Strategic Leadership, Culture and Ethics in Organizations - Research Summary and Analysis

Task 1: Differences between Strategic Management and Strategic Leadership

You are a senior manager in a business unit of a medium sized enterprise, with functional management and organisational leadership responsibilities.  

Please select and research an organisation of your choice to identify its culture, values, ethics and legal and regulatory commitments. Provide brief details of your research in a summary of between 200 and 250 words, this should not be counted towards the suggested word count. Use the results of your research to answer the tasks below.  

Task 1

Define “strategic leadership” and “strategic management”. Evaluate the key differences between the two responsibilities.  

Discuss the proportion of a senior manager’s time that might be spent on each responsibility, and identify some of the conflicts that may arise.  Compare and contrast different approaches taken to managing these dual responsibilities, by means of at least three illustrative examples.  

Provide an objective critique of the impact individual personalities can have on the approach taken to management and leadership. You may use work based examples and external examples to support your answer.

Task 2

Complete an analysis of the culture and values of your organisation or an organisation of your choice, using a recognised management model.  From your conclusions, discuss the impact culture and values have on strategic leadership in the organisation.

Task 3

Identify the major legal, regulatory and ethical requirements to which your organisation or an organisation of your choice is subject.  Discuss how these requirements impact on strategic leadership in the organisation.

Task 4

Looking at the external environment, identify current and emerging social concerns and expectations.  Determine and justify which are the most significant to your organisation, or the organisation of your choice, and evaluate the effect these are likely to have on strategic leadership, making your rationale very clear and showing both the positive and negative connotations of the external forces identified.

Task 5

Evaluate at least three different theories on leadership styles, explaining with well supported argument what the benefits and drawbacks are to each of your selected styles.

Use at least two practical examples, supported with independent research, to discuss leadership styles being adapted in different situations, evaluating the impact on the organisation, and on its strategic decisions, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of different leadership styles.

Task 6

Describe what is meant by the term ‘leadership strategy’. Discuss two differing leadership strategies and analyse their merits.  Identify the type of internal or external situations that might cause an organisation to re-evaluate and change its leadership strategy.  

Taking a practical example of a leadership strategy from your organisation or an organisation of your choice, analyse how this strategy has supported organisational direction.