Analysing Strategic Management and Leadership

Analysing Strategic Management and Leadership This unit is all about strategic management and leadership. This assignment will cover the link between strategic management and leadership style in organisation in different situations. Strategic management and leadership is an ability to anticipate the future requirement that is for an organisation to be proactive in maintaining flexibility, motivation and empower the people to create the strategic change for the growth of organisation. Strategic management is all about shaping strategies and taking important decision for the organisation to survive and to get success in the face of competitive challenges and from other pressures from within and outside organisation. 1.1: Link between Management and Leadership Both word strategic management and leadership are often used interchangeably, although these words actually describe two different concepts. The main aim of management is to maximize the output of organisation through administrative implementation. His functions include; org anizing, planning, directing and controlling. While according to John Kotter (1996)† leadership is the set of practises that create the organisation in first place or adapt them to significantly changing circumstances. Strategic management is a vital area for any organization. It helps to improve an organisational performance and productivity. It is the responsibility of the strategic manger to design strategies for the future needs of the organisation. Designing and setting the plan is the job of strategic managers or we can say strategic management but to bring this plan and design into practice is the job the leadership. Leadership qualities are required to achieve those goals and targets which are set by the strategic management. ‘Central to strategic success is aligning the right leaders with the right skills in the right places at the right times to achieve desired competitive results’ (William J. Rothwell 1999) To run an organisation successfully and get th e goals and objectives of the firm both qualities of a manager and leaders are needed. A manager needs leadership qualities to be effective be and successful in taking initiative while leader needs some management capabilities to run the organisation. It is the job of the strategic manager to decide what they need to do and what they need to avoid to achieve objective in longer term. They make the policies internally and externally to achieve their goals. 1.2: Impact of management and leadership styles on strategic decisions. Management and leadership style play pivotal role on strategic decisions. They make decision according to the expectation of the organisation and their decision always have the support of the team. It is the style of the management and leader which keeps organization moving. Different styles have different type of impact on strategic decision and organisation. For example if we look at the democratic style of management and leadership, in this style management always consult and discuss with their team which makes them feel more responsible and motivates them to work hard. It is the job of strategic manager to decide and make critical decision regarding the future of the organisation. It is the wisdom of the management and leadership that drives the organisation forward. It is their vision which has always great impact on the organisation. Their style of management and leadership plays vital role on the decision making and on the future of the organisation. They should have the style which changes according to the situation, sometime they are very much cooperative and give everybody chance to express but if situation demands them to be more authoritarian they have the style approach and power to change them.

Design an organisation and its plans for international expansion Essay

Design an organisation and its plans for international expansion - Essay Example anization to practically evaluate how it can use its strengths and expertise to overcome challenges in order to make a successful entry (Child, 2005). China is a socialist country with a government which controls everything in the country. The overall involvement of the government into the affairs of firms is relatively higher as new and international firms have to obtain government permissions and follow strict rules to do business in China. ( Jiaxing, 2011  ) China is the leading economy in the world and has surpassed Japan as the second largest economy, too. With the huge population, size and the increasing level of personal incomes, China’s economy provides a perfect market opportunity for any global firm. Further, the overall managerial practices and the methods of socializing in China are different from doing the same in UK. Star, therefore, will have to face serious management challenges to ensure effective customer services as well as employee management (Adler and Gundersen, 2008) Improvement in information technology and presence of leading courier services in the market has relatively made it easier for international firms to start home delivery services in China. Star can actually take benefit of these trends and develop an online portal through which it can actually offer free home delivery services and tap into a growing market which is open to use technology for the purpose of shopping (â€Å"Consumer Spending in China†, 2012).   As discussed above, China is a communist country; therefore, the legal environment is relatively more complex. Though China has become more open to the international companies, rules and regulations are still complicated. Global firms have to follow a strict legal framework in order to work in China. Compliance with regulations can actually increase operational costs and lower the competitive ability of any firm. Star generally will open its stores on relatively large land spaces and, therefore, can create

Procurement and Inventory Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Procurement and Inventory Management - Essay Example There is also very high cost of stocks which occur as a result of the unskilled staff failing to compare prices from a number of suppliers. There is poor record keeping technique such that it is always hard for the company management employees to retrieve updated data along with more current entire company's level of stock. It is also hard for the auditors to retrieve the same data a thing that will result in improper auditing thus creating room for theft in the company. The resultant effect is failure in closely controlling the company's working capital thus failing to monitor correctly the true business progress. The whole system lacks accountability due to the fact that stock control and purchasing performance are not very well monitored making the staff determine their own precedence thus unbalanced cost considerations a thing that can greatly contribute to the failure of the company. Invoices are settled without a delivery proof or even a certification as to whether the items received are the actual quantities reflected in the invoice. This has seen the company loose cash as a result of buying similar items from a supplier at varying prices. The company has been greatly undermined by the suppliers who feel that Sound Electric Ltd has poor specifications. There is lack competition when it comes to purchasing, requires no confirmation as to the obligations met by the contractors, does not negotiate for price reduction, lacks knowledge on suppliers cost, the company's contracts fails to have conditions attached and lacks important knowledge about the contractor's financial capability. The company has been favouring a single supplier a thing that has led the supplier enjoy monopoly in supply, contracts and money orders fails to have price quotations and lastly the unskilled staff failed in the production of the documents involved in procurement. There is ineffective cost control in each and every project of Sound Electrical limited. This is because the concerned staff member fails in putting together the cost figures for each project of the company. The scattered cost figures of the company will never allow an effective cost control measure to take place thus Sound Electrical limited will end up losing a lot of money as a result. It has resulted into increased workload for the company's property administrator making it impossible for him to carry out his duties effectively. With such increased workload the property administrator will be confused on which contracts should concentrate on and he will end up doing very little as opposed to when the workload is manageable. This has in return interfered with the contracting, tendering and the cost of control, making it almost impossible to handle twenty contracts at a go. There has been considerably increased expenditure on miscellaneous purchases following the fact that some purchases are made by the Manager in charge of the head office post room while others are