Leadership and Strategy Formulation



What is leadership?
Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal (Kruse, 2013). Leaderships involves persuading other people towards a common goal which is important for the welfare of a group and only occurs when others willingly adopt to the goals of the group as their own (Horgan, et al., 1994).

What is Strategy Formulation?
Strategy formulation is a process of making the strategic choice among alternative. This process which mainly discuss about the concerns that an organisation should pay attention and the course of action which should adopted to solve the problems. Decisions arrived from this process would be the alternatives for the existing problems or some time the existing problems would be continued with fore front of attention (David, et al., 2009).

Leaders Role in Strategy Formulation
According to Fairholm (2009), Mathew (2009) states that Leadership is a critical element which formulate and implement the strategy and it relates the soul of organization with its body. Further Yuki et al. (2002) specifies that leaders has the commitment to drives the organization toward success by making efficient decisions for strategy formation and implementation.
Decision making is the core process of strategic management which is highly influenced by leadership which facilitate the whole process starting from conceptual framework for strategy formulation and till the evaluation. Further it is the responsibility of the leader to introduce a clear understanding of the vision throughout the organization and everyone should know where we want to be in future (Azhar, et al., 2013).

According to Azhar et al. (2013) leaders has the major role to play in Strategy formulation process which as follows.

Leader as an innovator:
As innovator Leader should ensure innovation within the organization and he should innovation in the strategic management process,

Leader as a care taker:
Being a care taker leaders should Leader should carefully develop and execute strategies and ensure effectiveness of the organisation.

Leader as an analyst:
Leader should carefully analyse the situation and formulate the plans to overcome the gaps according to the requirement of situation.

Leader as an organizer:
It is the responsibility of leader to organise the firm in a systematic manner to effect the change management without any difficulty.

Leader as a motivator:
Leaders should motivate the subordinates to understand the need of strategic change and implement the strategy in an effective manner.

Leader as a developer:
Leaders play an important role to develop a culture in the organization in a desired manner matching with organisational goal and provide the required resources to be capable as per need.

Leader as a change driver:
It is the duty of leadership to identify the need of change then establish the culture and formulate strategies for change management to achieve the goals by following formulated plans.

Leader as a decision maker:
The whole strategic management process depends on the decision-making ability of the leader and leaders should know what kind of decision to be made, when to make and how to decide. Therefor, leader hold the responsibility of proper functioning of the organisation and he should ensure right decisions re made.  

Leader as an evaluator:
Evaluation is a process which reflects the effectiveness of the strategy formulated and leaders has the responsibility to properly evaluate the decision made and take necessary measures to fill any gaps if identified. 

Frederick W. Smith

F W Smith is chairman FedEX which was found in 1971 by him. The company operates nearly about $70 billion global transportation, business services, technology, and logistics company serving more than 220 countries and territories. Mr. F W Smith, in 1965 wrote a term paper when he was a university student, which invented an industry and changed what’s possible. In the paper, he laid out the logistical challenges facing pioneering firms in the information technology industry. Most airfreight shippers relied on passenger route systems, but those didn’t make economic sense for urgent shipments, Smith wrote. He proposed a system specifically designed to accommodate time-sensitive shipments such as medicine, computer parts, and electronics. Since founding FedEx in 1971, he has been an active proponent of regulatory reform, free trade, and “open skies agreements” for aviation around the world (FedEX, 2020).

Conclusion
Leadership is the key factor which has a greater responsibility and accountability for the consistent performance of an organisation. Therefor Leaders have a greater responsibility to identify the needs and make sure the efficiency and effectiveness of strategy formulation process in strategic management function. The topmost important activity of leadership is to align the vision with the goals and objectives of the organization which can train and encourage the workers of the organization to attain the goal and vision.

References

Azhar, A., Ikram, S., Rashid, S. & Saqib, S., 2013. he Role of Leadership in Strategy Formulation and Implementation. International Journal of Management & Organizational Studies, 1(2).

David, M. E., David, F. R. & David, F. R., 2009. The Quantitative Strategic Planning matrix(QSPM) Applied to a retail computer store. The Coastal Business Journal Spring , 8(1).

Fairholm, M. R., 2009. Leadership and organisational strategy. The Innovation Journal, 14(1).
FedEX, 2020. FedEx Executive Leadership Chairman and CEO. [Online] 

Available at: https://www.fedex.com/en-us/about/leadership/frederick-w-smith.html
[Accessed 09 07 2020].

Horgan, R., Curphy G.J & Horgan , J., 1994. What We Know About Leadership: Effectiveness and Personality. American Psychologist.

Kruse, K., 2013. What Is Leadership?. Forbes Magazine, Volume 3.

Yuki, G., Gorden, A. & Taber, T., 2002. A hierarchical taxonomy of leadership behavior: Integrating a half century of behavior research. Journal of leadership & organizational studies, 9(1), pp. 15-32.


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