strategy report
Strategic flexibility …
The ability to shift from one dominant strategy to another
Ethics
Compliance-based
ethics programs
Integrity-based
ethics programs
Positive Organisational Behaviour - stems from philosophy of human thriving (the
‘good life’); includes mind and body; is dynamic
Increased risk of burn-out: Recognition that organisations (and their
success require) healthy, strong and capable people
Wellness – leading a life of purpose and quality connection to others; selfregard
and mastery … key is emotions
Employee assistance programs and activities such as mindfulness
Emotional literacy – anxiety, depression, mood surfing
Organisational Health - the organization is a mirror of the individuals working
within it
… a healthy leader is at the heart of a healthy organisation
Getting beyond the BS of leadership
literature…
. Build relationships, networks, connections
. Behave to be respected - not liked
. Learn, evolve and develop – yourself first
and then others
. Influence others – know & use the
techniques
Innovation
The ‘Machine’:
• Policy
• Practice
• Product/Service
• Process
Implementation
Approach Attitudes
What is a learning organisation?
A learning organisation is one “where people continually expand their capacity to
create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of
thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where
people are continually learning how to learn together” (Senge, 2006, p 3).
=> Creating & Coping
– Continuous learning and growing (change)
– Linking the individuals and the organisation as a whole
Link to
Strategic
Leaders
Learning organisations & the 5 principles
Concerns an organisation’s internal environment, focusing on people:
. Processes and procedures, job design;
. Training and development; and
. Selection
Enabled by following the 5 principles of learning organisations:
1. Personal mastery
2. Mental models
3. Building shared vision
4. Team learning
5. Systems thinking
Evaluation: Criticism of Senge’s approach
• Lacks a sound theoretical basis
• Impractical
• Unworkable in bureaucratic organisations
• Lacks connection to the external environment
• Lacks details and support
• Time
• Cost and opportunity cost
The role of organisational leaders in organisational learning
Resistance to change and the absence of effective leadership are
major reasons for why most transformation efforts fail.
• Effective change agents must:
• Make every effort to eliminate policies, procedures, and behaviors
that undermine the change efforts
• Be willing to alter his or her own behavior if it will minimize
resistance
• Be good listeners
How organisational leaders enable organisational learning
• Articulating a compelling reason for change
• Havingopen and regular communications
• Having a road map for implementation
• Havingtraining programs for required skills/competencies
• Forming a coalition of supporters and experts
• Staying the course in spite of perceived difficulties
• Recognizing and rewarding the contributions of others
• Carefully managing resources and priorities
• Keeping the process transparent
• Having a plan for dealing with resistance
Strategic Leaders
Definition:
Strategic leadership is the ability to anticipate, envision, maintain flexibility and
empower others to create strategic change as necessary
(Hanson et al., 2010).
Requires:
• Openness
• Managing through others
• Managing an entire enterprise rather than a functional sub-unit
• Coping with change
Personal values:
Evidence suggests top executives have a major effect on a firm’s culture.
Therefore, they impact on organisational activities and performance (Mayer,
Davis & Schoorman, 1995). An organisation’s culture can be a source of
competitive advantage Fiol (1991).
Strategic Leadership
Primary responsibilities:
• Conceptualize the organization’s vision, mission, and core values;
• Oversee the formulation of objectives, strategies, policies, and structures that
translate vision, mission, and core values into business decisions and hopefully
in turn, core competencies;
• Create an environment and culture for organizational learning and mutual
exchange between individuals and groups;
• Serve as ethical steward and role model for the rest; and
• Establish a balanced set of organisational controls.
Strategic leadership
Involves developing long term vision of the firm’s strategic
intent. (Long-term definitions differ – may mean 5-10
years).
• Requires adequate time to develop vision and framework
for implementation.
• Charisma helpful but not a requirement for successful
strategic leadership.
• Key is maintaining direction and structuring the firm
correctly to achieve the vision.
Hodgetts et al (2012)
Strategic Leaders
Transformational leadership is said to be the most effective style:
• Stimulate and inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests for the
good of the organisation to achieve extraordinary outcomes
• Strongly correlated with:
– lower turnover rates
– higher levels of productivity, employee satisfaction, creativity, goal
attainment and follower well-being
• Involves articulating a vision, breaking from the status quo, providing goals and
a plan, giving meaning or a purpose to goals.
Organisational profits should not be put
ahead of global issues eg, poverty and
climate change
• Developed a “greener business model” using
sustainably sourced materials in its
packaging, acting against deforestation and
ensuring all factories are “zero waste”.
Three ambitious goals aiming to reach by 2020:
1. helping more than a billion people across the
globe improve their health and well-being;
2. halving the environmental footprint of its
products; and
3. sourcing 100% of its agricultural raw
materials sustainably while enhancing the
livelihoods of those working across its supply
chain.
Unilever’s mission => a great place to work
“To achieve our company’s ambition of doubling the
size of our business whilst reducing our
environmental impact and increasing our
positive social impact, it is crucial that we build a
diverse and engaged workforce were everybody
can develop to his or her full potential. The
benefits of having a gender-balanced
organisation are plain to see; it helps power
creativity and innovation, deepens the talent
pool and allows us to better serve our diverse
consumer base.”
Paul Polman
Skill required for strategic leaders: Emotional intelligence (EQ)
The “innate potential to feel, use, communicate, recognize, remember,
describe, identify, learn from, manage, understand and explain
emotions” http://eqi.org/eidefs.htm
*Watch the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoLVo3snNA0*
EQ Research (Vidyarthi, Anand & Liden, 2014):
• leaders' emotional intelligence = ++ for employees' job performance.
• leader's emotional competence always influences employee's outcomes in a
positive manner, but the relationship is weaker when employees independently
work on their tasks because less direct and frequent contact between the
leader and employees