analysis of strategic leadership in the contemporary working environment

8/8/2019 Analysis of Strategic Leadership in the Contemporary Working Environment

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Strategic Leadership 1

Heading: Analysis of strategic leadership in the contemporary working environment

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Section 1

Introduction

In order to fully comprehend the meaning of strategic leadership, it is worth providing different

definitions of leadership and its difference from corporate management. Corporate management

according to Albert (2008) is more biased towards administration and probably allocation of

resources responsible for productivity in the organization (pp.122). In essence a manager will

oversee the financial provisions of a company or an organization in question. On the other hand,

a leader can perform the functions of the manager but incorporate further responsibilities related

to the overall productivity of the company. A leader is responsible for the by and large goal

achievement in the organization through the ability to integrate the human resource of the

company into one production and singular goal oriented group.

According to Bruce (2005), strategic leadership is a form of leadership with intent of a goal. In

most cases, this form of leadership is basically made as a result of the needs because of the ever

dynamic and changing market needs. There is need to change in order to meet the expectation of

the market, this is imperative in remaining relevant and even gaining more competitive

advantage. Strategic leadership will thus involve the ability not only to envision but also foresee

the need to change while maintaining steady and flexible requirements of achieving the

organizations vision. The strategic leader should also be in the center to motivate other people

involved in process of achieving the goal.

Naturally, there are challenges and complexities associated with strategic leadership because it

involves the use of other people to achieve organizational goals. It is always not easy to


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therefore, integration of both the human oriented approach with the analytical approach will

yield more substantial results when implemented tactfully by a strategic leader. A strategic leader

is therefore an individual with the capacity and knowledge to integrate these two somewhat

different approaches to achieve the organizational goal.

To fully comprehend the needs and the requirements of a strategic leader, the success of an

organization could be a chief determinant of how strategic and skilful the leader of the

organization with regard to leadership. There are numerous challenges that a leader has to face

on a daily basis while in the course of achieving the goals of an organization. In essence, a leader

is mandated with the task of evaluating the internal and the external factors that affects the

organization productivity, these factors can be macro or micro environmental factors contributed

by the entire human resource within the organization and also the challenges resulting from the

external market shifts and changes that may occasionally occur. Strategic leadership skills will

therefore demand being at the right place at the right time with the right tools in order to achieve

the desired goals. A strategic leader in this context will for sure understand that every individual

in the organization plays a pivotal role in ensuring success of the organization. Getting these

people work as a team towards a particular goal is the task of the strategic leadership of an

organization. In essence, the use of different talents within the organization is a key to achieving

the goals of the organization within a given framework of time (Richard, 2010). As clearly

explained, individual talent and strong points will yield positive results to a company. When

individual skills are then assembled and geared towards a particular goal, there will be a

significant success for the company in general. It is thus imperative to understand the provisions

of the strategic leadership and its complexities with reference to the contemporary working


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environment in order to understand the requirements of a leader who is vision and mission

oriented, strategic leader in simple terms.

Section 2

Ethical consideration and implication for strategic leadership

Ethical consideration and also the values associated with an organization have been on the rise in

the recent years. Since the inception of consumer behavior and the consequent need to study the

behavior of consumers with regard to their wants and the ever changing needs, there has been a

parallel growth of the need to promote and enhance ethics in an organization in order to achieve

the primary goal of not only attracting a potential customer but also maintaining the customer

(Sydney, 1996). Values of an organization are normally embedded on its mission and visions;

they show to the public what the organization is especially with regard to humanity. Values form

the core consideration for the success of an organization in business. On the other hand ethics

generally means what is perceived to be right or wrong by the outside world or even within the

organization. This is very important especially considering that there are some actions that may

be deemed wrong in one place and right in the other depending on the culture, religion and other

prevailing moral conditions of a particular place.

It is important to consider the consequence and the significance of ethics to an organization,

there is need for the organization to put into consideration the prevailing conditions in the region

in question in order to introduce values and ethics that will not contradict the prevailing culture

and religion (Michael, 2008). Ethics and strategic leadership go hand in hand; this means that in

order for the leadership to live up to its expectations, there is needed to incorporate ethics to


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leadership (Bruce, 2007). There are several ways in which leadership and ethics can be enhanced

within an organization. These ways are as discussed below;

The initial step in enhancing corporate or organizational ethics is through the actions of the top

management of an organization. If the management of an organization is unethical, this will lead

to unethical organization since the junior and subordinate members of the organization will

follow the footsteps of the management. It is therefore important for the management and the

leaders of an organization to practice sound ethics in order to pass the virtue to the junior

members of an organization.

The organizations strategic leadership should also incorporate explicit rules and policies related

to ethics. Seriousness of the need to practice ethics within an organization will be clearly

articulated by the outlined policies that gives substantial guidance. Policies related to ethics

should also go beyond the policies of the organization to the missions and the visions of the

organization. After the strategic leadership of an organization has incorporated policies relating

to ethics in an organization, it is their responsibility to create awareness of the need and the

consequences of adhering to the outlined ethics within the organization.

Another important requirement for the management or the leadership of an organization to

consider is offering occasional training of how to deal with ethical dilemmas within the

organization and even in the outside world. The management of the organization can organize

seminars for these employees to attend and consequently get further education on ethics. Such

trainings offer guidance, importance, implications and even the consequences of unethical

behaviors in the business world.


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The Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) of the year 2002 was enacted and passed through presidential

signing because of the consequence of ethical failure in accounting which led to the presentation

of wrong accounting report to the public a factor that contributed to them being miss-informed

on investments decision making course. The enactment of the act was therefore meant to

improve on accounting responsibility. A strategic leadership of an organization can take

advantage of this act and incorporate it to the organizations core principles to increase on the

efficiency and ethics at the same time.

The information system is one of the most vital tool an organization can take advantage to

implement ethical related principles. Information ethics includes the entire control system of an

organization and its external environment. This attribute of information system makes it

imperative in the creation of ethical environment within and without the organization. The

management should ensure that all the concerns and breach of ethics is addressed with the

seriousness that it deserve in order to warn the employees of an organization against acting

unethically. If unethical behaviors are allowed to pass without significant concern, the results

will lead to increase in unethical behaviors in the organization (McDaniel, 2004).

Corporate social responsibility is one of the major issues of concern in improving the

organizational ethics. Corporate social responsibility means that the organization responds to the

needs and the wants of the surrounding environment. The major cause of the current global

warming due to increase of carbon emission to the skies is essentially because of the decreased

ethics and social responsibility in the countries and manufacturing companies responsible for the

emission of these harmful gases to the environment. From the definitions of ethics, anything that

is deemed wrong by the organization or even outside the organization is bound to be unethical.

Increased carbon emission in the name of industrialization is completely unethical despite the


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rigid stands taken by the world leaders with regard to the issue. The provisions of Kyoto protocol

was supposed to be succeeded by a more effective approach of fighting increased carbon

emission but as the entire world witnessed, there was no significant ethical decision that was

made. Leading by example in this case was out of the window, every country leading in carbon

release tried to defend their unethical and irresponsible contribution to global warming.

The issue of global warming is a good example of how strategic leadership is supposed to

spearhead reform related to ethics. If the top management fails to make significant impact on the

need to enhance ethics, the results will be increased unethical behavior and general decrease in

values and morals. The consequences of failed ethics and moral values reduce by a significant

margin the importance and the need for human nature and understanding.

Organizational culture is another imperative consideration when incorporating ethics to the

organization. The virtues of ethics will be more relevant if the environment is conducive and able

to sustain it. It is the work of the organizational leadership to ensure that ethics are slowly

incorporated into the organizational culture. If there is a successful incorporation of ethics into

the organization culture, the new entrants into the organization will respond positively to the

prevailing conditions of the organization and hence the sustainability of ethics in an organization

(McDaniel, 2004).

From this ethical discussion, it is evident that the leadership of an organization determines the

extent of ethical behavior in the organization. Ethical leaders lead to ethical behaviors in the

organization and vice versa. The organizational culture is another imperative consideration when

referring to ethics in an organization. It is of essence to ensure that the organization slowly

incorporates ethics into its culture; this will lead to a more sustainable approach towards ethical


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behavior given the positive impact of ethics in the organization. The information system should

also be used to enhance ethics in an organization by incorporation of ethics within the controls

systems of the organization. Stating ethical policies and implementing measures that will ensure

ethics is highly regarded in the organization will help in fighting unethical vices within the

organization.

Section 3

Link between this critical evaluation and my organization

The provision of this analysis has revealed two important and critical issues, the importance and

the relevance of a strong leadership which is strategic and the significance of ethics in an

organization. These two issues are critical for the company to remain relevant in the current

dynamic market place that essentially demands constant change with the changes in the need of

the consumers. If a company fails to change as the changes of the market takes place, there is a

great possibility of the organization to be irrelevant. The cut throat competition present currently

has greatly influenced the way in which companys relate internally and externally to market

factors that have a direct or indirect influence to the performance of the company.

In any organization including the organization that I have worked for in my country, there is a

great need to have a strategic leader with vision and tactics of collection the responsibilities of

every individual in the organization to achieve a desired set goal. Such a leader should be able to

take responsibility for any negative performance of the organization and not blame the

employees of the organization for the failure. In my organizations leadership, there has been a

significant reluctance of the management and the entire leadership to constructively utilize the


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human resource of the organization in order to achieve a common goal because of the approach

that they use to lead in the organization (Jeffrey 2005, pp.101).

There is need to train leaders not only in my organization but also other firms in my country how

to effectively deliver goals of an organization as a leader and especially as a strategic leader.

Leaders should be trained on how to utilize the human resource in the company by making every

individual feel as a part of the organizations strategy and know that they are responsible for the

success and the failure of the organization. This feeling of belonging can only be enhanced by a

strong leadership that focuses on the employees to the lowest level. Leaders should be made to

clearly understand that the collective contribution of every member of the organization will aid

the organization to achieve its goal of re-aligning to meet the changes in the market. Another

important consideration in organization is the emphasis of ethics and corporate social

responsibility that follows good ethics and values.

It is the duty of the organization leadership to ensure that good ethics prevail in the organization.

Leaders should therefore lead by example while instituting strong ethical policies to the

organization that they manage. It is of essence to note that unethical companies and organization

have a very limited life span in the sensitive market that they serve. This is clearly shown by the

SOX enactment after a significant failure of accounting responsibility among companies like

Enron and WorldCom among others. As per the knowledge gained in this strategic and ethical

leadership gained, their relevance to the organization cannot be over-emphasized.

Section 4

Recommendation and implementation plan for my organization


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Given the positive contributions of strategic leadership and ethics in an organization,

incorporating these positive strategies to my organization will be of great essence. I will

therefore recommend the following measures for my organization to adopt in order to remain

relevant in the ever changing market needs.

The initial step is to encourage the leadership of the organization to adopt the qualities of a

strategic leader. The leaders in my organization ought to embrace the provisions of the human

oriented approach which incorporates analytical approach in their organizational leadership. In

using this approach, the leadership of the organization will be able to significantly motivate the

employees of the company in order to achieve the desired goals. A strategic leader in this case

should be able to change and incorporate extra strategies in the current strategy with an aim of

diversifying the chances of achieving the organizational goal. The rate of organizational change

is dependent entire on the leadership of the organization.

There is need for my organization leadership to clearly adopt both the humanistic and analytical

approach in dealing with the daily challenges that the organization meets in striving to achieve

its missions and visions. The combination of these features will make the leadership more

envisioned, practical and goal oriented (Bruce, 2005). In addition to the leadership strategies,

ethics is another imperative factor to be considered while managing leadership. Ethical polices

thus needs to be incorporated into the companys visions and missions core principles. I will

recommend that the entire leadership of the organization embrace the values of ethics and

corporate social responsibility. There is need for my organization to incorporate strong ethical

policies in order that run down the backbone of the organization in order to ensure that the

organization remains relevant to its market.


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The implementation plan that I will recommend for my organization is the smooth transition of

leadership strategies to a more informed, envisioned and motivating leadership. This

implementation is thus supposed to be done steadily in order to avoid a sudden change which

may prove to be undesirable in the end. Just like any other transition, smooth integration and

awareness spearheaded by intensive training of the management is necessary at this stage. On the

other hand, the integration of ethics into the culture of the organization should be done in a

tactful manner in order to ensure that the entire human resource of the company is included in

the process. If the process is done in a rush, there is a likelihood of experiencing substantial

resistance from the employees who may be reluctant to sudden change in the organizational

culture. Once my organization has learnt how to smoothly embrace changes, the organizations

performance will be greatly boosted by the results of strong ethical and strategic leadership.


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References

Albert A. Cannella , Donald C. Hambrick, 2008. Strategic Leadership: Theory and Research on

Executives, Top Management Teams, and Boards. London: Oxford University Press US. pp 120-

302.

Barney, J, 2001.Firm Resources and Sustainable Competitive Advantage,Journal of

Management,17(1).pp. 54-56.

Brian Leavy, Peter McKiernan, 2009. Strategic Leadership: Governance and Renewal. New

York, N,Y:Palgrave Macmillan. Pp. 247-289.

Bruce J. Avolio, 2005.Leadership development in balance: made/born. Texas: Routledge.pp.

129-202.

Jeffrey Glanz, 2005. What every principal should know about strategic leadership. New jersey:

Corwin Press.pp. 56-120.

Lamb, Robert, Boyden, 2003.Competitive strategic management, Englewood Cliffs, NJ:

Prentice-Hall.

Michael A. Hitt, R. Duane Ireland, Robert E. Hoskisson, 2008. Strategic management:

competitiveness and globalization: concepts & cases. New York: Cengage Learning. pp. 234-

245.

McDaniel, Charlotte, 2004. Organizational Ethics: Research and Ethical Environments.Mason,

OH: Thomson Learning. pp 39.


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Richard L. Morrill, 2007.Strategic leadership: integrating strategy and leadership in colleges

and universities.Texas:Greenwood Publishing Group.pp. 200-210.

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Indiana: McGraw-Hill. pp.78-180.

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Sydney Finkelstein, Donald C. Hambrick, 1996.Strategic leadership: top executives and their

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