Discuss Conference Materials on Strategic Leadership
Expected Deliverables:
Respond to topic 1 (highlighted in step 2 below) in a one page discussion response. Use Centene Corporation as the organization
Respond to topic 2 (highlighted in step 2 below) in a one page discussion response. Use Centene Corporation as the organization
Use the attached Leadership conference notes attached to help write the discussion posts.
Step 1: Expand Your Knowledge of Strategic Leadership
Now that you’ve downloaded and tested Microsoft Project for the IT department, you’re all set to travel. You pack your bags for the Future Directions Conference and put up your out-of-office email response. After a smooth flight into Chicago, you catch a ride to the conference center to get settled.
The focus of the Future Directions Conference is strategic leadership, and you capture some notes from each presenter as you attend various sessions throughout the weekend.
Notes from Future Directions Conference—Chicago, IL (see attached)
Sarah Emerson, COO of Digital Blitz
Keynote: Why Leading is Strategy
Notes on strategic leadership
Jeffree Daily, Digital Strategist for Pyle Force
Session 1: Deep Roots: Theories and Research Still Apply
Notes on perspectives in leadership theory and research
Carson Sizemore, VP of Human Resources for Enterprise Today
Session 2: Spare Change
Notes on management of change and trust
Note on Resilience
Note on Circular Economy
Johanna Gillmont, President of Continental Shift
Session 3: Quite the Contrary
Notes on managing ambivalence
Jarrell Faust, Entrepreneur and Founder of SOURCE3
Session 4: Pulling in the Pieces
Notes on shared and distributed leadership
Catherine Condorro, Director of Leadership at Parsons Institute for Finance
Session 5: Connecting on Another Level
Notes on relational leadership
Nina Orenstein, Experience Engineer at Hefler-Miller Systems
Closing Keynote: Complicated Yet Sophisticated
Notes on complexity theory of leadership
The conference concludes and you are exhausted—there was a lot of information to digest. After the conference reception, you grab a bite to eat while reviewing your notes in depth. You know that the CEO, Jillian Best, expects you to not only report out on these materials, but also to discuss many of the highlights with your peers and other attendees from Maryland Creative Solutions, LLC.
Please review all materials in the links above and then proceed to the next step.
Step 2: Discuss Conference Materials
Your first day back in the office, Jillian Best has requested that you participate in an open discussion with your peers about some of the takeaways from the recent Future Directions Conference you attended in Chicago as well as your professional leadership experiences outside of the company. Now that you have returned to the office, it’s time to get the discussion underway.
Based on your reading, research, and analysis, respond to the two discussion questions below and adhere to Jillian’s discussion requirements:
Your two main postings, one each for topic 1 and topic 2, should be completed by the end of Week 1.
The titles of your two main postings should indicate the discussion topic number (e.g., #1, #2).
For the choice of your organization, please use Centene Corporation.
Discussion – Write one discussion page for each topic below. Use the attached leadership notes to help write your response to this discussion topics below.
Discuss the two topics listed below:
Discussion Topic 1: Drivers of Change
What are the major external and internal drivers of change in your organization?
Discussion Topic 2: Strategic Leadership
What is, or should be, the role of the strategic leadership in your organization to meet its performance objectives, develop a resilient organization and respond to the challenges of environment and sustainability
MBA 670: Strategic Decision Making
Project 1 Learning Topics
Strategic leadership is concerned with managing a company’s resources, including its strategy–making process, to create and sustain competitive advantage. An increased interest in strategic leadership reflects the need to understand how executives respond to rapid technological and social change and increasing international competition to lead their companies and outperform competition.
There are three important responsibilities for strategic leadership in an organization: (1) monitoring the external environment to identify threats and opportunities, (2) formulating strategy, and (3) implementing the strategy for the future prosperity of the organization. (Narayanan, Zane, & Kemerer, 2011; Porter, 1980).
The following guidelines are based on research and practitioner insights (Bennis & Nanus, 1985; Kotter, 1996; Nanus, 1992; Narayanan, Zane, & Kemerer, 2011; Wall & Wall, 1995; Worley, Hitchin, & Ross, 1996):
Determine long–term objectives and priorities.
Learn what clients and customers need and want.
Learn about the products and activities of competitors.
Assess current strengths and weaknesses.
Identify core competencies.
Evaluate the need for a major change in strategy.
Identify promising strategies.
Evaluate the likely outcomes of a strategy.
Involve other executives in selecting a strategy.
These guidelines focus on understanding the environment that determines need for strategic change, the performance determinants, and ways leaders can influence these performance determinants (Cannella & Monroe, 1997). “The theory and research on leadership has long recognized that effective leaders empower others to participate in the process of interpreting events, solving problems, and making decisions” (Argyris, 1964; Likert, 1967).
Events and industry trends are often not well defined. They pose multiple alternatives and choices.
Successful strategic leadership, therefore, requires ability to manage ambivalence and to give an organization a sense of direction. Leaders create a clear and compelling vision of where the organization should go, and energize people by eloquently communicating this vision to make it a part of the organization culture (Wesley & Mintzberg, 1989).
References
Argyris, C. (1964). Integrating the individual and the organization. New York: John Wiley.
Keynote: Why Leading is Strategy Strategic Leadership Expand Your Knowledge of Strategic Leadership
Bennis, W. G., & Nanus, B. (1985). Leaders: The strategies for taking charge. New York: Harper & Row.
Cannella, A. A., Jr., & Monroe, M. J. (1997). Contrasting perspectives on strategic leaders: Toward a more realistic view of top managers. Journal of Management, 23(3), 213–237.
Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Likert, R. (1967). The human organization: Its management and value. New York: McGraw–Hill.
Nanus, B. (1992). Visionary leadership: Creating a compelling sense of direction for your organization.
San Francisco: Jossey–Bass.
Narayanan, V. K., Zane, L. J., & Kemerer, B. (2011). The cognitive perspective in strategy: An integrative review. Journal of Management, 37, 305–351.
Porter, M. E. (1980). Competitive strategy. New York: Free Press.
Wall, S. J., & Wall, S. R. (1995). The new strategists: Creating leaders at all levels. New York: Free Press.
Worley, C. G., Hitchin, D. E., & Ross, W. L. (1996). Integrated strategic change: How OD builds competitive advantage. Reading, MA: Addison–Wesle
It can be useful to classify leadership theories according to the type of variables that are relevant for understanding leadership effectiveness. These variables include the following:
• characteristics of leaders
• characteristics of followers
• characteristics of the situation
Most leadership theories emphasize one category more than the others as the primary basis for explaining effective leadership. Over the past half–century, leader characteristics have been given the greatest emphasis.
Leadership theories are often classified into the following five approaches:
trait approach—Emphasizes attributes of leaders such as personality, motives, values, and skills.
behavior approach—Examines how managers cope with demands, constraints, and role conflicts in their jobs.
power–influence approach—Examines influence processes between leaders and other people. It takes a leader–centered perspective with an implicit assumption that causality is unidirectional (leaders act and followers react).
situational approach—Emphasizes the importance of contextual factors that influence leadership processes. Major situational variables include the characteristics of followers, the nature of the work performed by the leader’s unit, the type of organization, and the nature of the external environment.
integrative approach—Includes two or more types of leadership variables in the same study.
Another way to classify leadership theories is in terms of the “levels of conceptualization,” or the type of constructs used to describe leaders and their influence on others. Le adership can be described as the following:
Session 1: Deep Roots: Theories and Research Still Apply Perspectives in Leadership Theory and Research
