GB600: Leadership Strategies for a Changing World - Leadership Development Strategy - Assessment Asnwer

Leadership Assignment

Assignment Task

Based on your research into a company that you have chosen to analyse, outline, investigate and evaluate the current leadership strategy that the company is using to achieve its key strategic goals. You will need to research current theories and practices from literature as they relate to leadership. This research should be used to provide evidence that supports your evaluation and recommendations.

Your report should:

• Outline what is meant by a ‘leadership strategy’.
• Outline the core elements of a well-developed leadership strategy (e.g., talent acquisition, talent sustainability, leadership practices).
• Review the company’s business strategy and its implications for leadership requirements.
• Outline and describe a ‘leadership strategy’ that would support the company to achieve its strategic goals over the coming 5 years.

The report requires:

• The use of information from the selected organisation.
• The use of models/frameworks in the construction of a relevant leadership strategy.
• A range of references that should demonstrate breadth and depth of research.
• An ability to utilise the wider literature in constructing the framework for this assignment.
• The display of critical evaluation and diagnostic skills in the choice of the data included.
• The display of critical evaluation in the choice of the information sources used.
• Appropriate and accurate use of the Harvard Referencing System.

You must use a minimum of 20 references:

• Textbooks: The prescribed text and at least 6 other books.
• At least 8 academic journal articles (found using EBSCO, Emerald, ABI/Proquest, Science Direct, Informit, PsychInfo etc.).
• 3 other sources of your choice: Blog, newspaper, magazine or other Internet source.
• 1 + reference may be general Internet based sources.
• Wikipedia is not to be used and does not count as an academic reference.

Introduction

A "Leadership Strategy" represents company's leadership requirements, leaders from the different departments with skills, behavior and capabilities. All leaders are focused on the given role. Leadership strategy represents the strategy of an organization’s business stated goals, targets, leadership vision and global consideration. Leaders integrate their staff. Leaders show a task to the employees related to work (Tyssen et al., 2013). They help to the employees if they face problems. Leaders are representatives of their employees. The aim of preset assignment is to focus on leadership strategies for the changing world. For this purpose a company has been selected and the leadership strategy will be discussed in context to that particular company.

The company that has been selected for this purpose is Infosys. Infosys has established by N. R. Narayana and six engineers in Pune, India in the year 1981. Infosys is a NYSE listed company. Infosys provides global consulting and Information Technology service company. Infosys started the business with a capital of US $250, now they have grown to become US$ 9.75 billion (LTM Q1 FY 17 revenues) company with market capitalization of approximately US$ 41.0 billion (Infosys, 2016). The journey of over 30 years, Infosys has brings some of the significant changes that have begun to India's development as the global destination for software service talent. Infosys is the first IT company from India to be listed on NASDAQ. Infosys employee stock option program created India's first salaried millionaires.

Infosys has an expanding global presence team of 197000+ employees. Worldwide, Infosys has 85 sales and marketing offices and 114 development centers as at March 31, 2016. Also, Infosys beyond the business. Therefore, Infosys established Infosys Foundation for the up-liftment of the underprivileged community. Infosys policy is honest and ethical to all clients, partners and employees. In this manner the background of the company is very strong and it makes it important to understand its core elements and the business strategy. It will also be important to understand the implications of business strategy on leadership requirement.

Leadership Strategy and Infosys

A leadership strategy simply defines the leadership requirement of the company including the number of leaders and the levels at which these leaders shall be there in the organization. It also denotes the skills, capabilities and behaviors that the leaders shall possess. The leadership strategy addresses the alignment to the organization’s leadership vision, business goals, integration of leadership development, global consideration and other talent processes and they ultimately plan for the maintenance and sustainment of the strategy (Shim & Steers, 2012). Thus it comprises of using a well considered tactic so as to communicate the vision of the organization. Leadership strategy also involves motivating the staff t share the same vision as the company and it is also an important tool for implementing change in the organization. With the changes in the trends in the business it has become very important for the companies to have a leadership strategy so that they can integrate the vision of the company in a significant manner (Scott, ,2010). This further makes it significant for the leaders to share a positive vision in a clear and bold manner so that every stakeholder shall be aware of the long term objectives of the company and play a creative and positive role in achieving it.

Strategic leadership is the potential to influence the employees of the organization to persuade the vision of the organization. This term comprises of the long term activities in an organization. With the help of strategic leadership an organization can ring changes in an effective manner and along with that they can make those changes permanent in the organization (Raelin, 2011). This term is now replacing the conventional leadership practices in the companies. Previously the leadership was not connected with the goals of the organizations directly and it was not so much dynamic. But strategic leadership is a very dynamic term that results into development and growth of the organization in different manner. This is why the major objective behind leadership strategy is productivity. This intends towards enhancing the productivity at the workplace and fills a sense of responsibility among employees. The leadership strategy also aims to develop an environment in which the employees can forecast the needs of the organization within context to their own jobs. Strategic leadership thus encourages the employees to follow their own ideas and boost up creativity (Northhouse, 2013).This is due to the fact that strategic leadership makes use of incentives and rewards to a very great extent and due to that employees remain motivated.

In Infosys the strategic leadership is at its peak. The employees are motivated to propose new ideas and take initiatives. It also helps the company in increasing its productivity. As compared to the years 2002-05 the productivity in the company has been increased and this is because of the fact that the company has adopted strategic leadership. The company has various traits when it comes to discuss about the strategic leadership (Mountford, 2008). First of all the company had always made it a point to have a uniform culture. The culture of the company is dynamic and such that the employees are given a positive environment so that their productivity shall not get affected. Along with that the company also makes sure that every employee is aware about the vision of the company and they shall pursue this vision whatever the situation may be (Grint, 2005). The roles of leaders in the organization are also clear and due to that the employees are also controlled in a significant manner. The employees are controlled in such a manner that they are also given authority for decision making. In this manner the strategic leadership practices in Infosys are very strong. The few traits of strategic leaders in Infosys are keeping employees updated, loyalty, judicious use of power, motivation, wider perspective, social skills, self-control, compassion, self-awareness, articulacy, reliability and readiness to delegate and authorize. There are a number of core elements of well-developed leadership strategy such as talent acquisition, leadership practices and sustainability and all of them are discussed in detail in below sections (Northhouse, 2010).

The core elements of a well-developed leadership strategy

A well developed leadership strategy has various core elements such as sustainability, talent acquisition and leadership practices. Following is the description of all these core elements:

Talent acquisition

Every organization needs talented staff to run business easily. Therefore, leaders need to hire not only talented staff but also skilled staff. There are various steps in talent acquisition that makes it a well-developed leadership strategy. Honesty and Integrity are the part of the initial step of the strategic leadership’s core elements. Great leader creates a positive environment that brings positivity at working place. Therefore, employees work positively and strong culture in the organization (Gopee, 2014). Whenever, leader cues something followers accept and take it positively. It is also important to be trustworthy and polite. Effective leaders must be polite and trustworthy. They are always recognized as a telling truth and always follow the high level of ethical conduct. Good leaders admit their mistakes. Leaders should show interest in a company rather than personal gain. They hold themselves accountable for decision and actions and encourage the employees. Leaders always are transparent about the work, even share bad news with the employees because employees will know when something is going wrong (Glisson, 2015). Try to encourage the employees in any situation. This makes it very easy for a leader to acquire talent in the organization.

Figure 1: Talent acquisition framework

Source: (Glisson, 2015)

The talent acquisition framework denotes that there are various important tasks in it such as sourcing, selecting, hiring, on-boarding, etc. It shall be noted that if these tasks are performed efficiently then talent acquisition becomes effective and if these are performed effectively then it makes strategic leadership effective.

Another core element of well-developed leadership strategy is sustainability. It is very important for an organization to perform its functions in a sustainable manner (Fung, 2015). Sustainable practices denote that there is a proper balance among the three elements that are People, Planet and Profit. This makes it important for a leader to strike a proper balance among these three elements. A strategic leader is only successful in its agenda when he/she takes care of all these factors in a significant manner (Gallus & Frey, 2015). It is not only the production that a strategic leadership takes into consideration but it also have to look into People and planet aspects to be successful. This is why it has been argued by many researchers that sustainability is the core element of a well developed strategic leadership.

Leadership practices play a vital role in the well developed strategic leadership. There are a number of factors that are a part of leadership practices and its efficiency. It is argued by the researchers that leaders should be aware of themselves such as their weakness and strengths. No one is perfect if leaders act like they are perfect, they may lose creditability and trust. In the worst case, they will be seen as superior and intimidate. Good leaders seek and accept feedbacks and disagreeing (Campbell, 2011). Leaders are always encouraging and challenging traditional thinking. They urge to staff for health discussion and debates. And when they move a conversation forward, also they maintain their stress level because leaders respect all followers. Effective leaders practice servant style leadership, belief in co-workers and let them work in their way also provide a necessary resource to them. Therefore, co-workers give better performance. Moreover, not every time, the same situation in the organization needs different resources and it’s hard in crisis. But all time great leader handles any situation either is good or bad. Great leaders show compassion, show humanity and genuinely care about others. They are taking a time to listen to associates and their ideas and suggestions. It is also suggested by many researchers that great leaders do not just focus on the specific task, but they see the whole picture. They have extensive knowledge of the related industry or organization, and they are a strategic thinker (Booth, 2013). Leaders have a very strong network in the market; they know better how to come out from the problems. They have excellent communication skills and have a vision of future. Strong leaders understand the organization value and they know the target market/ customer. They determine to enhance core competency product of the company. Also, they always try to develop organization skills and capability they improve the company value in the market. Leaders are excellent at making the clear goal for the organization and provide excellent and clear support to subordinates to achieve organization target. To have courage requires confidence. Leaders are very confident with their work, in themselves and their idea. But they must be able to ooze that confident but without pride and bullying. This is the idea that is also proposed by various theories of leadership (Binney, 2005). In this manner leadership practices play a significant role in well-developed leadership strategy in an organization.

Review of the company’s business strategy and its implications for leadership requirements

The business strategy of Infosys is analyzed in detail and a number of implications have been found out so as to address leadership requirement in the company. It has been identified after reviewing the business strategy of Infosys that the leaders have strong power to handle stress and they are willing to take risks; even general wisdom would command otherwise. The business strategy of the company reveals that it is into digital offerings. The company has formulated its strategy so as to achieve competitive advantage in the market. The most significant part of the leadership strategy of the company is its focus on leadership thought. The company suggests that the leaders must be prepared to stand individually if they believe in their opinion. This is related to leader’s self-confidence, strategic thinking and visionary skills (Best, 2014). They also recognize when leaders need expertise or knowledge of others and are not afraid to admit it. This thought is further supported by the fact that the company focuses on making proper interaction with its customers, preparing organization for digital transformation and delivering value to the customers. These are the foundations of the business strategy of Infosys.

On the basis of the business strategy of the Infosys its leadership requirement are determined as under:

As per the business strategy the company needs various aspects of leadership on its place so as to achieve those strategies in a significant manner. These aspects are communication skills and team building.

Communication skills:

It shall be noted that the business strategy of Infosys is to marinating deep and regular interactions with their customers and for that the most significant aspect is communication skills. Great leaders do not have to be a good speaker or prominent writers. What leaders require, they must have excellent inspirational and persuasive communication. They shall have the ability together audiences with speech. They should leave a good influence on the followers (Barr & Dowding, 2012). If they cannot do it, they are not effective leaders. Good leaders are always truthful; they say to the followers whatever they have they, even bad news but they have persuasive communication skills. With all these specification the company will be able to achieve its strategic objectives of maintaining proper communication with its customers.

Team Building:

To work as per the strategic objectives of the company it is important to develop effective teams and manage them properly. Good leaders must have excellent team building skills. Every leader should know they cannot do anything alone. They always need a team that enhances the opportunity for success. They know they need a team with full of skill set, they need to be experienced and constantly bring new people that find out more than that they do. Leaders must understand. Always appreciate teamwork that brings unity in the group. As a team leader, leaders should be highly organized and should trust the team members for the given task (Austin, 2013). In this manner is will become easier for Infosys to pursue its business strategies with this.

Outlining the leadership strategy that would support the company to achieve strategic goals in next five years

The business practices review suggest that the strategic goals of Infosys are to enhance productivity and market share , build long term relations with customers and digitization. It is not easy task for an organization to achieve its long term strategic goals. This takes leadership strategy to support the company to achieve its strategic goals. The leadership strategy that would support the company in achieving these strategic goals in next five years is outlined below:

Development of strategic vision and mission:

A vision is the core of a leadership strategy and it is important for leaders to create vision so that he/she can support the company in achieving it strategic goals in long term. The leader will have to make sure that the vision and mission are developed efficiently and after its development it is also important to communicate this to all the stakeholders. This will help everyone in getting attached to the vision and mission of the company and this will further lead the company to work as per the strategic vision and mission (Arif, 2016). In this manner the achievement of its vision that is enhancing market growth rate will become easier and in the period of five years the company will be able to achieve that significantly.

Setting goals and objectives:

It is also important to set the goals and objectives for longer term if the company aspires to fulfill it till the longer period of time. The objective of the company is to increase its sales and this objective shall be communicated to all the employees. In fact the leader shall also take input from the employees so that the achievement of the objective shall become easier. It is also important for the leaders to provide positive environment to the employees so that the long term objectives of the company will be achieved significantly. This will further enable the company to focus on its single organized idea. This will also make employees working directly with the objective to pursue this idea with single minded attention.

Crafting a strategy:

After the development of vision, mission, goals and objectives of the company; to achieve strategic goals for five years is to craft strategies significantly. The company shall take into consideration the Porter’s five forces of competition to understand the overall scenario and then act as per that. This will also enable the employees to understand the dynamicity of the external environment forces and factors and thereby taking them into consideration. In this manner it will be very effective for the company to achieve its strategic objective for the period of next five years.

Implementing the strategy:

Implementation of the strategy also plays a vital role in the organizational strategies. After taking into consideration all the internal and external forces of competition the strategy shall be implemented (Alvesson & Spicer, 2012). This implementation will become successful because of strategic leadership and this will further help in achieving strategic objectives of the business.

Evaluating the strategy:

Evaluation is the last part of the strategic outline but it plays a vital role in the strategic objectives of the business. The company will have to make sure that it is evaluating its strategies from time –to-time and making desired changes as per the dynamicity of the external environment. With proper and continuous evaluation of the strategy the company will be able to achieve its long term objectives. Without proper evaluation framework it will not be possible to achieve its long term strategic objectives for Infosys. In this manner evaluation of strategy is also important for efficient achievement of long term strategic objectives.

Conclusion

The analysis suggests that leadership strategies have become integral part of an organization. The review of Infosys’ business strategy also reveals that strategic leadership is required for achievement of long term objectives. In this manner the strategic leadership is very significant and effective in terms of strategic goals.