Learning Unit 1
1. Explain the six principles of strategic leadership. Provide practical examples to support your
explanation.
• Principle1: Strategic leaders are future orientated. Elon Musk has a clear vision of electric cars
replacing oil- based cars in the near future, and that vision has formed the basis of his strategy.
• Principle 2: Strategic leaders are evidence-based and research led. Elon Musk has invested
strongly in research in new battery technology, in order to drive the cost of the Tesla cars
down.
• Principle 3: Strategic leaders get things done. Elon Musk did not just create theories around new
approaches to battery manufacturing and the battery supply chain, he has commenced building the
Giga Factory, which is the biggest battery factory in the world.
• Principle 4: Strategic leaders open new horizons. Elon Musk reimagined the whole approach to car
retailing, and created car outlets and a retail experience which is completely new to the industry.
• Principle 5: Strategic leaders are fit to lead. Tesla is not Elon Musk‟s first technology venture. He
has created a very successful technology company, PayPal, in the past.
• Principle 6: Strategic leaders work effectively with all stakeholders. The stakeholders in Tesla
includes other players in the industry. Tesla gave the whole industry a massive boost by going open
source with its patents.
2. Explain how organisational culture can support and enhance strategy implementation.
With reference to the cultural web, organizational culture could support and enhance strategy
implementation in thefollowing manner:
•Using stories to convey the organization‟s values, and beliefs. For example Whitey Basson‟s story
regarding the1600 forms that was required to be filled in in order to ship goods to Maputo the first time.
•Rituals and routines: Reinforcing the organization‟s culture by, for example, holding a ceremony for long
service awards, to celebrate staff retention.
•Symbols: a trophy awarded for a department for good scores on their key performance areas, is a symbol
that will serve to motivate staff to behave in a manner that supports the strategy.
•Control systems: controlling the strategy implementation with tools such as the Balanced Scorecard.
•Organizational structures: The organization can tweak its structure into one that best serves its strategy,
forexample decentralizing its decision making in order to decrease its turn-around time on customer
requests.
•Power structures: without top management demonstrating the values that is expected from employees, the
cultural change to implement the strategy will fail. Top management should lead by example, and talk the
talk, and also walk the walk.
3. Explain the merits (advantages, disadvantages and constraints) of policies and procedures for
strategy implementation
Policies can either assist, or block strategy implementation.
Policies sets boundaries to employee behaviour. It limits what can be done, and also how it can be done.
This canadd to the „red tape‟ in an organization.
, Policies simplify decision making because they guide employees to act in predefined ways under specific
circumstances. They also ensure that decision making is delegated to the correct levels of management. It
reduces uncertainty because it guides decision making, and thus results in faster decision time.
Policies should be updated to be relevant to the changing business environment. New policies should also be
added where necessary, to guide the behaviour of employees in order to reach strategic goals.
4. Critically discuss factors that contribute to strategy implementation failure in organizations
1
, Strategic implementation failure means that an organization did not achieve its strategic objectives, or that
thestrategic initiatives were not completed successfully, or that it was not acceptable to key stakeholders.
Strategy implementation failure may start with the strategy formulation process. Strategic objectives should be
simple, easily understandable, consistent, and provide a clear direction to staff that have to implement them.
If the various elements of an organization that should pull together to implement a strategy, are
misaligned, strategy implementation is likely to fail. The way to counter disconnectedness of employees
might be to ensure constant and clear communication, to ensure that the common goal serves as a binding
mechanism.
Organizations who dwell on their past successes and do not keep track of current realities, may lose sight of
threats and not adapt fast enough to cope. An organization should keep focus on the market conditions that
are relevant to achieving their goals. The strategy should not be reinterpreted to fit the old paradigm – a
paradigm shift should happen.
If management and leadership is ineffective, strategy implementation may fail. Leadership that do not earn
the trust ofits employees and keep its agreements, fail to get the buy-in of the employees into its strategic
vision.
Poor implementation, rather than poor formulation is the main cause of strategies failing. If there is not a
collective effort in the implementation process, based on employee commitment, you may have behavioural
compliance which will fade before successful implementation has been achieved.
Learning Unit 2
1. Identify the various “soft” and “hard” elements of the organisation that contribute towards
organisational change. Use examples to illustrate your answer
Soft elements are the ones which are hard to change but form the basis of sustainable long-term change.
Theseinclude routines & rituals, stories and symbols.
Hard elements on the other hand are easy to change but lack the ability to lead to any long term change.
These hard elements include power, organisational structures and control systems.
In order for these soft and hard elements to contribute to organisational change it is imperative that a fit
strategic leader can manage the different elements and mould each of them to fit in with strategic goals. The
paradigm whichsits at the core of these soft and hard elements should be continually adapted by the
strategic leader to steer the culture of an organisation in the direction of the strategic goals of the
organisation.
An example of a soft element would to be if Elon Musk were to tell motivational stories about past Tesla
successes with the idea of conveying important lessons for fellow managers and employees to learn. If Elon
Musk changed certain structures within the organisation like the way employees communicated with their
superiors this would form an example of a hard element.
2. Compare and contrast the planned change models of Lewin and Kotter
Lewin and Kotter‟s change models differ in the identification and number of proposed steps in the change
model, butthere are similarities in the overall process.
Lewin‟s first phase, unfreezing, essentially entails that the organization gets primed for the change that needs
to happen. It relies strongly on communication in order to get the buy-in of employees, and counter the
resistance to change. This correlates with Kotters model‟s first step, establishing a sense of urgency, its second
1. Explain the six principles of strategic leadership. Provide practical examples to support your
explanation.
• Principle1: Strategic leaders are future orientated. Elon Musk has a clear vision of electric cars
replacing oil- based cars in the near future, and that vision has formed the basis of his strategy.
• Principle 2: Strategic leaders are evidence-based and research led. Elon Musk has invested
strongly in research in new battery technology, in order to drive the cost of the Tesla cars
down.
• Principle 3: Strategic leaders get things done. Elon Musk did not just create theories around new
approaches to battery manufacturing and the battery supply chain, he has commenced building the
Giga Factory, which is the biggest battery factory in the world.
• Principle 4: Strategic leaders open new horizons. Elon Musk reimagined the whole approach to car
retailing, and created car outlets and a retail experience which is completely new to the industry.
• Principle 5: Strategic leaders are fit to lead. Tesla is not Elon Musk‟s first technology venture. He
has created a very successful technology company, PayPal, in the past.
• Principle 6: Strategic leaders work effectively with all stakeholders. The stakeholders in Tesla
includes other players in the industry. Tesla gave the whole industry a massive boost by going open
source with its patents.
2. Explain how organisational culture can support and enhance strategy implementation.
With reference to the cultural web, organizational culture could support and enhance strategy
implementation in thefollowing manner:
•Using stories to convey the organization‟s values, and beliefs. For example Whitey Basson‟s story
regarding the1600 forms that was required to be filled in in order to ship goods to Maputo the first time.
•Rituals and routines: Reinforcing the organization‟s culture by, for example, holding a ceremony for long
service awards, to celebrate staff retention.
•Symbols: a trophy awarded for a department for good scores on their key performance areas, is a symbol
that will serve to motivate staff to behave in a manner that supports the strategy.
•Control systems: controlling the strategy implementation with tools such as the Balanced Scorecard.
•Organizational structures: The organization can tweak its structure into one that best serves its strategy,
forexample decentralizing its decision making in order to decrease its turn-around time on customer
requests.
•Power structures: without top management demonstrating the values that is expected from employees, the
cultural change to implement the strategy will fail. Top management should lead by example, and talk the
talk, and also walk the walk.
3. Explain the merits (advantages, disadvantages and constraints) of policies and procedures for
strategy implementation
Policies can either assist, or block strategy implementation.
Policies sets boundaries to employee behaviour. It limits what can be done, and also how it can be done.
This canadd to the „red tape‟ in an organization.
, Policies simplify decision making because they guide employees to act in predefined ways under specific
circumstances. They also ensure that decision making is delegated to the correct levels of management. It
reduces uncertainty because it guides decision making, and thus results in faster decision time.
Policies should be updated to be relevant to the changing business environment. New policies should also be
added where necessary, to guide the behaviour of employees in order to reach strategic goals.
4. Critically discuss factors that contribute to strategy implementation failure in organizations
1
, Strategic implementation failure means that an organization did not achieve its strategic objectives, or that
thestrategic initiatives were not completed successfully, or that it was not acceptable to key stakeholders.
Strategy implementation failure may start with the strategy formulation process. Strategic objectives should be
simple, easily understandable, consistent, and provide a clear direction to staff that have to implement them.
If the various elements of an organization that should pull together to implement a strategy, are
misaligned, strategy implementation is likely to fail. The way to counter disconnectedness of employees
might be to ensure constant and clear communication, to ensure that the common goal serves as a binding
mechanism.
Organizations who dwell on their past successes and do not keep track of current realities, may lose sight of
threats and not adapt fast enough to cope. An organization should keep focus on the market conditions that
are relevant to achieving their goals. The strategy should not be reinterpreted to fit the old paradigm – a
paradigm shift should happen.
If management and leadership is ineffective, strategy implementation may fail. Leadership that do not earn
the trust ofits employees and keep its agreements, fail to get the buy-in of the employees into its strategic
vision.
Poor implementation, rather than poor formulation is the main cause of strategies failing. If there is not a
collective effort in the implementation process, based on employee commitment, you may have behavioural
compliance which will fade before successful implementation has been achieved.
Learning Unit 2
1. Identify the various “soft” and “hard” elements of the organisation that contribute towards
organisational change. Use examples to illustrate your answer
Soft elements are the ones which are hard to change but form the basis of sustainable long-term change.
Theseinclude routines & rituals, stories and symbols.
Hard elements on the other hand are easy to change but lack the ability to lead to any long term change.
These hard elements include power, organisational structures and control systems.
In order for these soft and hard elements to contribute to organisational change it is imperative that a fit
strategic leader can manage the different elements and mould each of them to fit in with strategic goals. The
paradigm whichsits at the core of these soft and hard elements should be continually adapted by the
strategic leader to steer the culture of an organisation in the direction of the strategic goals of the
organisation.
An example of a soft element would to be if Elon Musk were to tell motivational stories about past Tesla
successes with the idea of conveying important lessons for fellow managers and employees to learn. If Elon
Musk changed certain structures within the organisation like the way employees communicated with their
superiors this would form an example of a hard element.
2. Compare and contrast the planned change models of Lewin and Kotter
Lewin and Kotter‟s change models differ in the identification and number of proposed steps in the change
model, butthere are similarities in the overall process.
Lewin‟s first phase, unfreezing, essentially entails that the organization gets primed for the change that needs
to happen. It relies strongly on communication in order to get the buy-in of employees, and counter the
resistance to change. This correlates with Kotters model‟s first step, establishing a sense of urgency, its second
