ASSIGNMENT OF WEEK 23

1.      In your own words and using referenced quotes describe what is meant by the term “strategic leadership”.

In order to understand strategic leadership, we need to describe what is strategy and leadership.

Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long term, which achieves advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of resources and competences with the aim of fulfilling stakeholder expectations. (Johnson, Scholes & Whittington, 2004).

In Simple language, strategy is the long term planning to achieve certain goals and objectives related to stakeholders’ expectations in a changing and challenging environment.

“Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Northouse,P., 2010).

Sources: Deposit Photos (2013) 'Strategy Wordcloud' available at: http://depositphotos.com/10453878/stock-photo-Strategy-wordcloud.html [Accessed on April 24, 2013]

Leadership is about innovators and change agents; seeing the big picture, thinking strategically about how to attain goals and working (with the help of others) to achieve the goals (Kouzes and Posner, 2009, p. 20).

Leadership is the art of influencing other in order to achieve certain goals and objectives.  Leadership is all about capacity, the capacity to understand the situation, the capacity to listen others. It is also the art of transforming strategy into action.

Sources: wordpress (2011), 'What is trasformational leadership' available at http://pmcounseling.wordpress.com/category/leadership/[accessed on 24th April, 2013]

Some leadership theories have been developed in order to make clearer about the term “leadership”.  These include:

Trait Theory:

The trait theory mainly emphasis on the personal qualities of leaders. These include their intelligent, handsomeness, etc.

Style or Behavioral Models

This model believes that leader should focus on the completion of task or achieving objective. In addition, proper care and motivation should be given to the workers.

Contingency Theory

This theory believes that leadership style needs to be keeping on changing according to the change in the environment and situation. However in order to succeed with this leadership style, the followers should have readiness to change.

Transactional and Transformational Leadership

Transactional leadership focuses on controlling the organizational activities and designing the system of an organization.

On the other hand, transformational leadership focuses on designing vision and motivating followers to achieve required goal.

Sources: wordpress (2013), 'Transformational and Transactional Leadership' available at: http://mylifelonglearningjourney.wordpress.com/ [Accessed on 24th April, 2013]

“Strategic leadership is the ability to shape the organization’s decisions and deliver high value over time, not only personally but also by inspiring and managing others in the organization” (Lynch, R.,2009).

Strategic management refers to potentiality of managers to express their strategic vision of an organization and motivating people to achieve that vision. It can also be referred as using strategy for managing people or employees. With a strong strategic leadership, leaders can execute organizational change with the help of organizational management of people. Strategic productivity is the main aim of strategic leadership. Most of the strategic leaders motivate their workers to follow their own ideas and concepts. In order to motivate employees, strategic leaders create reward and incentives. 

Sources: http://Authenticity Consulting, LLC(2011), 'Strategic Planning', Available at: management help.org/blogs/strategic-planning/2011/09/12/what-is-a-strategic-leader-a-person-of-imagination/ [accessed on 23rd April, 2013]

Strategic leaders have to know the right ways to think, act and influence (Kate Beatty). In most organizations strategic leadership does not come easily. Some statistics have shown that less than ten percent leaders show strategic leadership skills.

Followings are the main characteristics of effective strategic leaders that lead to great performance:

Loyalty: With the words and action, effective and powerful strategic leaders show their loyalty.

Updated with change: Effective and efficient leaders keep them updated with the activities that is happening in the organization and outside the organization. They have both formal and informal source for such information.

Use of Power: Strategic leaders use their power very wisely. They mostly play power game by which employees will be able to achieve the organizational goals.

Motivation: they have a skill to motivate people with an enthusiasm to achieve goal. Making money is not their goal but to complete challenging job is their job. Such a leader will surely be a motivator to achieve organizational goals and objectives.

Compassion: Strategic leaders must understand the feeling of others. Strategic leaders needs to understand his followers and should make decision considering them.

 Social Skills: Strategic leaders must be social and friendly with his followers as well as with other   people.

Holistic Theories of Strategic Leadership

·         Five elements of successful and effective strategic leadership model

·         Transcendent Leadership Model

Five elements of successful and effective strategic leadership model have been developed by Lynch in order to describe strategic leadership. Followings are the five elements of successful and effective leadership model:

·         Developing and communicating the organizations’ purpose

·         Sustaining Competitive Advantage over time

·         Managing human resources & organizational decisions

·         Setting ethical standards

·         Defining and delivering to Stakeholders.

Strategic Leadership: Transcendent Leadership

·         Leadership of Organization

·         Leadership of Others

·         Leadership of Self

2. Identify two interesting similarities and two differences between the 5 Elements of Successful and Effective Strategic Leadership model and the Transcendent Leadership model. 

      Similarities:

    Both the model of strategic leadership, focus on maintaining good relationship between leaders and followers. These models believe that organizational goals can be achieved only with the cooperation in between leaders and followers. Leaders are the idol for its followers or employees. They need to motivate their follower with reward and incentives. Leaders have the responsibility to develop skills of their followers or employees. By maintain good relationship with followers leaders need to achieve organizational goals.

    The main purpose of both the leadership model is to achieve organizational goal. By preserving competitive advantage of the organization both focuses on achieving organizational goals and objectives.

Differences:

     Lynch model is more flexible than the Transcendent Leadership model. It is because Lynch model is more focused on developing the key skills of employees is only possible with a good relationship with them, whereas transcendent model is more focused with the rules, procedure and structure of organization.

    Lynch model give more emphasis to maintain good relationship with stakeholders whereas transcendent leadership model has not mentioned such relationship with stakeholders. Lynch model of strategic leadership believes that with a good relationship with both the internal and external stakeholders, organization may be able to adapt to change in a complex situation.

  

References:

Crossan, M., Vera, D and Nanjad, L. (2008) Transcendent Leadership: strategic leadership in dynamic environments, The Leadership Quarterly, Volume 19, Issue 5, October 2008, Pages 569-581. 

Lynch, R., (2009) Strategic Management, 5th Edition, Prentice Hall, chapter 16. 

Burke, C. S., Stagl, K. C., Salas, E., Pierce, L., & Kendall, D. (2006). Understanding team adaptation: A conceptual analysis and model. Journal of Applied Psychology,91(6),1189-1207. doi:10.1037/0021 -9010.91.6.1189. 

Chemers, M. M. (2000). Leadership research and theory: A functional integration. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 4, 27-43. doi:10.1037/1089-2699.4.1.27.

Chiu, C., Lin, H., & Chien, S. (2009). Transformational leadership and team behavioral integration: The mediating role of team learning. Academy of Management Proceedings, 1-6.

Chung-Kai, L. I., & Chia-Hung, H. (2009). The influence of transformational leadership on workplace relationships and job performance. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 37, 1129-1142. doi:10.2224/sbp.2009.37.8.1129. 

J.-L. Denis, L. Lamothe and A. Langley, ‘The dynamics of collective change leadership and strategic change in pluralistic organizations’, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 44, no. 4 (2001), pp. 809–837.

McCuddy, M. K. (2008). Fundamental moral orientations: Implications for values based leadership. Retrieved May 21, 2010, from http://www.valuesbasedleadershipjournal.com/issues/vol1issue1/mccuddy.php.