Leadership in Business: Legal, Ethical, and Strategic Concerns

This report delves into the multifaceted aspects of leadership within a business context, examining the distinct roles of leaders and managers. It meticulously analyzes a case study, identifying and addressing legal, ethical, and strategic concerns that arose during a meeting of subsidiary managers. The report highlights the importance of fostering equal participation, establishing clear agendas, and promoting effective cross-cultural communication. Recommendations are provided, focusing on leadership styles, conflict resolution strategies, and the development of teamwork. The analysis underscores the significance of positive communication, fostering unity, empowering employees, and practicing active listening. Furthermore, the report emphasizes the need for conflict resolution through constructive dialogue and the creation of common ground, while also underscoring the role of leaders in building cohesive teams through clear communication, defined roles, and recognition of individual strengths.

Running head: LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Leadership and management duties:......................................................................................2
Response for the issues:.........................................................................................................3
a. Legal concerns.............................................................................................................3
b. Ethical concerns..........................................................................................................4
c. Strategic concerns........................................................................................................5
Recommendations......................................................................................................................6
a. Leadership style, behaviour and attitude:...........................................................................6
b. Conflict Resolution:...........................................................................................................7
c. Developing Teamwork:......................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The tendency of praising the achievements and driving people for fulfilling the
objectives of employees/team members is known as leadership. Leadership roles direct the
collaborative skill set for accomplishing the desired result. It reflects the capacity of
achieving challenging goals for facilitating effective outcome (Anderson and Sun 2017). The
skills required by an efficient leader are skills of thinking strategically, constructing and
delivering skills, people or human resource management skills, innovation and change
management skills, communication skills and influencing skills (Bernheim and Bodoh-Creed
2017). The purpose of the paper is to understand understand the duties of a leader in
comparison to a manager by reflecting the legal, ethical and strategic concern identified in the
case study, ‘a meeting of minds?’. In the paper, recommendations for the issues of the whole
meeting will be presented in regards with the leadership behaviour, style and attitude, the
aspects of conflict resolution and the strategies for developing teamwork. The paper will be
concluded by priesting a summary of the identified concerns in relation to the situation of the
case study followed by the summary of the major recommended solutions.
Discussion
Leadership and management duties:
The main contrasting roles between a manager and a leader are leadership roles
constructs vision whereas management roles set goals. Leadership roles adopt risks,
management control risks. Leadership roles are known for creating or developing skills and
management operates with the existing proven competencies.
The first leadership duty faced by the leader in the case study was to inspire the two
subsidiary managers for harmonizing the decisions of the two parties. On the other hand,

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management duties comprised of the management of the two teams of key managers for the
meeting. The leadership duties included the capacity of creating a long-term vision for the
subsidiaries whereas the management duties were to communicate the aims and objectives of
the meeting. The leadership duty was to integrate the competencies of the tow subsidiaries
whereas the management duties involved the understanding of the existing competencies.
Leadership duties were to engage every individual present in the meeting room whereas
management duties comprised of the development of the understanding of the issues
concerning the subsidiaries. The leadership duties also included the practice of feedback
system for understanding the deduced thoughts of the meeting whereas the management
duties were to control the risks.
Response for the issues:
a. Legal concerns
One of the legal concerns identified in the case was the dominance of one of the
subsidiaries rather the participation of both the parties. The Managing Director should have
ensured equal opportunity of participation of both the parties rather than just hearing from the
Italians. The Managing director should have participated in the discussion of the meeting for
ensuring the acceptance of the requests of Lithuanians, which was regarding participation in
the meeting. Another legal concern was the absence of a detailed agenda for the meeting. The
Managing Director should have ensured a proper and comprehensive agenda for conduction
of the meeting for facilitation of an efficient and effective meeting. The cross-subsidiary
integration on a common platform for the meeting marked the need for a well-planned agenda
and procedures for categorizing the topics that is to be discussed in the meeting and to ensure
the equal participation. The incorporation of legal policies and regulation for the meeting will
act an effective response for facilitating equal opportunity for participant participation. The
Managing Director should control the risks of conflict from any of the two subsidiaries and

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by communicating the organizational policies and phases of the meeting for a comprehensive
and fair outcome. The Managing Director can respond to the legal concerns by ensuring the
alignment of the set objectives and actual discussion as well as developing the understanding
of cross-cultural communication. The procedure and policies by the Managing Director
should include the inclusion and equal participation policy, well-established agenda for the
meeting, constructive discussion of the decided are of business and a clear picture of a motion
for a deduced argument.
b. Ethical concerns
One of the major ethical issues identified in the case study was the partial gesture of the
Managing Director who preferred communicating the aims and objective of the meeting to
the Italian subsidiary. Moreover, the lack of a properly structured agenda was another ethical
concern as it led to the outcome of disorganized discussion. The main objective of the
meeting was to present a common platform for the two subsidiaries for understanding the
operational practices and to harmonize the decisions of their key manager for a constructive
operation strategy. For harmonizing the decisions of the two organization owned subsidiaries,
the Managing Director could respond to the concern by constructing an inclusive agenda,
which can ensure equal opportunities for the participants. Another ethical issues which needs
a response is accepting the dominance of one of the subsidiaries and disrespecting the request
of other subsidiary. The Managing Director can respond to the concern by reflecting an
effective and significant participation of the participants. The Managing director should
respond to the situation by eliminating the sense of dominance among the key members of
the Italian subsidiary. Another response can be the facilitation of equal opportunity. Fair
opportunity for participation and engagement can act as a best response by the Managing
Director for the ethical concerns. The Managing Director for resolving the disagreement of
dominating practices should utilize dispute management techniques.

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c. Strategic concerns
One of the major strategic concerns identified in the case was the disorganization of the
meeting discussion, which can be structured by the incorporation of a proper strategic
structure of the meeting. The strategy of integrating the business decisions of the two
subsidiary business can effectively be implemented by the an ice breaking session in which
equal opportunity for participation will allow the businesses to understand each other’s role
in regards with the organization as well as the session can introduce the strategies and
practices of the operational functions of the subsidiaries. The ice breaking session can allow
the Managing Director to deduce a comprehensive outcome of the issues and strategies in the
two subsidiaries. Understanding the difference through the learning of cross-cultural
communication. Understanding the role and function of each of the subsidiary helps
developing respect and transparency for facilitating communication. Another strategic
response can be the constructive use of the deduced feedback from both the subsidiaries as it
will bridge the gap of the miscommunication as well as the Managing director should
incorporate a session in the meeting which can develop the understanding of the strategies
adopted in the functional areas of the organization as it will contribute towards the alignment
of the Lithuanians’ strategies and organizational objective (Appelbaum et al. 2015). The
strategic response of the Managing Director can be designed by considering the policy of
inclusion, construction of a well-planned and comprehensive meeting agenda where both the
team has the opportunity for participating and interacting with each other on the base of the
strategic implementation in their functional areas (Sayles 2017). The strategic plan must
include the communication of the main objective of the meeting and organizational
objectives, which can be discussed in the meeting along with the individual subsidiary
concerns. The strategic response should be concentrating on the smooth and constructive
flow of the meeting.

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Recommendations
a. Leadership style, behaviour and attitude:
Communication- Positive and constructive communication, in this case before the
initiation of the meeting will transform the state after the meeting. This will act as the
most significant influencer for the organization in developing the sense of trust and
transparency (Covelli and Mason 2017).
Unity- Developing the sense of unity between the two subsidiaries will result in the
formation of empathy for each other and will facilitate the practice of participant
engagement (Maamari and Majdalani 2017).
Empower- Empowering the subsidiaries by communicating the organizational
objectives and expectations from the meeting will be beneficial for the flow and
content of the meeting (Ghasabeh, Soosay and Reaiche 2015).
Responsibility and accountability- Managing Director will have to take the
responsibility for constructive discussion and effective outcome of the meeting.
Ensuring an effective ice breaking session and smooth flow of knowledge about the
operational strategies are the best practices for the Managing Director.
Listening skills is another constructive practice of leadership style, which can
encourage member participation and reflects empathy (Bush, Bell and Middlewood
2019).
Self awareness- The leader, Managing Director needs to develop the skills of self-
awareness, which will direct the way towards people handling and integrating
managerial practices from two different regions (Lord et al. 2017).
Relational transparency will help with a clear philosophy with leadership style.
(Northouse 2018).

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b. Conflict Resolution:
One of the most significant ways of conflict resolution is encouraging or practicing
conversation practices based on goal or objective (Currie et al. 2017).
Creating a common space for conversation with open channels for addressing conflict
Communicating the takeaways from the meeting and applying the positive aspects of
the meeting will reduce the effect of conflict.
In the meeting encouraging the team members to direct their focus on the behavioural
aspects rather than the personality of the individual will contribute towards the
constructive discussion.
Viewing conflict as an opportunity to address the suppressed concerns of the two
subsidiaries, which help in strategizing the integration in a better way (Oeij, Rus and
Pot 2017).
Communication is the key for resolving conflict in any circumstances as it helps in
eliminating misunderstanding and understanding the effects of disagreement (Lewin
et al. 2016).
The managing Director should understand and respect the differences of the two
subsidiaries for the development of a constructive agenda for the future meetings
(Wallensteen 2018).
Listening and providing guidance for clarifying the differences between two
subsidiaries will contribute positive towards the accomplishment of the set goals and
objectives.
c. Developing Teamwork:
The role of the leader is very significant in the process of building a team as the leader
can present a common platform for interaction and trust building exercise.

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Communication- It is a commonly used tool for the facilitation of various skills in the
workplace, in development of teamwork, communication helps in building trust and
empathy for members in the team. Effective communication for ensuring teamwork
will have to be clear with listening skills and with the practice of collaboration.
Setting rules and regulations for establishing teamwork can present a boundary or
base for range of work activities, which is to be performed (Reuter, Berndt and Timm
2017).
Clarifying the objectives, purpose and team roles will contribute towards the
construction of efficient teamwork and will help in integrating the goals of the two
subsidiaries with the organizational objectives.
Recognizing good performance and rewarding team member or the whole team can be
beneficial for building the trust, confidence and will help directing the combined team
efforts towards the desired or expected outcome (Ritter et al. 2018).
Focussing on the strengths of each team member rather than judging on the basis of
inflexible criteria will extract the hidden competencies and develop the sense of
belongingness in the team.
Accepting differences act as tool for developing teamwork as it helps in respecting the
existing competencies of the individual team members.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that structuring a well-planned and detailed agenda is
very important for the conduction of a business meeting. The Managing Director needs to
understand the separate duties of leadership and managerial actions for accomplishing the
purpose of integrating strategic decisions of both the subsidiaries. The leadership and
managerial duties includes building trust and respect between the two parties, communicating
the goals, objectives and expectations before the meeting, reflecting a long-term mission for

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the integration by aligning it with the aims of the subsidiary as well as most significantly,
encouraging and incorporating the practice of equal opportunities for enabling maximum
member participation. The paper also presented various recommendations for the concerns
regarding leadership style and behaviour, conflict resolution and suggestions for developing
teamwork. The recommendations includes, effective communication practices, empowering
team members, building unity, understanding the role of a leader, clarifying the expectations,
goals, objectives and roles effectively as well as focussing on the strength of individual team
members.

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