Linking Strategic Management And Leadership: Impact On Organizational Strategy

Discussion

1. Explain the link between strategic management and leadership?

2. Analyse the impact of management and leadership styles on strategic decisions?

3. Assess the effectiveness of adaptation of leadership styles to different situations?
 
4. Review the impact of theories of management and leadership on organisational strategy?

5.Explain the creation of a leadership strategy and how it supports organisational direction?

6.Use appropriate methods to review current leadership requirements?

7.Plan for the development of future situations requiring leadership?

8.Plan the development of leadership skills for a specific requirement?

9. Report on the usefulness of methods used to plan the development of leadership skills?

A firm named National Car Rental Company in this case is dealing with the mid- level managers and trying to post many of such managers on higher post enabling them to handle superior duties as well as responsibilities. The firm was expanding its operations and for this had the opportunities for several mid-managers in coming 12 – 16 months as well as, had to properly prepare all of them and also self for replacing the third member of senior leaders who also were probable to retire in next 5 – 8 years. Within the history it was seen that several mid-managers that moved up in the ladder and went to carry leadership roles actually were not properly prepared for increased accountabilities and duties.

Methods that car rental firm has used for reviewing present leadership requirements plus plan for development of the future situations demanding leadership

A good leadership is one that creates a bridge amid the strategic management as well as their aims and target .It also is because of the leadership that any firm attains its desired tasks as well as targets. And same was in case of the Car rental firm. This organization also took several steps to maintain a good relation amid the strategic management and proper leadership amongst the staffs. Management also in the firm was seen accountable for the people as well as resources in the unit and this was as per the rules otherwise values which have previously been set at the time of leadership set and a direction to people in the group of mid-level managers (Carlisle, 1970). The link amid the strategic management plus leadership in the case study is well noticeable. Great leadership was seen joined with very effective management, and this made the firm capable of setting a proper direction as well as also made it capable of allocating resources in proper way in which it actually wanted to. Not just that, the firm also achieved its goal in the way the firm has thought and way in which managers wanted to achieve higher level of post (Cashman & Forem, 2003).

Organizations all over are deeply worried about understanding, searching as well as developing leadership. There are vast impact of leadership and they are:

• Good leadership makes the leader more and more capable
• Leadership helps the management to handle people properly
• It helps in maintenance of peaceful and calm situation all around the firm
• Leadership makes sure that vast groups are handled by one single leader thereby assuring arrival of a common conclusion to every problem
• It acts as a problem solver.
• Regardless of type of firm, leadership is always discerned towards playing a significant role in the establishment of high performing groups.
• Helps the leader to have a proper competitive edge as well as sustained profitability and also to maintain the ethical standards, and comply with the civic commitments as well as establish a safe plus equitable work ecology.
• It enhances the organizational performance.
• Is responsible for development plus execution of all strategic decisions, and helps leaders to acquire, develop as well as deploy all organizational resources fully in order to draw out the best goods and services

• Makes the leader flexible
• Makes the leader more and more capable
• Makes people understand and adjust with the leader easily

This included several methods through which the firm confirmed that the mid managers who moved to upper levels has full capability of undertaking the duties and responsibilities of the position and also are totally able to supply and give out best result to the firm by being the most efficient and effective leader. These methods were as follows:

Methods for Reviewing Present Leadership Requirements and Planning for Development of Future Situations Demanding Leadership

Performance appraisal- The firm engaged in the process of Performance Appraisal through which a systematic evaluation and assessment of performance of the mid managers were undertaken to understand abilities of the person for future upcoming growth as well as development. This process was done in very systematic ways and the steps followed were as follows:

• Supervisors measured pay of the staffs and also compare it along with the targets plus plans.
• Management then analyzed plus assessed factors behind the work performances and results brought in by the staffs that were at mid level.
• The staffs were in proper position to appropriately guide staffs for a good performance.

1. Two way communication- The firm managed to undertake a dual way communication and interaction where the mid managers sat with the management and discussed all the merits and demerits and also all the problems that they were facing in the firm and also once that they thought to be problematic them while shifting to a upper level. This type of interaction also made the mid managers feel that they are valued by the firm and they might feel very much motivated to the job appraisal and might get totally ready for the attainment of higher position (Coens & Jenkins, 2000).

1. Management by the Objectives- This process was used in the firm of appraisal of performance of mid level managers and required all the staff input as employees plus supervisors perform together to properly identify the aims and goals, resources as well as deadlines which factor into the management by the objectives of the appraisals. The firm tried to align the specific staff’s objectives with the firm’s objectives (Deblieux, 2003). And also staffs being mid managers then discussed resources plus time needed to complete all such goals. Using such method, the result of the appraisal was enhanced and people were feeling more relaxed.

 

Car rental firm was very much able and was extra successful in properly planning the development of good and strategic leadership skills within the staffs so that they could be moved to upper levels in the organization and could be supplied higher responsibilities. The proper steps that were undertaken by the firm were as follows:

• Meeting with the stakeholders- The management within the firm enabled and held proper meeting with the stakeholders who were the mid managers and tried to know as well as understand the need and requirement of the individual mid manager who was to be moved to upper level. Also the firm and the management facilitated a good and appropriate long session with the stakeholders and thereby tried level best to know and understand the vision, strategy and goals, issues as well as priorities of the staffs and match the same with ones for the firm.
• Assessment plus Feedback- Later the management after conducting a good discussion and meeting with the stakeholders enable a proper assessment and evaluation of the actual abilities of the manager and also made itself well capable of properly assessing the things that they could do and ones that they lacked (Martin, 2009). Here a proper and thorough assessment of the individual as well as team’s leadership efficiency and effectiveness was done and this was the place where the 360 degree feedback and assessment otherwise the leadership surveys took place and brought in most effective result for the firm and enabled the firm to attain better results.

6.Methods to properly review the current requirements of leadership

For the firm to be totally successful in its business management requires skilful as well as talented leaders which would support employees in efficiently driving workforce of firm to attain the aims and goals. For being an effective as well as good leader the firm must entail looking into future of organization for the continuous growth thus it is vital for the firm that is moving towards achievement to have the leaders that would initiate as well as bring ideas in interest of firm and a good skilled work force that would even help the firm to become extremely competitive.

The firm also developed a good program for training as well as development of the managers in the mid level who were to move upstream in the organizational ladder and was to attain a good leadership role. Here the firm designed and delivered a properly customized growth plus development workshops on the basis of needed leadership replica. A proper 1 on 1 plus also team coaching was provided to the managers and also action learning programs intended for the managers as well as team of staffs (Ritchie & Walker, 2007). Some on job assignments were also provided to the staffs and later these assignments were assessed and the capability of the managers were assessed on this basis. The outcome that this step gave was that the targeted plus customized leadership growth as well as development initiatives

7.Plan for development of the future situations demanding leadership

Planning will support the firm to make sure that future is undertaken into consideration, which might also help the firm to control situation that it finds itself within as far as probable and to get ready for the unexpected eventualities. There also are new looms and technological progressions coming up each day and for keeping up with changes in the technology, training as well as development is also important. Thus, coaching skills will be required to properly coach as well as support staffs along with ever changing growths and developments to actually enable them for coming together to attain a goal. Also to follow on employees will be the firm’s responsibility as being effective one and also will be leader’s accountability too to ensure that everything goes well with them at the time of the training as well as if extra coaching is required to build them and make them capable of carrying out task efficiently it must also be provided with no hesitates.

8.Plan development of the leadership skills for specific requirement

• Development Planning- In this step the firm will have all information and data available and all the leadership roles and responsibilities that will to be supplied to managers moving to the upper level will be well known to the firm. Now in this step the firm will attempt to identify the individual as well as team’s strengths plus all the developmental priorities and then will create a good targeted action strategy plus plans at the individual as well as collective level and then will communicate the same to the managers who will develop all the strategies for enhancing the by and large leadership effectiveness and efficiency. As an outcome of this step the firm will attain a good targeted Individual as well as Team Development and growth Action Plan plus strategy.

• Organizational Implications- This will be next step undertaken by the firm and the management within the organization. Here the supervisors will sit together and create as well as lay down proper guiding principles for fostering the required leadership culture and attitude and also will try to link Individual as well as Team Development strategies plus plans to the Leadership Development and Talent Management as well as Performance Management scheme plus also few other initiatives of the HR (Stessin & Heyel, 1984). Also the management here in this step will determine ongoing hold and support in the deployment of the development plan plus strategy. As a result the firm will be capable of integrating the whole of culture, techniques and tools as well as processes for supporting the leadership growth plus development.

9.Report on usefulness of the methods utilized to plan development of the leadership skillsd)Performance Appraisals through Narrative-Essay- most time-concentrated method for the performance appraisal also was used in the firm which is called narrative-essay method. It also took a very significant quantity of preparation and document review as well as drafting time towards producing a properly-written assessment and evaluation of staff performance. The majority of effective way towards converting a proper narrative-essay and the performance appraisal for a dual-way process of assessment was to have employee complete and attain a self-evaluation in an indistinguishable format as administrator’s narrative-essay (Dessler, 2000).

e)Training plus development- The firm undertook many action and processes where car rental firm brought in several methods for properly training and developing themed managers for ensuring that they attain proper position and become capable of undertaking the responsibilities of the upper level so that they do not have to face any problem in coming future (Gilmore & Williams, 2009). This type of training also helped the staffs in enhancing their abilities.

f)360 degree feedback- A task of 360 degree feedback also was included as a process for reviewing the current requirement of leadership and capabilities of mid level managers who were to be moved to upper positions. The steps that were undertaken in this process were as follows:

Develop questionnaire- A proper set of questions were developed and answers were to  be provided on basis of rating scales·Ensure the confidentiality of the participants- steps were undertaken to ensure the proper confidentiality of the answers provided by the staffs

Provide good training or orientation- Good training were provided to the staffs who required the same·

Administer feedback questionnaire- The feedbacks supplied by several staffs were administered.

Analyze the data- All the data will be analyzed and evaluated and a precise result will be brought out.

Develop plus Distribute the Results- The final results were distributed and managers were moved on the basis of the result.

References

Carlisle, A. (1970). Leadership Styles for Foreign Operations. Relations Industrielles, 25(2), 256. doi:10.7202/028127ar

Cashman, K., & Forem, J. (2003). Awakening the leader within. Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley.

Chapparamani, D., & Jyothi, P. (2011). Review of Literature on Leadership and Leadership Qualities. IJAR, 4(2), 7-9. doi:10.15373/2249555x/feb2014/169

Coens, T., & Jenkins, M. (2000). Abolishing performance appraisals. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Deblieux, M. (2003). Performance appraisal source book. Alexandria, Va.: Society for Human Resource Management.

Dessler, G. (2000). Human resource management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Gilmore, S., & Williams, S. (2009). Human resource management. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Martin, J. (2009). Human resource management. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Ritchie, A., & Walker, C. (2007). Continuing professional development. München: K.G. Saur.

Stessin, L., & Heyel, C. (1984). The encyclopedia of managerial performance appraisal. New York, N.Y.: Business Research Publications.