1.1 Analyse the impact of the organisation’s culture and values on strategic leadership

Title:

Strategic leadership

CMI’s Unique Selling Point (USP) is that our Centres can deliver and assess our qualifications in a variety of ways, provided the Learner demonstrates achievement of the assessment criteria. The good practice details offered below aim to support our USP and at the same time give our Centres an idea of the type of evidence of knowledge, understanding or ability that we would wish to see from Learners.

When assessing this unit please be aware that the Learner has to meet all the assessment criteria in order to pass. The unit is written using framework level descriptors and the assessment criteria is at a level 7 level of difficulty.

Unit aim:

This unit is about understanding strategic leadership skills and strategies and the understanding of ethical and cultural issues within the organisation.

Level:

7

Unit Number:

7013V1

QCF Unit Number

K/504/9079

Credit value:

7

Guided Learning Hours

30

Learning outcomes

The Learner will:

Assessment criteria

The Learner can:

Good Practice

1. Understand an organisation’s ethical and value-based approach to leadership

1.1 Analyse the impact of the organisation’s culture and values on strategic leadership

In addressing this assessment criteria a good answer would analyse the impact of the organisation’s culture and values on strategic leadership taking into consideration some of the following:

• Shared Culture - Trice and Beyer
• Types of leadership
• Task or people? - Peter Farey
• Leadership motivations and behaviours
• Leadership context
• Leadership Vs management skills, e.g. in a project life cycle - Wideman
• Leadership vision and values

1.2 Discuss how organisational specific, legal, regulatory and ethical requirements impact on strategic leadership demands

1.3 Evaluate current and emerging social concerns and expectations impacting on strategic leadership in the organisation

There are many writers on this subject and reference could also be made to the work of Covey, Kotter, Warren Bennis, Robert Townsend and Boyett and Boyett amongst others.

In discussing how organisational specific, legal, regulatory and ethical requirements impact on strategic leadership demands, Learners could differentiate between generic legal and regulatory demands, for example, employment law, health and safety as well as sector specific demands, for example food safety, the regulatory bodies that relate to your sector for example gas safety or other closely regulated sectors.

In this section, where Learners are required to evaluate the current and emerging social concerns and expectations, Learners could make reference to the debates on green issues including any carbon tax, waste emissions and concerns expressed by stakeholders in a specific sector.

Other social concerns could be explored in terms of how they help organisations hire and retain their people. From a global perspective a good answer could include comments on the growing sense that responsibility for righting social wrongs belongs to all organisations.

2. Understand strategic leadership styles

2.1 Evaluate the relationship between strategic management and leadership

Here Learners are asked to evaluate the relationship between strategic management and leadership. In answering, Learners could make reference to some of the following ideas concepts and their associated models. Answers should not be a mere description but an evaluation with comments on the appropriateness of these models in context of their organisations. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list.

• Leadership and motivation
• The cultural web – Johnson
• Situational leadership - Hersey and Blanchard

2.2 Evaluate leadership styles and their impact on strategic decisions

2.3 Discuss why leadership styles need to be adapted in different situations

2.4 Evaluate the impact of leadership styles on the organisation

• Transactional leadership
• Transformational leadership
• Action-Centred leadership –Adair
• The leadership continuum - Tannenbaum & Schmidt

This criterion requires an evaluation of leadership styles and their impact on strategic decisions. A full response could comment on some of the following ideas in context of their organisations:

• Leadership behaviours
• The leadership grid - Blake and Mouton
• Emotional intelligence and leadership styles – Goleman
• Level 5 leadership - Jim Collins

Here Learners are required to discuss why leadership styles need to be adapted in different situations incorporating some of the following ideas and theories:

• Leadership and motivational theory
• Theory X and theory Y
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• Motivational theories developed by Chris Argyris, David McClelland and Rensis Likert

In evaluating the impact of leadership styles on the organisation Learners could make use of a number of writers and models. 1.1 Analyse the impact of the organisation’s culture and values on strategic leadership. A good response might comment on some of these ideas in context or their organisation noting that some candidates may work for national or international companies

• Characteristics of leadership

• Attributes of leadership - John Gardner
• Seven ‘megaskills’ of leadership - Burt Nanus
• Leadership as capabilities - Ancona et al

3. Understand leadership strategies and their impact on organisational direction

3.1. Evaluate two differing leadership strategies

3.2 Determine situational variables which could cause a change in leadership strategy

3.3. Analyse a leadership strategy to support organisational direction

Here Learners should chose 2 differing leadership strategies and as part of your evaluation of the 2 strategies make reference to some of the following:

• Organisational contexts and adaptations
• The strategic context
• Contextual factors in strategic change
• Evolution or revolution?
• Situational leadership

In determining situational variables which could cause a change in leadership strategy, Learners might consider including some of the following:

• Strategies for change: overcoming resistance to it - Kotter and Schlesinger (2008)
• The ‘change equation’ - Beckard and Harris
• The cultural context - Edgar Schein and Hofstede,
• The interplay of organisational culture, leadership, and organisational effectiveness, source - Parry and Proctor-Thompson

Here Learners are required to analyse a leadership strategy to support organisational direction. This is a broad subject and Learners might consider some of the following when developing your response:

• The leader as change agent

• Tools for culture change
  • Four tools of cooperation and change - Christensen et al
  • Informal coalitions and the leadership agenda
  • Leadership vision and values
  • Engaging people with vision
  • A motivationally rich vision
  • The 7Rs of changing minds
  • Communicating the vision
  • Effective communication - Kotter
  • The 5Ms of magic meetings
  • Gaining followers through values and building trust
  • Ethical leadership - Monty Burns
  • Ethical leadership as a strategic issue