Introduction
Some basic points on Daft’s work
The most important points the author highlights in chapter 13 of his Leadership Experience include the definition of the strategic leadership, its domain, the definition of vision, its nature, the generalized themes of vision, the definition of mission, the importance of strategic management and core competence as well as strategy formulation and implementation. Finally, the author clarifies how the process of making strategic decisions affects organizational outcomes.
Strategic leadership and its importance
According to Daft, strategic leadership is considered to be of particular concern, as strategic thinking allows initiating positive changes that give an opportunity to establish a competitive advantage for a company. The author draws readers’ attention to a wide range of beneficial future outcomes the kind of leadership can bring about. When analyzing Daft’s arguments, it becomes evident that there are relationships between employees, which determine the process of effective cooperation. In other words, one can conclude that companies cannot integrate, but there are employees who can.
The role of relational leadership
The domain of strategic leadership includes mechanisms for execution (these involve current actions), strategy (the steps which are to be followed in order to succeed are of particular interest), mission (what is the final purpose?), and vision (what is our desired future?).
As far as high-quality organizational communication and relationships are recognized to be the crucial elements of a company’s successful operation, one can probably notice that strategic leadership cannot be regarded separately from relational leadership. For this reason, the domains of relational leadership should be also taken into account. These involve the rational domain (goals and objectives), the cognitive domain (sense-making), the domain of reflexivity (curiosity), and the domain of values (beliefs, expectations, emotions, and attitudes) (Hornstrup, n.d.).
Vision as an integral part of strategic leadership
Daft points out that vision can be determined as an attractive future, which correct actions can bring about. Thus, he specifies that there are three basic variables vision is formed by. These involve current reality, adherence to a plan, and overcoming a variety of difficulties to achieve the desired goal. The generalized themes of vision the author highlights cannot be neglected, as they provide us with a clear understanding of the interdependence between employees’ cooperation and a variety of organizational outcomes.
Vision as an integral part of strategic leadership creates meaning to work, encourages and motivates employees, and reflects the relation between the present and the future. Keeping in mind Daft’s position, it becomes obvious that vision is a dynamic issue. There are many factors vision changes depend upon; although, to my mind, the most significant factor is considered to be demand. I suppose that demands can even change the final goal (mission) of a company. Thus, take into consideration the fact that mission is considered to be a company’s key goal and reason for existence, one can state that there are demands which determine a company’s strategies to survive in the contemporary business world. Without demands, there is no sense to function.
Conclusion
The process of making strategic decisions is mostly determined by strategic vision and strategic action. There is a strong need to set a correct mission and maintain flexibility in order to achieve beneficial organizational outcomes. Core competence is considered to be key to a company’s competitive advantage. A company is to formulate its basic strategies in a proper way in order to create synergy and customer value (Daft, 2008).
Leading Change
Introduction
Changes: threats and opportunities
Generally, it must be noted that organizational changes occur due to a wide range of reasons. The most important involve globalization, technological changes, and increased demands. The changes bring both – threats and opportunities to companies. Thus, increased domestic and international competition and new organizational challenges are mostly regarded as threats a company is to face; on the other hand, forces driving the need for significant reforms provide companies with new opportunities, i.e. more international markets, fewer obstacles, etc. In my opinion, organizational changes should be regarded positively, as they encourage employees’ adaptability and lead to a company’s growth.
The eight-stage model of planned organizational change
Daft draws his readers’ attention to the eight-stage model of planned organizational change. These stages involve “a sense of urgency establishment, a powerful guiding coalition formation, a compelling vision and strategy development, the vision discussion, empowering employees to act on the vision, short-term wins generation, keeping up the urgency to tackle bigger problems, and making the change stick” (Daft, 2008).
As far as one of the key goals of organizational changes is to increase a company’s productivity, it is extremely important to clarify the way changes are to be implemented in relation to other employees. To my mind, it is necessary to fully engage employees in an organization in order to increase the level of their responsibility, which, in turn, will positively affect a company’s organizational effectiveness. In other words, when planning organizational changes, the leaders must be sure that their employees will be also cognitively involved in a variety of organizational processes. Engaged employees, as well as leaders, are more interested in final outcomes; so, it becomes evident that change strategies are to be mostly public rather than private.
What is lateral thinking?
Among a wide range of steps, leaders are to follow in order to succeed the most important step is to promote in the employees the so-called lateral thinking. One is to keep in mind that it is the process of changing intellectual thoughts, ideas, or concepts and creating new ones, which can be defined as lateral thinking. The personal compact is also recognized to be of particular concern, as the reciprocal obligations affect employees’ cooperation. Furthermore, when speaking about employees’ interaction and their attitude to planned organizational changes, it is necessary to state that “different people accept new ideas at different rates” (Manns, 2007).
For this reason, one can conclude that when making decisions on organizational changes, there is a strong need to evaluate people’s common attitudes to such changes. Of course, leading change is not an easy process. Keeping in mind the importance of organizational changes, leaders are to understand the importance of moving from control to empowerment.
Conclusion
Leading change is a hard process, which is to be based on strong leadership. Forces driving the need for significant reforms must not be regarded from negative perspectives, as they provide companies with a variety of beneficial opportunities. It is extremely important to fully engage employees in an organization in order to increase organizational effectiveness. Moreover, fully engaged employees are interested not only in short-term activities but also in long-term ones; therefore, they are ready to do their best to contribute to a company’s flourishing. Empowerment of employees is considered to be one of the key ways leaders are to follow.
References:
Daft, R. (2008). The Leadership Experience. Stamford, USA: Thomson Learning, Inc.
Hornstrup, C. (n.d.). Developing a Relational Approach to Strategic Leadership Communication. Brandeis.edu. Web.
Manns, M. (2007). Successful Strategies for Leading Change. Unca.edu. Web.