Strategic
Leadership:
Creating a
Learning
Organization
and an Ethical
Organization
chapter 14
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Education .
Strategic Leadership
11-2
Consider…
To both create and implement proper
strategies, firms must have strong and
effective leadership.
What are the activities that leaders engage
in, and what practices and capabilities
enable leaders to be effective at sustaining
a competitive advantage for their firms?
To what degree does ethical leadership
matter?
Strategic Leadership
11-3
Leadership is the process of
transforming organizations from what
they are to what the leader would have
them become.
Successful leaders are
Proactive – dissatisfied with the status quo
Goal oriented – visualizing successful futures
Focused on the creation & implementation of
a creative vision – understanding the process
Strategic Leadership
11-4
Exhibit 11.1 Three Interdependent Leadership Activities
Strategic Leadership
11-5
Setting a direction requires the ability to
scan the environment for knowledge about
All stakeholders
Salient environmental trends & events
Then integrate that knowledge into a
strategic vision of what the organization
could become
A clear future direction
A framework for the firm’s mission & goals
Leading to enhanced employee
communication, participation, & commitment
Strategic Leadership
11-6
Designing the organization requires
building mechanisms to implement the
leader’s vision and strategies through
Structures & teams
Systems & processes
Lack of appropriate design could cause problems
Managers who don’t understand their
responsibilities
Reward systems that are not motivating
Inappropriate financial systems
Insufficient integrating mechanisms
Strategic Leadership
11-7
Nurturing an excellent and ethical
organizational culture is a key leadership
activity, requiring that managers & leaders
Accept personal responsibility for developing &
strengthening ethical behavior
Consistently demonstrate that such behavior is
central to the mission & vision of the firm
Develop & reinforce
Rolemodels
Corporate credos & codes of conduct
Reward & evaluation systems, policies &
procedures
Strategic Leadership:
Overcoming Barriers to
11-8
Change
Leaders must overcome barriers to
change
Organizations are prone to inertia, slow
to learn, adapt, & change because of
Systemic barriers
Behavioral barriers
Political barriers
Personal time constraints
Strategic Leadership:
11-9
Effective Use of Power
Leaders must make effective use of power
Influence other people’s behavior
Persuade them to do things they otherwise
would not do
Overcome resistance & opposition
Sources of power
Organizational bases of power
Legitimate, reward, coercive, information
Personal bases of power
Referent, expert
Strategic Leadership:
11-10
Effective Use of Power
Exhibit 11.2 A Leader’s Bases of Power
Strategic Leadership:
11-11
Emotional Intelligence
The valuable traits of successful leaders:
Technical skills – like accounting, operations
research
Cognitive abilities – like analytical
reasoning, quantitative analysis
Emotional intelligence – like self-
management, managing relationships with
others
Self-awareness,self regulation, motivation,
empathy, social skills
Strategic Leadership:
11-12
A Learning Organization
Successful learning organizations
Create a proactive, creative approach to the
unknown
Actively solicit the involvement of employees
at all levels
Enable all employees to use their intelligence
& apply their imagination
A learning environment involves
An organization-wide commitment to change
An action orientation, applicable tools &
methods
Strategic Leadership:
11-13
A Learning Organization
Successful learning organizations
empower employees at all levels
The leaders/managers roles involve
Becoming coaches, information providers,
teachers, decision-makers, facilitators,
supporters, or listeners
Soliciting individuals’ input, valuing others’
ideas & initiatives
Providing for trust, cultural control, &
expertise at all levels
Strategic Leadership:
11-14
A Learning Organization
Successful learning organizations
accumulate & share internal knowledge
The firm shares information:
Customer expectations & feedback
Financial information
Business goals
How key value-creating activities are related
to each other
The firm allocates rewards based on how
effectively employees use this information
Strategic Leadership:
11-15
A Learning Organization
Successful learning organizations
gather & integrate external information
Firms must recognize opportunities &
threats, both general & industry-specific
By using the Internet
By using trade journals & membership in
professional organizations
By doing both competitive & functional
benchmarking
By asking customers
Strategic Leadership:
11-16
A Learning Organization
Successful learning organizations
challenge the status quo & enable
creativity
Leaders must bring about useful change
Forcefully create a sense of urgency
Establish a “culture of dissent”
Foster a culture that encourages risk-taking
& learning from mistakes
Strategic Leadership:
Creating an Ethical
11-17
Organization
Ethics deals with right and wrong
Ethical beliefs come from religion, ethnic
heritage, family practices, community
standards, educational experiences, friends
& neighbors
Organizational ethics promote an
operating culture & determine acceptable
behavior
Ethical beliefs come from the values,
attitudes, & behavioral patterns of leadership
Strategic Leadership:
Creating an Ethical
11-18
Organization
The ethical orientation of the leader is
a key factor in promoting ethical behavior
Integrity & ethical values
Shape behaviors
Provide a common frame of reference
Act as a unifying force
Have a positive effect on employee
commitment & motivation to excel
Can create value & a competitive advantage
Strategic Leadership:
Creating an Ethical
11-19
Organization
Interrelated elements of a highly ethical
organization include
Ethical role models
Corporate credos & codes of conduct
Ethically-based reward & evaluation systems
Consistently enforced ethical policies &
procedures
Strategic Leadership:
Creating an Ethical
11-20
Organization
Ethical role models
Must be consistent in their words & deeds
Their values & character must become
transparent to an organization’s employees
They must take responsibility for ethical
lapses within the organization.
Strategic Leadership:
Creating an Ethical
11-21
Organization
codes of conduct
Provide a statement & guidelines for norms,
beliefs & decision-making
Provide employees with clear understanding
of the organization’s position regarding
behavior
Provide the basis for employees to refuse to
commit unethical acts
codes of conduct must be known to
employees
Strategic Leadership:
Creating an Ethical
11-22
Organization
Reward & evaluation systems can
either support or undermine an ethical
orientation
Undermines by rewarding results regardless
of how they were achieved
Intense competition encourages falsification of
scores