Identifying Themes and Concerns to Support Strategic

**Topic: Assignment Two – Identifying Themes and Concerns to Support Strategic Direction: a paper for the attention of the Board of Directors: Lectures Three, Four, and Five**

Introduction

Strategic decision-making has been profoundly associated with distinct themes in the lectures. The first theme that has been explored is the significance of leadership qualities in dealing with unprecedented situations. This helps determine the argument for the recruitment of leaders with experience in dealing with adversity. Business leaders are responsible for guiding the strategic direction of their respective enterprises and hence they must be equipped with significant competencies such as communication, adaptability, and flexibility which help in accomplishing unique advantages in a specific scenario (Daft, 2014).

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Theme of Leadership

The theme of leadership qualities in the context of determining the strategic direction of an enterprise could also be reviewed from a critical perspective to apprehend its significance for graduates searching for employment opportunities in the existing labor market. The theme is also reflective of the requirement of dynamic leadership approaches to address contemporary business issues (Foss & Hallberg, 2014, p. 905).

Another theme that has been prominently discussed in the lectures refers to strategic navigation’s superiority over strategic planning. Strategic planning is possible when leaders are informed of the situation and the available resources and competencies that can be applied to accomplishing objectives (Reymen et al., 2015, p. 352). However, the efficiency of strategic planning is realized completely only in the case of short-term and predefined objectives. On the contrary, strategic navigation is a viable opportunity for leaders to identify novel opportunities in the modern business environment and prepare a vision for the long-term growth of the organization.

Exploring ideas is also identified as a profound theme in the lectures which could contribute to the strategic direction of an enterprise. Leadership and management of an organization should provide and nurture facilities for encouraging creativity among employees. Furthermore, leaders have to move beyond the conventional organizational frameworks to adopt creative alternatives.

The report has illustrated these themes identified from the lectures from a critical perspective alongside presenting arguments for the board to consider changes in strategic direction.

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Assessment of leadership qualities

According to Rosenbaum et al, the board must emphasize the argument that individuals with a long-term orientation are capable of serving the roles of leaders. First of all, organizations have to understand the significance of unique competencies in individuals to address the issues that are profoundly observed in the present-day business environment.

It is imperative to notice that individuals with distinct competencies such as communication in a second language, the purpose of leadership, and a prolific story to communicate to the employees. Understanding the requirement of potential candidates as leaders through external and internal recruitment has to be implemented by the board through apprehension of the traits of an individual and experiences of dealing with adverse scenarios (Rosenbaum et al., 2015).

Leaders must be able to sell themselves to deal with the present-day business issues which could enable employees to connect with the leaders. Leadership competencies are generally dependent on the primary attributes of attitude, beliefs, and confidence.

Furthermore, the capabilities of candidates to explore adverse scenarios by establishing the notable elements of problem resolution such as situation description, estimation of tasks to be completed, the intended action or strategy, and the outcomes which are derived from the action shall be considered by the board for appointing leaders (Schwenk, 1995, p. 480). Leaders must be capable of communicating adversity stories to employees which would make the employees realize that the leader is inherently associated with the organization and thereby depicts higher employee engagement.

Thereby one profound argument that can be placed on the board, in this case, is to introduce reforms in the existing recruitment and selection criteria for leaders while inducing training and development programs. However, the consideration of generic criteria for hiring leaders by the organization’s management can be indicative of a common job description that depicts the precise skill requirements from leaders such as communication, proficiency in multiple languages, and behavioral traits for flexibility.

Adversity stories presented by leaders are accountable for motivation among employees to address the issues. Leaders have to convince the senior management about their intentions to solve specific business issues alongside evaluating the resources required specifically for the same purpose (Tseng & Hung, 2014, p. 320).

An illustration of a personal perspective on this theme could be reflective of the role of competencies in the present labor market and is superior to other requirements such as academic qualification. The analysis of the theme provides a plausible insight for the board to interpret leadership competencies and their subsequent effect on the strategic direction of an enterprise.

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Significance of strategic navigation

Entrepreneurial initiatives have been considerably influential in the transformation of the global business environment and many observations from case studies and examples, as well as literary research, suggest the proliferation of unconventional solutions to emerging business issues in the world. Strategic planning is largely concerned with the acquisition of available information and thereby implements decision making especially for resource allocation.

However, such approaches could be successful only if leaders are informed of the situation and have information and resources to address the issue. On the contrary, strategic navigation is preferred in the existing dynamic industry since it is directed towards the identification of flexible opportunities that could be utilized for garnering a competitive advantage. Strategic navigation has been noted as a formidable trait in the case of entrepreneurs and innovators who can utilize navigation as a resource to obtain benefits for social causes alongside ensuring personal returns.

As per Quinn, the general characteristic of entrepreneurs is observed in the intellect which could be utilized by them to explore opportunities based on reason. The board would have to consider the notable argument that the stagnancy of an organization could lead to inefficiency in tackling modern business issues in the real world (Quinn, 2015, p. 11). The specific aspects that are considered by leaders in the conventional framework refer to strategy as a stepping stone. Strategies are made for organizations to deal with specific situations or to accomplish predefined organizational objectives.

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Hence accomplishing the feasibility of a single strategy is followed by the need for another strategy and planning would only make things worse for leaders trying to resolve business issues. Even if short-term objectives are mandatory for an organization to cater to its basic vision and purpose, the significance of a long-term orientation leads to the requirement of the strategic direction of an organization. The identified theme of strategic navigation has a profound impact on the concerns for strategic direction.

As per Tseng & Hung, the board of the company must understand the underlying implications of truth and intuition and the reflective equilibrium that is required to ensure a prolific approach to decision-making. The explanation of the factors leading to modifications in decision-making approaches such as reason-based truth, evidence or experience-based truth, intuition, and imagination (Tseng & Hung, 2014).

The effectiveness of decisions implemented by leaders in response to contemporary business issues is subject to sustaining a balance between intuition and evidence and fact and beliefs. The board has to apprehend that the distinct variations in leadership styles and competencies could be associated with the different perceptions of truth such as innate truth, infused truth, and acquired truth. The innate truth is associated with the information which is hardwired in human psychology.

The infused truth is obtained through societal influences while the acquired truth is observed through exposure to specific scenarios. These perceptions of truth are complemented by the different components of the operational context of an organization. The leaders are responsible for integrating truth with the story, beliefs, vision, and purpose to deliver a plausible resolution of the observed issues (Stepanova, Sotnikova & Nazarov, 2015). Strategic navigators are inclined to notice different patterns in the business environment and processes to gain a lucid impression of the potential challenges that leaders could encounter in the future. The board of the company must look for an effective monitoring scheme to ensure that leaders are substantiating their roles as business leaders characterized by compliance with values and norms of operation.

Leaders should be capable of introducing novel platforms for employees to realize openness and contribute formidable ideas for the resolution of emerging problems. Reflection on the individual people and their personal experiences is also noticed as a viable recommendation for the organization’s board as it would enable the prospects for increased involvement of people in the organization subsequently leading to the development of possibility thinking. Possibility thinking can be accounted for as an underlying element of strategic navigation and its efficiency is observed in the derivation of numerous potential recommendations to resolve single business management issues (Rosenbaum et al., 2015). Reflections on the literature about change management could also provide necessary inputs for resolving business issues. Leadership roles have to be moderated based on the specific situations and the decision-making approaches in distinct roles are differentiated based on the perception of truth by leaders.

Leaders have to be able to understand the vision and purpose since they have to provide precise objectives for employees and thereby accomplish strategic objectives. Formulation of questions and reflection on personal knowledge as well as experiences of other individuals could lead to refinement of the measures and encouragement of creative solutions to issues. A critical perspective on this theme would indicate that decision-making has to be expanded beyond the limits of conventional approaches.

The major disadvantage of conventional decision-making approaches is noted in the ability of organizations to resolve short-term objectives and accomplish stability. On the contrary, exploration allows the opportunity for leaders to obtain reasonable insights into the dynamic nature of the business environment and acquire the involvement of employees to suggest promising recommendations for resolving business issues.

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Scope for creativity in leadership

The theme of creativity has to be considered by the board as a significant addition to the decision-making approach of leaders for dealing with strategic issues. Traditional frameworks of business management have specified distinct courses of action and approaches to solving the real-world business issues observed predominantly. Conversion of the different disciplinary domains into rigid curriculums has also led to the inhibition of the creative abilities of leaders (Reymen et al., 2015). The board should emphasize the argument that creativity is a formidable contributor to the competencies of leaders.

First of all, creativity allows the precise identification of problems and the most reasonable approach to resolving them. The approach for the problem-solving process is determined through consideration of the essential facets such as a situational description of the problem and the various possibilities which could be applied in the case of the identified problem. The evolution of the business environment has led to the proliferation of numerous complexities in the issues faced by organizations. Primary examples of cultural changes, diversification, and technological advancements are suggestive of the complexities faced by leaders.

Therefore reliance on creativity and encouraging employees to contribute to the vision of the organization could lead to limitation of communication gaps alongside variation in possibilities for resolving the situation at hand. The board should promote creativity-building activities which could enable the leaders to frame innovative ideas about resource allocation, operational management, and monitoring the changes implemented in the organization.

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Critical reflection

My reflection on the video lecture captures comprised an estimation of critical gaps in the proposed themes in the lectures. I was able to identify three profound themes associated with the determination of the strategic direction of an organization for recommending to the board of the company to modify its strategic direction. I found strategic navigation to be the most reasonable choice for leaders to cater to the issues they face in the present-day business environment.

On the other hand, I felt that recruitment and selection of leaders as well as potential candidates for leadership could be inclusive of substantial costs which can be detrimental to the organization owing to uncertainty. I have observed that the additional costs for training and development of potential candidates for leadership roles could be promising in the long run albeit with the obstacle of inappropriate funding to promote such practices.

I was also able to apprehend from the captures that creativity is a vital aspect for encouraging novel solutions to conventional business issues however with the limitations arising due to the disparity in behavioral traits and the lack of opportunities for creative thinking due to workload or other responsible entities. In the concluding statement, I would state that strategic navigation and adopting an entrepreneurial business mindset could serve as promising solutions for determining the strategic direction of an enterprise concerning emerging issues in the domain of business.