Name and Student Number: ARYAN BHATIA N1107013
Module Title: Msc Management and Business Analytics
Title of Coursework: Critically discuss the challenges relevant to
implementing sustainable leadership in an
organisation or a team.
Word Count 1931
Leadership plays an important role in sustainable development as it influences the
employee's behaviour and mindset in an organization (Hallinger & Suriyankietkaew,
2018). Sustainable leadership brings possibilities in the shape of transformation,
continuous development, competitive benefit, and long-term success for the
organisation. This new leadership style “Sustainable Leadership” have reoriented the
path and development of the organisations by the new way of leading ahead.
Sustainable leadership emphasizes on improving the lives of all stakeholders while
creating present and future profits for an organization (McCann & Holt, 2010; McCann &
Sweet, 2014). It not only promotes fundamental values within organisation but also
individually and socially. Organisational leadership has emerged as an indispensable
variable in corporate sustainability initiatives and practices (Metcalf and Benn 2013;
Visser and Courtice 2011). Sustainable leadership provides spotlight on changes and
long-period goals and results. The challenges which are appropriate to execution of
sustainable leadership in a corporation, or a team are many and varied, Challenges such
as synergy with goals of organisation, organisational culture and development of
employees as an individual. To further explain they include the need to create a shared
vision and sense of purpose within the organisation or team, to develop the capacity to
lead change effectively, to engage all members of the team in the process of change,
and to create a culture of sustainable leadership within the organisation or team. This
style of leadership studies and responsibly amends on the long-term goals while thinking
about the wider impact on the society and environment. This may lead to slower
progress in goal achievement. Trust plays an important part in this style of
implementations as well. It generally, involves methodical thought process, ginormous
collaborative commitment, and deep integrated assumptions of organisation and its
objectives. In this essay we will extensively discuss the challenges that are faced during
the implementation of sustainable leadership in an organization or team. The essay will
also throw light over the Thornbridge Activity that was organised by Nottingham Trent
University at Derby, United Kingdom in which team working was the key element. This
trip also engaged the students with networking with each other and enabled them to
work in teams with other students who were strangers to each other until the activities.
1
, There is no single answer to the question of how to implement sustainable leadership in
an organisation or team. Sustainable leadership is often reliant on the engagement and
support of employees. Organizational learning revolves around generation,
dissemination, integration, interpretation, and application of information into practice
(Dixon, 1999; Flores, Zheng, Rau, & Thomas, 2012). Leaders must be able to motivate
and inspire employees to adopt new sustainable practices. Sustainability necessitates
long-term vision that goes beyond the status quo (Matson et al. 2016). This can be
challenging, particularly in organisations where employees are not used to being
involved in decision-making. Supportive leadership behaviours such as team building,
motivation, provision of energy, and technical assistance in management changes
process will promote organizational learning and allow the employees to exploit the new
opportunities lying within the arena of development. (Hsiao & Chang, 2011) The concept
of sustainability is complex, and there are many different interpretations and challenges
of what it means to be a sustainable leader. leadership theories, thus, require an
expansion of context, which should ideally incorporate diversity, amidst new social
challenges, emerging global concerns, and changing population demographics (Chin,
2010). The challenges relevant to implementing sustainable leadership will vary
depending on the organisation's or team's specific context and goals. The challenges will
further be explained and referenced with real life examples from Thornbridge trip where
we chose caving as our activity for the day. It not only was caving based but had various
other activities too which channelled our inner team leaders and team workers.
The first challenge is to create a shared vision and sense of purpose within the
organisation or team. Organizational learning is contingent on vision sharing, open
communication, conducive environment, induction and training, and development of
workforce (Ruggieri, Boca, & Garro, 2013; Seddighi & Mathew, 2020).This involves
clarifying the organisation's or team's values and purpose and articulating a shared
vision of the future that all members can buy into. Sustainable leadership requires a
long-term perspective, hence It is also important to ensure that the organisation's or
team's values are aligned with its strategy, so that the vision is something that can be
realistically achieved. Taking a real-life example from the Thornsbridge activity, choosing
caving as an activity was a great decision. Here the guide chose different students as
group leader and rest of the students had to follow the lead. When I was appointed as a
group leader for the walk back to out of the cave it provided me with the sense of
responsibility. This responsibility enlightens me with the fact where I had to lead a group
of people who I had no prior introduction. I had to share my vision and hear the team if
I was taking any wrong turns. This made me understand that being a leader is quite
different from being the boss. A leader should hear his subordinates, share vision and
2
Module Title: Msc Management and Business Analytics
Title of Coursework: Critically discuss the challenges relevant to
implementing sustainable leadership in an
organisation or a team.
Word Count 1931
Leadership plays an important role in sustainable development as it influences the
employee's behaviour and mindset in an organization (Hallinger & Suriyankietkaew,
2018). Sustainable leadership brings possibilities in the shape of transformation,
continuous development, competitive benefit, and long-term success for the
organisation. This new leadership style “Sustainable Leadership” have reoriented the
path and development of the organisations by the new way of leading ahead.
Sustainable leadership emphasizes on improving the lives of all stakeholders while
creating present and future profits for an organization (McCann & Holt, 2010; McCann &
Sweet, 2014). It not only promotes fundamental values within organisation but also
individually and socially. Organisational leadership has emerged as an indispensable
variable in corporate sustainability initiatives and practices (Metcalf and Benn 2013;
Visser and Courtice 2011). Sustainable leadership provides spotlight on changes and
long-period goals and results. The challenges which are appropriate to execution of
sustainable leadership in a corporation, or a team are many and varied, Challenges such
as synergy with goals of organisation, organisational culture and development of
employees as an individual. To further explain they include the need to create a shared
vision and sense of purpose within the organisation or team, to develop the capacity to
lead change effectively, to engage all members of the team in the process of change,
and to create a culture of sustainable leadership within the organisation or team. This
style of leadership studies and responsibly amends on the long-term goals while thinking
about the wider impact on the society and environment. This may lead to slower
progress in goal achievement. Trust plays an important part in this style of
implementations as well. It generally, involves methodical thought process, ginormous
collaborative commitment, and deep integrated assumptions of organisation and its
objectives. In this essay we will extensively discuss the challenges that are faced during
the implementation of sustainable leadership in an organization or team. The essay will
also throw light over the Thornbridge Activity that was organised by Nottingham Trent
University at Derby, United Kingdom in which team working was the key element. This
trip also engaged the students with networking with each other and enabled them to
work in teams with other students who were strangers to each other until the activities.
1
, There is no single answer to the question of how to implement sustainable leadership in
an organisation or team. Sustainable leadership is often reliant on the engagement and
support of employees. Organizational learning revolves around generation,
dissemination, integration, interpretation, and application of information into practice
(Dixon, 1999; Flores, Zheng, Rau, & Thomas, 2012). Leaders must be able to motivate
and inspire employees to adopt new sustainable practices. Sustainability necessitates
long-term vision that goes beyond the status quo (Matson et al. 2016). This can be
challenging, particularly in organisations where employees are not used to being
involved in decision-making. Supportive leadership behaviours such as team building,
motivation, provision of energy, and technical assistance in management changes
process will promote organizational learning and allow the employees to exploit the new
opportunities lying within the arena of development. (Hsiao & Chang, 2011) The concept
of sustainability is complex, and there are many different interpretations and challenges
of what it means to be a sustainable leader. leadership theories, thus, require an
expansion of context, which should ideally incorporate diversity, amidst new social
challenges, emerging global concerns, and changing population demographics (Chin,
2010). The challenges relevant to implementing sustainable leadership will vary
depending on the organisation's or team's specific context and goals. The challenges will
further be explained and referenced with real life examples from Thornbridge trip where
we chose caving as our activity for the day. It not only was caving based but had various
other activities too which channelled our inner team leaders and team workers.
The first challenge is to create a shared vision and sense of purpose within the
organisation or team. Organizational learning is contingent on vision sharing, open
communication, conducive environment, induction and training, and development of
workforce (Ruggieri, Boca, & Garro, 2013; Seddighi & Mathew, 2020).This involves
clarifying the organisation's or team's values and purpose and articulating a shared
vision of the future that all members can buy into. Sustainable leadership requires a
long-term perspective, hence It is also important to ensure that the organisation's or
team's values are aligned with its strategy, so that the vision is something that can be
realistically achieved. Taking a real-life example from the Thornsbridge activity, choosing
caving as an activity was a great decision. Here the guide chose different students as
group leader and rest of the students had to follow the lead. When I was appointed as a
group leader for the walk back to out of the cave it provided me with the sense of
responsibility. This responsibility enlightens me with the fact where I had to lead a group
of people who I had no prior introduction. I had to share my vision and hear the team if
I was taking any wrong turns. This made me understand that being a leader is quite
different from being the boss. A leader should hear his subordinates, share vision and
2
