Strategic Leadership: A Necessary Core for Effective Growth - Research Paper Sample

Introduction

Strategic leadership involves the use of strategies in managing employees. Every organization needs proper strategic direction to maneuver through challenges and difficulties to achieve the required success. Therefore, strategic leadership should exist to assist in appropriate decision-making, guidance, planning, and team members’ organization to enhance effective progress and create a better future (Weems, 2010). The core composition of strategic leadership is necessary for the effective growth and development of a team. Any team’s vitality can be gauged by its vision, core competencies, expertise, organizational culture, ethical practices, and regulatory controls (Upeniaks et al., 2010). A team with these qualities is most likely to succeed in its endeavors. The paper will investigate how strategic leadership’s core components influence team vitality in an organization with positive behavior.

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Key Words

Strategic leadership, organization behavior, and human resources management

Research Questions

The research questions for this study are:

1. What are the core components of strategic leadership?
2. What is the influence of the core components of strategic leadership on team vitality?
3. Does strategic leadership enhance positive organizational behavior?

Research Objectives and Statement of Problem

Most organizations have teams that are weak and not motivated. The managers might sometimes see no need to worry too much about the operations of employees, leading to a rising failure registered as the outcome of negligence. When the organization finally fails to meet its expectations, the manager shifts the blame to employees for reluctance at work and finds ways to penalize the lazy and incompetent workers.

The following are the research objectives that the study will need to achieve:

1. The study will identify the core components of strategic leadership.
2. It will establish how the identified core composition of strategic leadership influences team vitality.
3. The study will also determine how strategic leadership affects organizational behavior.

Literature Review

Team vitality can be measured by gauging the energy and how active the team is. Members of the team need to be very active in executing tasks to ensure timely implementation of planned activities and achievement of objectives and outcomes (Cameron, 2012). Team vitality should be enhanced to improve the culture of collaboration among employees, boost team effectiveness, leverage the strengths of employees, and encourage calculated risk-taking that may lead to the success of the team. The move will increase workers’ cooperation and individual motivation in achieving the set goals.

Team vitality can be enhanced in various ways. The manager should ensure the purposeful hiring of employees to ensure only the right and competent ones are incorporated into the organization (Carter & Greer, 2013). The director, being the team leader, should always set a good example for employees to follow. Leading by being the example, is one of the most effective ways of enhancing team vitality by letting employees understand what is required of them by emulation. In numerous occasions, workers tend to emulate the leader than following the written directions (Bakker, 2017). Apart from that, a good leader should have effective communication skills to enhance the team’s proper guidance and control. Obtaining feedback from team members is another important way to improve the vitality of the group. It engages team members in the project and makes them feel part of it (Savolainen & Fresno, 2013). Moreover, involving employees in decision-making is necessary to enhance proper capacity-building, organizational citizenship, and adequate control over the team and its responsibilities.

Achieving vitality in a company requires the efforts of every worker. Other core requirements for the vitality of a team include motivation, purpose, unity, and determination (Kaiser et al., 2012). Every member of the organizational team needs to put exertions together to produce a stronger effort to drive the organization’s activities to achieve desired objectives and cause relevant impacts (Adair, 2010). The team’s vitality can be improved through the management’s dedicated consideration in handling what matters to the organization. The aim is to string employees together to cause a better understanding and unity among them, make them self-motivated, and enhance organizational citizenship. Besides, motivated members of the team are more productive than those with little or no motivation.

The core composition of strategic leadership is necessary for enhancing team vitality. There are some core components of strategic governance essential for promoting team vitality (Muthama, 2019). Strategic management provides the purpose that is simple and clear, and guiding team members to work towards achieving that purpose. A team without vision is as good as dead since the component guides the team members in their endeavors (Jamaluddin, 2010). Therefore, a strategic leader needs to provide proper guidance to team members to focus on the organizational goal. The manager needs to identify, exploit, and sustain the core competencies of employees to remain relevant to corporate activities and produce desirable results (Golensky & Hager, 2020). A strategic leader should engage in practices that aim to develop the organization’s human capital by improving employees’ skills and talents to make them better partners (Kaiser & Overfield, 2010). Promoting the talents of employees helps build their capacity to execute their tasks with desired expertise and experience. Capacity-building also boosts the confidence of employees, brings focus, and creates the determination for employees towards performing their duties appropriately.

Every team requires strategic leadership to sustain the desired organizational culture that is favorable for growth and development. The manager needs to instill behaviors and habits that improve team members’ character, helping them execute activities as required (Dragojevic et al., 2016). For example, a strategic team leader should promote ethical and professional codes of behavior that enhance proper service delivery. Ethical practices by team members determine whether the team will succeed or not (Erakovic & Jackson, 2012). Ethics regulate all forms of organization and control the achievement of objectives and results. They also enhance a proper balance of organizational controls to ensure everything is in order and under control (Dale et al., 2010). Ethics tame poor behaviors and align them to desirable paths leading to effective and efficient service delivery. Besides, they shape employees’ actions, enabling them to remain relevant to the organization’s goals and objectives. Through proper strategic leadership, employees can get guidance, motivation, and enhanced morale for performing tasks to achieve desired goals and objectives.

Significance of the Study

The study will enhance knowledge on the role of strategic leadership in team vitality. It improves understanding of core components of strategic direction, team vitality, and positive organizational behavior. The study will also provide the basis for further research on team vitality and strategic leadership in an organization.

Research Methodology

The study will utilize a qualitative methodology. Data will be gathered through review and analysis of relevant academic articles, books, library research, survey, historical documentaries, and evaluation and analysis of related websites. Sources of information will be gleaned carefully to ensure relevance and correctness. After that, important information will be culled in enriching the research findings and providing the required content to the research.

References

Adair, J. (2010). Strategic leadership: How to think and plan strategically and provide direction. Kogan Page Publishers.

Bakker, B. (2017). Strategic and proactive approaches to work engagement. Organizational Dynamics, 46(2), 67-75. https://www.isonderhouden.nl/doc/pdf/arnoldbakker/articles/articles_arnold_bakker_445.pdf

Cameron, K. (2012). Positive leadership: Strategies for extraordinary performance. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Carter, S. M., & Greer, C. R. (2013). Strategic leadership: Values, styles, and organizational performance. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 20(4), 375-393. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1548051812471724

Dale, A., Ling, C., & Newman, L. (2010). Community vitality: The role of community-level resilience adaptation and innovation in sustainable development. Sustainability, 2(1), 215-231. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/1/215

Dragojevic, M., Gasiorek, J., & Giles, H. (2016). Accommodative Strategies as Core of the Theory. In H. Giles (Ed.), Communication Accommodation Theory: Negotiating Personal Relationships and Social Identities across Contexts (pp. 36-59). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781316226537.003

Erakovic, L., & Jackson, B. (2012). Promoting leadership in governance and governance in leadership: Towards a supportive research agenda. In Understanding Organizations In Complex, Emergent And Uncertain Environments (pp. 68-83). Palgrave Macmillan. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137026088_4

Golensky, M., & Hager, M. A. (2020). Strategic leadership and management in nonprofit organizations: Theory and practice. Oxford University Press.

Jamaluddin, S. (2010). A Study on the effects of strategic leadership dimensions on organizational success [Doctoral dissertation, Aligarh Muslim University].

Kaiser, R. B., & Overfield, D. V. (2010). Assessing flexible leadership as a mastery of opposites. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 62(2), 105. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019987

Kaiser, R. B., McGinnis, J. L., & Overfield, D. V. (2012). The how and the what of leadership. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 64(2), 119. https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2012-18781-002

Muthama, E. K. (2019). Effect of Strategic leadership on employee loyalty in consulting firms: A Case of HP Gauff Ingenieure GMBH & Co. KG–JBG [Doctoral dissertation, United States International University-Africa].

Savolainen, T., & Fresno, P. L. (2013). Trust as intangible asset-enabling intellectual capital development by leadership for vitality and innovativeness. Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management, 11(3), 244.

Upenieks, V. V., Lee, E. A., Flanagan, M. E., & Doebbeling, B. N. (2010). Healthcare Team Vitality Instrument (HTVI): developing a tool assessing healthcare team functioning. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 66(1), 168-176. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2009.05137.x

Weems Jr, L. H. (2010). Church leadership: Vision, team, culture, and integrity. Abingdon Press.