Introduction

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Task 1
1.1 Link between strategic management and leadership

Strategic Management is a collection of ongoing activities of strategic analysis, strategic

creation, implementation and monitoring. It organizes and allocate organization resources to
achieve organization vision and mission. Strategic management focus is to make the best
possible utilization of the organizations strength and opportunities in the external environment;
minimize weakness and strategize for the external threats. By formulating and implementing
appropriate strategies organization can achieve sustainable competitive advantages
Strategic management is a continuous process which involves
Evaluates and control the business and industry the organization is in
Competitor analysis
Set goals and strategies
Revaluate strategies in a regular basis for any adjustments
In other words, strategic management is to keep a close eye on goals and objectives of the
organization.
Strategic Leadership plays a crucial role to persuade others to work towards achieving
organizations vision and mission. Strategic leaders create organization structure, allocate
resources and express strategic vision to its next level. A strategic leader should possess the
ability to gain commitment from employees by influencing them in a way that make them to
contribute their best to achieve organization vision.
The main difference between a strategic manager and a strategic leader is a manager will
always believe in stability but a leader will always believe in change. A leader always has a
strategy and a manager has a plan which he executes (Kotter 1990)
Strategic managers should possess high technical and operational knowledge to execute in
their job responsibilities but a Strategic Leader will always have little knowledge about
everything ie not specialized in one area hence they use their skills to keep themselves
updated and achieve the organizations goals.
A perfect balance between the two should be maintained in an organization to drive success
in strategy implementation. A strategic leader who believes in the organization vision ang
guide the business towards success by way of developing clear systematic plans. Where as
a strategic manager is focused in setting, measuring and achieving goals to achieve the vision
set by strategic Leader. A strategic Leader is always seen as change agents as they have the
charismatic to get employees motivated involved in to the change process and Strategic
managers will ensure systems, structures and process are implemented to smooth the change
process.
In Mercury Asia a perfect link exist between the strategic Leader and the strategic managers.
The organization has come a long way achieving its vision under a strategic Leader. A strong
link is maintained between the leader and the management. This link is maintained with
frequent connection with the management team. The priority in the organization is to enhance
its service to the client within the group and always plan and work towards creating a value-
added service to its clients. Internal meetings, documented discussion points and structures
and policies are implemented by managers to ensure the productivity and achieve results.
Through touch base discussions and town hall meetings leader gets an opportunity to share
the vision of the organization to all employee and through her charismatic speech skills
employees are motivated to embrace change and do their best to enhance client service and
always thrive to their best to achieve organizations vision.

1.2 Impact of management and leadership styles on strategic

decisions

1.3 How leadership styles can be adapted to different situations

When setting up the Shared service operation in 2004, CEO was compelled to follow an
Autocratic leadership style purely due to the new business model and consent from the group
towards a shared service concept was not that positive. Shared service operation cannot leave
room for any mistake and efficiency and productivity was expected by the client at a very
higher level. Hence CEO played an Autocratic role at all time. CEO may not be the popular in
the organization due to his leadership style but the organization success among its
competitors is ensured. Due to his leadership style Mercury Asia was able to grab the 1st place
as the best shared service operation in South Asia for two consecutive years within 5 years of
commencement.
Following Autocratic leadership style created many employee related issues where high
employee turnover was recorded and organisation faced many human resource related issues
hence the pulse in the organization was negative and this was confirmed through employee
survey as well. In such situation CEO had to change his leadership style to give authority and
responsibility to employees making them a part of the organizations decision making. Such
instances were decided by the CEO taking in to consideration the impact to productivity.
Democratic leadership style helped managers to take decisions in their respective
departments and take initiatives on the efficiency improvements and the CEO is kept informed
of all such decisions on a weekly basis. In following democratic leadership style CEO first
ensured the management is experienced and skilled so they can perform at their best to meet
the expectation of the CEO.
Having changed from Autocratic leadership style to Democratic leadership style changed the
organization pulse to positive working environment increasing the employee satisfaction and
empowerment in participating to organization decision making. This improved the team spirit
in the organization and together organization achieved many milestones such as moving from
Finance operations to other process such as Human resource and Legal.

Task 2
2.1 Impact that the theories of management and Leadership have
on organizational strategy
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2.2 Leadership strategy that supports organisational direction

Task 3
3.1 Methods to review current leadership Requirements

3.2 Plan for the development of future situations requiring

leadership

Task 4

4.1 Development of leadership skills for a specific requirement

4.2 Usefulness of methods used to plan the development of

leadership skills