact. Other studies indicate that fifty to seventy per cent of workers' impressions about their working environment are due to their styles of doing things, as well as the activities of their predecessors. It is based on the commitment of workers to the work environment, and many of them hinge on the leaders. Consequently, it becomes extremely significant when organisations have a leader with appropriate leadership behaviour as well as leadership styles. Moreover, any influential innovator bears an impressive long-term vision that attracts the interest of others. It is the long-term vision which is often creative and should imply pushing the association in the future.
Within an association, the identification of fundamental headship behaviour and viability capabilities identifies the capabilities pioneers need. According to Katz (1955), an expert can be referred to as a capacity which may be created rather than inherent and is manifested in performance, rather than potential. Similarly, Nahavandi (2000) defined expertise as a developed skill that a person develops in relation to a specified task and identified three categories of skills that pioneers need, namely, specialised abilities, human abilities and reasonable abilities. All of the capabilities are essential to effective pioneers, but the extent of all the expertise may vary depending on the circumstances within the hierarchical order. The specialised skills are more crucial at the lower levels of the organisation (Moore 2004). Nevertheless, a tactical goal can be characterised as a long-term, big-picture goal of a business, unlike a short-term solution to a current problem or a challenge. Correct strategic goals application helps the company to further develop the way it operates and present new goals, and not goals that essentially enhance or correct what the organisation currently does.
One can say that the leadership behaviours and the skills along with strategic goals are interdependent because of the factor that the managers with adequate leadership behaviours in addition to skills are able to accomplish the strategic goals in the long term. It will be vital to be aware of what kind of leadership behaviour and skills are required by leaders that would enable them reach the tactical goals before immersing into the study.
The initial significant behaviour besides the traits a leader must possess is the full understanding of how to adhere to ethical means of leadership that also aids in the provision of the strategic objectives. The moral methods of leadership often dictate that an innovator who has ethical behaviour should focus on appropriate interaction that will be reliable and transparent with all the people in the organisation. Good ethical conduct also serves to reliably demonstrate an excellent way of behaving to both inner and outer partners.
The second leadership behaviour skill that should be able to present the strategic goals is the ability to elicit empowerment. The creation of empowerment often involves the group in a team chat to communicate their perspectives, besides giving them a participatory role which employs their skills and judgmental abilities. This assists in enhancing not only their feeling of group worth but also the responsibility of the company that is directly involved in the presentation of the strategic goals.
The third leadership behaviour and skills that one must possess as a leader in delivering the strategic goals is the ability to communicate with the appropriate impact. Sharing with influence typically reveals that a leader would need to use both their own existence and narrative capacity to frame as well as translate the long-term goals into functional tactics that would assist in expressing the clarity of thought, in addition to providing tactical goals.
The fourth significant behaviour of leadership, besides skills, is that which a leader must have in him to provide strategic goals, the ability to instil confidence in other individuals and enable people to embrace risk. Developing trust towards the other team members assists in assigning the work in an effective manner that also contributes to the understanding of the shift in favour of supporting mental health and happiness. Being a provider of strategic goals is not an easy task, nor is it just being a possessor of leadership skills, and leaders should have those types of leadership skills which they will contribute to impart in their followers, who will also collaborate in providing the tactical goals.
The positive attitude is contagious. When the group is motivated and surrounded by joyful and positive people, they will be more diligent and happier themselves, which will derive enthusiasm to achieve the targeted goal set by their leaders. The leaders may have a positive behaviour that assists in taking many structures in the working environment that results in improved organisational performance. Clearly, there should be a balance between the play time and the useful time, but do an excellent job to create a good, powerful atmosphere in the usual business day.
At this point, this can also be elaborated based on two significant leadership theories, namely the transformational leadership theory alongside the ethical leadership theory.
Transformational leadership can be described as a leadership style that causes a change not only in individuals but also in societies. Transformational leadership, in its optimal organisation, assists in generating not only positive change but also impactful change in the supporters, with the result of producing followers who ultimately become pioneers that eventually assist the leaders in achieving the strategic objectives. Though driving through objectives is usually linked with the trait of an errand situated headship, the given work links objective setting with transformational authority. The factual truth is that the definition of goals has been centralised to be among the key tasks of pioneers; goals and power have usually been regarded through two moderately independent analysis perspectives. Transformational leadership will convince the followers to invest in authority targets and recognition of the execution outcomes, which exceeds the previous assumptions. This path of spurring and converting followers that aids in accomplishing the strategic objectives is attained by pioneers, according to Bass.
Motivating them to know the importance and value of given goals, energising them to transcend personal situations to create some good for the association or group, and implementing their superior request requirements convert transformational leaders to convey an inspiring vision and act as good role models towards the achievement of the long-term strategic goals.
More specifically, transformation leaders such as Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos are more favourably affected leaders due to their remarkable mystique and short-lived followers to actually connect to them. Given this deep-rooted relationship, these two leaders instil within followers the desire to emulate their leaders, besides later becoming good role models to their supporters. TLs envision a compelling future objective picture of their group or the entire association, besides picturing confidence in the ability of supporters to achieve and provide the strategic objectives. Generally, therefore, it can be said that transformational leadership theory assists in more than merely serving as an example before the leadership, but generally it aids in achieving, as well as providing, strategic objectives within the organisation as well.
The ethical headship hypothesis is a program that is organised with consideration of both moral beliefs and values, besides the pride and privileges of others. It is thus related to such concepts as trust, sincerity, mindfulness, magnetism and decency. Morals are also anxious over the types of values and ethics that a particular person or a mass society regards as nice or right. Besides, morals are concerned with the righteousness of individuals, beyond their thinking processes. The ethical turn of events also affects the choices that a pioneer makes. As in the case of transformational leadership, ethical leadership also assists in the provision of strategic leadership.
Through the assistance of the ethical leadership, leaders could promote the representative commitment, enhance incremental efficiency and promote brand notoriety. Leaders engaging in the moral course of action can attract client reliability by being steadfast in their utterances of mission and commanding attributes that directly assist in achieving the strategic objectives. Many of the studies also hypothesised that delivery of strategic goals can only be done by the leaders when they observe appropriate ethics in their leadership approach. In this case, ethics is not simply the upholding of decorum in the whole organisation, but also the upholding of decorum when leading the followers.
Ethical leadership refers to such leadership that is established through regulations that influence followers. Leaders pioneer through the decisions developed during the course of developing morality-enhancing qualities, pride, reasonableness, respectability, charm, and progress that lack the aspect of threatening the manner in which other individuals should behave. The inherent purpose of the head of any association is to influence the involvement to achieve the goals and, in the long term, to realise the vision of the association as well as to present the tactical goals.
Moral Leadership suggests what is ethically great or thought about ethically right; thus, teleological initiative morals are pioneering activity, which possesses no natural moral status, and deontological administration morals views pioneers activities to possess intrinsic moral status. With the assistance of ethical headship leaders, too, becomes competent enough to strengthen the morally sound manners of acting of the representatives by enforcing beneficial instances and establishing punitive and reward devices, establishing the finest pioneer part trade associations with the workers, providing representatives with support, care, trust and assets, and motivate the representatives to compensate positive which directly results in the achievement of strategic aims.
Answer:
Strategic leadership is of great significance in any firm and is not a secret. There are several challenges which strategic leadership can assist a firm in getting. In simple terms, strategic leadership can be stated as a practice that is carried out by the executives of the firm, more so the managers in the firm who are at a level of management. The practice enables the leaders to create visions to mitigate risks, make strategic plans and even compete in the entire market. In the current scenario, where the technological and cost-effective environment of the sector is continuously evolving, companies must adopt an efficient leadership approach.
A change that is being implemented in an organisation that may potentially change the strategic processing or operations of the firm is referred to as organisational change in an organisation. Change in organisations can also be explained in a manner that the organisation is making a deduction from a section of the organisation as its strategic advantage. In fact, organisational change is a radical shift in how the organisation is processed to an extent that, unless managed effectively, it can be catastrophic to the firm. The company may experience the problem of elevated employee turnover, customer discontent (when it is an item-producing brand), direct influence on net profit and so forth. The strategic leadership style in the case of such a drastic change enables the organisation to maintain pace and minimise the damage or even damage that would be caused. There are bright instances of organisational change, such as top management change, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, reorganisation and so on.
Any form of change cannot be easily embraced by all in an organisation by all. To give an example as discussed in the preceding paragraph, a change in the organisation may refer to the total elimination of a specific department in a company; the factors that lead to it are many, the department may be too small, it may be consuming too many company resources, or it may just have become unimportant. This will not go down very sporting fashion in the company, and most employees may fear losing their jobs; this may make them resist the change. Poor leadership will also lead to chaos within the firm to the extent that the firm could even lose track of its objectives and targets.
The strategic leadership will play the essential role in this instance to create a seamless transitioning process between the pre and post change scenario. In this instance, an empowered leader will not create a commotion but will use his or her leadership capabilities and authority. This will entail clarification of the necessity of the change to the employees and how it helps the firm and them. Attention is motivated by inclusiveness, which is natural psychology. The interest of the employees will also be enhanced when the leader speaks in a manner that makes the employees part of the situation, regardless.
It is crucial to note that strategic leadership is an element that may bring about change in the organisation. A competent leadership approach is an aspect that could anticipate the need for an organisational change. Change management theory is the plan of action or the way of solution that the leader adopts in an attempt to bring a change in the organisation; it is part and parcel of strategic leadership. Strategic leadership, or rather change management model that leaders can use in this case are myriad. The two models that I consider to be the most successful in organisational management are as follows, which are explained.
Action Research Model: this model has two parts, the first is behaviour change between the leader and employee, which is rather normal. The person in this instance makes the employee aware of the changes that are taking place in the company and the reasons attributed to this change. The leader also assists the employee in going through a thorough training process to enable the employee to become accustomed to the change. It is in this stage that the leader uses various theories in various situations to identify the effectiveness of the change which is being implemented in the organisation. When the change is not being implemented properly, it is the duty of the leader to thoroughly investigate and interpret the effectiveness of the implemented change in the organisation and ensure that the loopholes in the system are identified and rectified as early as possible.
Lewin Model: Lewin model or theory entails three stages of the change management process of an organisation. The unfreezing of the current process is the first step; this step incorporates the identification of the problem and the necessity of change. The second step involves the introduction of an effective intervention in which the leader(s) of the firm would propose a solution, and the third step is the refreezing of the situation in which the plan is made and implemented successfully in a manner that would benefit the organisation. The meticulous classification of these three processes and the immediate course of action of these three processes in the given case ought to be considered a job of a competent leader to prevent commotion and confusion.
Needless to say, technological innovation is a mammoth share of any given organisational change. The current world is experiencing Industry 4.0. The fourth industrial revolution in the sphere of mass production and manufacturing is Industry 4.0. That is, it is now this industry that is virtualising all the physical operations. The existence of any technological change and its repetitive nature is crucial to the very survival of a firm in the uber-competitive market of these days. Virtual operations with the use of machines are far more efficient and can multitask, thus many firms are currently employing these methods of operation. This case has brought about two main problems: the first is the problem of shutting down several departments. The technological innovation has enabled firms to do a number of tasks simultaneously, thus rendering many more departments useless. In the quest to cut expenses, companies are shutting down departments today to ensure that several operations are under a single umbrella. Secondly, the fast innovation of nearly every industry has enabled firms to advance in most sectors, but the rate at which it is forced to move is unimaginable. Companies have turned more vicious than ever. Individuals who are unable to match this dynamic technology are simply eliminated.
This is where the sound leadership strategy is applied, where the change that is being introduced in the company is not only introduced easily, but also in a way that does not make the employees feel harshly. The most tactical change management system in this scenario will be a process where employees are trained in such a way that they can be utilised against the technological changes that are being implemented in the company. A coaching style of leadership will be the most successful in this case. One of the coaching styles of leadership is that the leader assists in the growth of individual goals of the employee and organisational goals. This not only assists the employee to maintain interest in the firm but also assists the firm to manage its own benefits and concentrate on the long-term development of the firm, as it is what it is getting on the other side.
It is possible to use the coaching style of leadership in the course of an organisational change, like a significant technological alteration in an organisation, or in smaller-scale scenarios, the coaching style could be applicable where a new member has just joined the team. In this situation, it should not be forgotten that the coaching style of leadership is not unidirectional but bi-directional. It could be applied only when the individual before him (the employee) is acting in truthful attempts to gain the coaching and attempting to develop themselves to adjust themselves to the changes of the company.
The coaching style of leadership does not only involve formal training, as in the case considered here, training the employee on how to operate and handle the software will not be efficient and will not be partially efficient. This leader must ensure that the coaching is wholesome in the sense that the employee should grasp the necessity of the change, as well as what the rewards of the change will be, and how the coaching will be of benefit to the employee personally, as well as being a significant process of receiving the mentorship.
Implementation of Strategic Leadership to Complex Organisational Climbs.
A competent leader ought to appreciate the value of strategic leadership. A strategic leadership approach seeks to define the main values, missions and vision of the firm and also to establish the possible threats to the firm in future. It is the role of the leader to know what type of leadership will be wise for the specified organisation. The leadership is determined by the core values of the firm, according to which the employees of the firm are expected to act. In any large-scale firm, complex organisational issues are very prevalent. The leaders of the firm or the management of the firm apply specific and unique approaches in handling every problem that emerges within the firm in strategic leadership. In such instances, leaders know that every problem is distinct and requires a tailored type of management approach that is strategically designed to serve the cause of the firm.
In this more paced dynamic climate of cost-efficient and technological shifts occurring within the business environment, a strategic leader relates their vision in detecting probable threats and opportunities within the firm, which ultimately leads to motivation of the current employees and consequently towards the success of the firm as a whole.
Strategic leadership aims at achieving the following:
All these objectives strictly serve the organisation in resolving complex issues, which are continuing or have the ability to increase in future. Such strategic leaders are seen through the analytical lens, which enables the company to be better prepared for future challenges and fight as a whole in risky circumstances.
The complex issues in organisations may take various forms like risky projects, disagreement among internal employees, inter-team conflict, inter-partner conflict, merger requirement and challenges that are brought upon by the same and so on. A strategic leader is supposed to address all these concerns, engaging in making tailored plans to provide solutions to the stated problem effectively.
The elimination of the distance between the employees and the upper management is actually a very vivid example of great strategic leadership. The working staff of any company is its human resource, and their satisfaction and productivity should be the main priority of any company. Tim Cook has also accomplished the honour of being designated as one of the best strategic leaders, which is clearly contrary to his predecessor, Steve Jobs. The leadership approach that has enabled Apple to become the first company to join the 1 trillion revenue club has been the leadership technique used by Cook.
Problems within the organisation at Apple, like extreme restrictiveness to innovation, excessive work burden, and inadequate room to think was forming an innovation block within the firm. This was heavily removed by the democratic leadership style of Cook, which was in stark contrast with the autocratic style of leadership which Jobs followed. It is argued that it was his unexplainable fixation on being able to control everything that made him an innovative block in the firm, and after a certain stage, the firm came to a stagnant standstill.
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