Leadership and Organizational Purpose

Running Head: Organizational Purpose

Leadership and Organizational Purpose

Jasmine Graham

Business internship 1

Albany state University

9/9/2017

Abstract

Today’s economy is an extremely active. With the growth and expansion of technology the diversity of workplace and variety of skills, companies have begun focusing more and more on the importance of strategic management theory.  Leadership and organizational purpose, two aspects of strategic management theory, are directly linked to a company’s organization.  Today’s business leaders strive to have strategic perspective in order to realize how an organization’s purpose must be flexible and easily adaptive.

Leadership and Organizational Purpose

        In order to successfully run a company, managers must develop and define a strategy for achieving the company’s goals.  A manager’s strategy cannot focus on the short-term.  Today’s economy is full of fierce competition; therefore, business leaders need to develop moves and approaches that will allow them to rise above the competition.

Strategic Management Theory entails various concerns that business leaders must take into account in order to remain competitive far into the future.  Strong strategic management “entails managerial choices among alternatives and signals organizational commitment to specific markets, competitive approaches, and ways of operating” (Thompson).  

The alternatives facing business leaders cover a number of main topics within strategic management.  These topics include “strategic resource allocation; organization structure; leadership; entrepreneurship and organizational purpose; methods and techniques for evaluating and understanding competitive, technological, social, and political environments; planning processes; and strategic decision processes” (jstor.org).

Obviously, a company’s managers must take many factors into account in order to be successful.  Because of this, the leadership ability of those managers is the most critical factor in a company’s success.  A strong leader will be able to take the various factors of strategic management theory and provide various key products.  These key products are as follows: a strategic vision of the company’s future; objectives; a strategy to achieve the desired outcomes, to implement and to execute the chosen strategy efficiently and effectively; and evaluate performance and initiate corrective adjustments in vision and/or long-term direction objective (Thompson).  

The first product is the cornerstone to success.  Strategic vision, i.e. organizational purpose, establishes the reason for the company’s very existence.  Defining organizational purpose defines success.  

        First, it is important to define the elements of a strong business leader.  In today’s business world, “strong” has taken on a new approach.  In order to influence people towards the company’s vision, a strong business leader needs to be able to skillfully perform a number of actions.  These actions include focusing on meeting the needs of others, developing employees to bring out the best in them, coaching others and encourage their self-expression, facilitating personal growth in all who work with them, being good listeners, and being able to build a sense of community (Leaders Direct).

        Understanding the difference between a manager and a leader will help improve the company’s personnel as well.  “Leaders determine direction, managers execute it. Determining new directions often requires boat-rocking single mindedness” (Leaders Direct).  That single mindedness is constantly focused on doing whatever is necessary – helping people, listening to people – in order to reach the strategic vision.  Being single minded about guiding a company towards that vision constantly challenged a strong leader to increase achievement and effectiveness.

It is this effectiveness that links the importance of a strong leader with the importance of defining the organizational purpose.  Warren Bennis stated that “Effective leaders bring passion, perspective, and significance to the process of defining organizational purpose.”  Bennis goes on to explain that “one starts with passion; perspective is harder to come by -- but is essential in a world of rapid change. For most people in organizations, the question is not only what happens next, but what happens after what happens next.”  Today’s businesses struggle in a fluid economy that creates a ‘fog of reality.’  “Because the fog of reality is so pervasive, constituents want not just a vision of where we're heading but also where they've been and where they are now. People want leaders to provide context” (Bennis).