Strategic Leadership and Practice Doc

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
AND PRACTICE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Overview.....................................................................................................................................3
Autonomy of leadership..............................................................................................................4
Role of leadership and its importance in an organization...........................................................4
Different types of leaders in top management team....................................................................5
Characteristics of top management team....................................................................................6
Principles of leadership in an organization.................................................................................8
Theories of decision making.......................................................................................................8
Importance of strategic leaders in strategic decision making process........................................9
Ways Strategic organizational leadership influence strategic decision making process............9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Strategic leadership can be defined as strategy utilization in management of employees.
In other words it is a potential to influence other members of the organization in order to execute
any changes in the organization. Such type of strategic leaders allocate resources, create
organizational structures, express their strategic visions. The main objective of strategic leaders
is strategic productivity (Simsek & et.al, 2015). That mainly aim on development of an
environment in which forecasting of organization's employees needs with respect to their jobs.
These type of leaders encourage employees so that they can follow their ideas and help the
organization in achievement of targeted goal and objectives. This essay will focus on autonomy
of top management team and their characteristics within an organization. In this, characteristics
of top management team with their characteristics and leadership style are discussed and the way
it will influence strategic decision masking process. All such things will be explained with the
help of all the relevant theories. Company chosen for this essay is Afia international Company
which produces edible ghee or oils. They are a company of more than 60 employees with
headquarters mainly located in Saudi Arabia.
MAIN BODY
Overview
Leadership is way an individual think, act, take decision in order to contribute for
something extraordinary to happen. Leaders by default have an ability to take decisions using
their knowledge, skills etc. for something unique to happen. Leaders create an inspiring version
of themselves for others so that they get inspired, motivated and engage themselves for
achievement of a target. Leaders not only take decisions and inspire others in fact they lead
others in order to achieve goals or objectives (Mayfield, Mayfield & Sharbrough, 2015). Mostly
leaders create a vision, lead a team, guide them in order to achieve the targeted goal, objective or
vision and take all the necessary decisions required for the achievement of the target.
Strategic leadership can be defined as a way in which a manager can develop strategic
vision for taking strategic decisions and can motivate others for perusing and acquiring the
desired goal and vision. Strategic leadership can also help in utilizing all the strategies in
management of employees.

Autonomy of leadership
Autonomy of leadership can be explained with the help of its dimensions. There are
various dimensions of leadership but three of them are the main, which are:
Personal leadership: Personal leadership can be defined as the leadership in self. It is an
ability of a leader that defines the direction of leadership and life, so that leaders can move in
that direction with more clarity and consistency. It is extremely important to practice personal
leadership by applying all the principles of leadership. This will help the leader to make business
successful. This will help the leader to take needful strategic decisions which will inspire others.
It is said that in order to lead and organize a team one need to lead and organize themselves first.
Accountability leadership: When leaders take accountability personally, they readily
answer outcomes of their choice, behaviour and actions in every situation. Accountable leaders
do not blame others whenever things goes wrong in fact they try to make things right by fixing
things. Accountability always goes beyond an individual's decisions and actions. Accountable
leaders always owns the ownership of their teams performance by taking all the responsibility
and administrating their performance. Accountable leaders play a major role in running a
successful business only if they are honest with their subordinates, voluntarily take responsibility
of their actions and not avoiding them, as well as by seek input from other leaders.
Organizational strategic leadership: this leadership is mostly seen at the top of the
hierarchy i.e. mostly in top management team as they define the direction of business that will be
taken by the organization. These type of leaders engage all the employees of an organization.
Strategic leaders have a different approach that impacts the vision and direction of organization's
growth. Such type of leaders always need to deal with all the changes in the organizations with
all the required knowledge, skills and tools required for implementation and formation of
strategies. They play a major role in strategic decision making process as they need to consider
all the changes according to the situation.
Role of leadership and its importance in an organization
Leaders are one of the most important part of an organization as they help in achievement
of targeted goals and objectives. They have a main role in management in an organization so that
all the employees can utilize all of their skills, maximize their efficiency and help the
organization in achievement of their targeted goals and objectives. Leaders in an organization are
very important as they play a major role in success of an organization in various ways such as: