Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Linkage between strategic management and leadership............................................................2
Impact of management and leadership styles on strategic decisions.........................................3
How leadership styles can be adapted to different situations.....................................................4
Impact that selected theories of management and leadership have on organizational
strategy.......................................................................................................................................5
A leadership strategy that supports organizational direction.....................................................6
Appropriate methods to review current leadership requirements..............................................8
Plan for the development of future situations requiring leadership.........................................10
Plan for the development of leadership skills for a specific requirement................................12
Report on the usefulness of methods used to plan the development of leadership skills........13
Conclusion and Recommendation............................................................................................14
References................................................................................................................................15
Web References........................................................................................................................16

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

Introduction
Dilmah is a family based Tea Company which was founded earlier in 1974. Although it
started as a basic family tea company, under the vision and the guidance of its founder
M.J Fernando it gradually expanded its operations positioning its tea brand Dilmah as a
pure single origin tea brand from Sri Lanka. Currently it has expanded its operations all
over the world with presence in more than 92 countries. With new innovations in its brand
and in its products, Dilmah is currently under the top 10 tea brands in the world offering a
variety of tea based products enlightening its customers all over the world. In Dilmah
there are different people with different skills set and managing them from the top level to
lower level require lots of different skills while managing day to day work. It is important
to assess different situations and different leadership skills people have to assure the
ongoing of company’s activities while planning for future uncertainties (Dilmah, 2015).

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

Linkage between strategic management and leadership

Strategic management and leadership can be considered as two terms that are highly
dependent on each other in any company. It has become important to have a good idea on
these terms in order to link and carry out work accordingly in each of these companies.

 Strategic Management – "Strategic management can be described as the use of

different resources such as financial manufacturing, marketing, technological,
manpower, etc., in a strategic way along with developing them to a higher level
while going for company’s objectives. It is a set of policies undertaken by the high
level management of the company, which helps the company to maintain their
abilities and scope. It takes into account the environment in which the company
operates". In simple terms it is about how an company try to achieve their targets
and ensure the long stability in their operations of the company (Neil, 2011).

 Leadership is about how higher level management can guide their company to a
state that company wanted earlier. In this we can provide many explanations and
as described by Association of Business Executives (2007), “Leadership is about
the way how a person can influence the other people around him where they will
participate willingly in the process of achieving the goals set.” Also we can
describe the leadership as how to influence others through examples in making
them participating in the process.

When it comes Dilmah, in their company leaders are not appointed only based on their
qualifications but through a process which considers experience, ability manage different
activities strategically which they gained over the past years in the company. In finding
the relationship between strategic management and leadership it is noticeable that
leadership is what links strategic management and our objectives to be achieved. As per
Mullins (2005), management of the company is liable for all of their resources as per
different limitations they have agreed while leadership will guide people and these
resources to their primary objective. Every company needs proper leadership and
effective management which will always act as the reason for success and when these two
are combined managers will be able to set the directions and achieve the goal in the way
they want to achieve.

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

Impact of management and leadership styles on strategic decisions.

As explained earlier identifying how the leadership and strategic management are
connected is important and also the impact of them in making better strategic decisions.
In Dilmah leadership and management are considered to have a greater impact on the
activities and higher level manager in Dilmah are savvy with experience compared to
other employees and this is shown in the way they carry out work to get others involved
and also to carry out work really well (Tittemore, 2003).

In Dilmah their main goal is to provide the best quality tea products in both local and
international markets to their customers and become the number one tea brand around the
globe which they have achieved up to some level. In going for this target Dilmah has
adopted a goal setting process strategically for all of their company employees at all the
levels which tells the responsibilities everyone should carry (Miner, 2005). As Dilmah
operates around the world it is important to understand different personalities to lead
different teams in order to contribute towards the mail goal of the company. At the higher
level management of Dilmah they set goals and persuade the other employees on how to
achieve the goals set and ensure they will be with timeline as higher level managers. In
assessing this there are few different leadership styles Dilmah employees have adopted to
in recent times which are used in different occasions by them.

As per Hackman and Johnson (2009), explained what management focuses on is making
plans and strategies while also focusing on executing the strategy, where a leader will
make sure the control of human resources, and they direct and guide employees, while
controlling, coordinating and also motivating them in order to make sure the execution of
the strategy will become successful by giving their best performances. As explained
earlier right leadership is important not to face any failure of strategic choices made by
the management and it is important for different managers to select the right leadership
style based on the situation as not every leadership style will serve every situation in the
same way (Barrat, 2000).

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

How leadership styles can be adapted to different situations

"Leadership style is the typical approach of a particular person used to lead people."
When it comes to a company, it is very much critical for higher level management of the
company to adopt to different situations with different leadership styles which would be
important to deal with different people in the organisation and following are the different
leadership styles being adopted by employees in Dilmah (Bennis, 1989).

 Autocratic leadership style – At the very high levels of Dilmah this is often seen
and at that level they usually command others on what to do and how to carry out
those work where only they participate in the decision making process and will
not give a chance for others to question it (Joyce and Woods, 2001).
 Charismatic leadership style – These leaders often lead others with the charisma
they carry along with the way they work and these outstanding personalities
influence and motivate other employees quite often which leads to more energetic
teams inside Dilmah.
 Laissez-faire leadership style – In this some high level manager try to delegate
rights and powers among others so they can carry out the work more
independently providing more innovative working environment. This takes place
most of the times at the middle level management for an example in Dilmah there
are different sections for different locations and different products they own and
team leaders in different section are given the power to take decision by them
own(Martindale, 2011).
 Transformation leadership styles – this is where the decision makers leading from
the front while setting examples. These people make the difference in a place and
in Dilmah there are number of examples where one person work well and set
examples for others. These people will not wait until someone comes and do
something but they themselves go and finish the task.
 Participating leadership styles – in Dilmah there are number of examples for this
leadership style where in the past few years they have been able to achieve a
greater profitability through better engagement with employees which has been a
clear reason for improving performances of employees (Schermerhorn et. al.,
2002).

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

From these it can be seen that it is important for a company to have good leaders with the
ability to adopt to different styles according to the situation to create a more effective
management platform for the company and in achieving success it is important for any
company to do this properly.

Impact that selected theories of management and leadership have on

organizational strategy
In an organisation employees can be found with different ways of behaviours, act
accordingly to the situations, and think differently due to the culture or the thinking
patterns they have (Miner, 2005). Therefore managing them in accordance with their
behaviours is important as to achieve company’s targets set really well. These theories
can be mainly categorised into few sections based on the type of the leader, their
followers and how detailed the situation is.

 Behavioral theories: this theory is about rewarding actions more than words and a
leader will be highlighted not only on his or her personality traits but also on the
way he or she deals with different situations and other abilities such as to guide
and teach others. (Johnson and Hackman, 2003). In this it tells that leader’s
behavior is distinguishes him from others in his team and it will tell story for
others who follow him/her what the manager is intended to do. In Dilmah an
example for this is when a person is appointed with a task usually the manager
will not force the person to do it but will keep on monitoring him/her and make
sure the person will notify his monitoring so the work will be done (Brindley,
2004).
 Situational and contingency theories: according to this theory a leader will take
actions based on the situation they will get their act right as there is no hard and
fast rule exactly for the situation. As for an example if the situation is somewhat
urgent, a leader will go for autocratic leadership style and try to take the decision
quickly which will be based on his/her experience and where the situation requires
the ideas from others leader will change to a more of a democratic style. As this
relates to the situation’s contingence this is also known as contingency theories
(Bennis, 1989).

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

 Transformational leadership theory: As per this theory suggested leader will

inspire and provide enthusiasm everyone while they will follow the leader. In this
others will get a chance to learn from the leader and will be able to gain quite a lot
of experience. It is important for the leader to have a clear vision while guiding
the team. In this leader will stand in the middle and will help anyone who is in
need of help (Jenkins, 2001).

A leadership strategy that supports organizational direction

From different theories analysed it is clear that Dilmah has adopted different leadership
theories to deal with different situations. I building a leadership strategy that supports the
organizational direction it is important to include the followings.

 Need of a strong culture:

To achieve a target in the long term it is important for a leader to create a strong culture in
the organisation. All the employees at all levels need to participate in this and this is what
will take the company forward (Foster, 2002). A leader has to create a culture which will
emphasize on team work, coordination at all levels, necessary support from the higher
level management of the organisation, etc. In the long term it is important for the
leadership strategy to build a strong and positive mission and vision of the organisation
where employees will now have a clear idea about what are the goals they are supposed to
work for, and other objectives of the organisation in the long term (Greene, 2005).

 Influencing nature:

Leadership strategy must be able to influence employees where they will finally map their
personal goals with the goals set by the company, so there will be a better motivation to
achieve those goals. This will further lead to lesser turn over, highly efficient work rate,
and also a productive time at the work (Morris, 1999).

 Provide with right level of authority

It is also important to incorporate transformation strategy in the company where the

leader can influence the team go for their targets while setting examples. In this
employees needs to be provided some level authority which will set their heads high to
achieve goals.
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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

 Avoid threats and weaknesses

Through a proper leadership style company can convert their opportunities into strengths
while converting threats into opportunities where they could eliminate weaknesses as well
(Whitcomb, 2000).

 Use of contingent approaches

Also in setting the right leadership strategy it is also important to give leaders the ability
take use of contingency theories which rule over everything mentioned so far if the
environment starts to be volatile and nothing can be predicted well and therefore
everything needs to be done what is felt right or wrong. In most of the company what
really plays a crucial role in every situation is contingency theory when facing challenges
from outside the environment as well from the internal environment it is important for
leaders to use this approach where as it suggests since there is no rule to follow leaders
will need to come up with others things mentioned in creating a strong leadership culture
(Tittemore, 2003).

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

Appropriate methods to review current leadership requirements

A leader is the person who can lead a group of individuals in the most effective way to get
them to their objective while motivating them where followers play a crucial role by
providing support for a better leadership. As leaders need to see the future and improve
their leadership skills it is important to review current leadership requirements There are
different methods available for reviewing leadership requirements in a organisation
(Martindale, 2011).

 Blake and Moulton’s managerial grid: This is one fine method to review leadership
skills and identify where the organisation is based on few concerns and will identify
five different types of leadership styles and based on that it could suggest what leaders
will require at the present to take the organisation forward (Foster, 2002).

Figure 1: The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid

o Impoverished management – Leader is mostly ineffective where doesn’t concern

about results as well as no concern for people.
o Country Club Management – mostly concerned with feelings of people and there is no
really concern for people.
o Middle of the road management – These leaders are with the balance approach for
both the results and concerns for people. In this the problem is neither production nor
people needs are fulfilled fully.
o Authority- Compliance Management – these leaders are given high concerns about
the production but little or no concern about the people.
o Team Management – these leaders are known to be the best and they are concerned
about both people’s feelings and production needs at the maximum level.

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

 360º Feedback mode

The concept of this method is using an appraisal and feedback method from different set
of people in the working environment of the company which include subordinates and
peers, customers and if possible external customers as well. Feedback gain from this will
help leaders to overcome weaknesses and improve strengths.

Figure 2: Mullins’s 360 degree feedback cycle

 Mc. Gregory’s Theory X and Theory Y: Theory X is mostly task oriented while
theory Y is relationship oriented. And based on the type identified management
can plan for future improvements (Miner, 2005).

Figure 3: Theory X and Theory Y

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

Based on the type identified necessary actions needs to be taken and prepare plans for the
development of future situations requiring leadership.

Plan for the development of future situations requiring leadership

Leadership is the main factor that plays a critical role in driving the organisation to in
achieving different targets and gaining competitive advantages over others. In the present
world leaders are much aware of what is happening in the dynamic environment as they
see things beforehand (Jenkins, 2011). To be more competitive and gain a competitive
advantage over their competitors they often look different alternatives such as mergers,
take overs and many other different options where in order to acquire more market shares.
Other than that there could be situations such as new technologies coming in, as they are
competing in the global level specially a organisation like Dilmah there could be cultural
issues. Therefore it is important for them to plan for these different situation beforehand
to face them better and turn out these situations to opportunities.

 Adopting new technologies and performance levels: As the technology changes

really fast and replace most of the activities in an company it is important for
companies to adopt them and change into those. A greater problem occurs when
employees refuse these changes due insecurity of jobs, unwillingness to change,
scared of changes and many other reasons. It is important for a leader to lead by
example in these situations while using autocratic style whenever needed. For
Dilmah this could be virtual marketing and supermarkets will be replaced with a
warehouse and a virtual market (Mullins, 2005).
 Recession: In the current world it is now a possible situation to face a recession
time and in today’s world many large economies are facing huge financial
difficulties. It is important to get ready face such situation and this is where strong
leadership is required with number of qualities and the ability use contingency
theories.
 Mergers and acquisitions: This is where companies go and try to increase their
market share through taking over other companies and making partnerships with
others. Therefore in these situations a strong leadership is required to make sure
the actions taken are correct and foresee the position of the organisation and its
employees in the future (Johnson and Hackman, 2003).

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

As we understood there could be number of situations in the future requiring a better

leadership and it will be critical to develop leadership skills for different requirements.

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

Plan for the development of leadership skills for a specific requirement

According to (Pankaew, 2013) “Leadership is the art of leading others to deliberately
create a result that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.” Therefore it is important to
develop these leadership skills for different requirements regardless the size of the
company and as for today’s volatile fast moving environment is concerned. There are
different ways leaders can develop their skills:

 Formal learning – when new products are introduced to supermarkets, different

types of services, etc. companies like Dilmah will have to train their employees
and leaders on how to consider new portfolios and go ahead. This could be done
through sending them for a formal training or class room teaching (Jenkins, 2001).
 On the job training – this seems as a quite popular way and seem as the most
effective way among companies where the organisation takes the initiative in
training employees on the field. Organisation will have to spend on this training
method but since the effectiveness is high return would be much larger with
effective workers.
 Organizational Learning – This is a learning method in companies which is
appreciated by employees in the organisation and seen as a required method. In
order to challenge other companies and compete well companies have empower
their workers and leaders to a greater level as human asset is seen as the most
important one in any company (Foster, 2002).

Therefore it is important to develop leadership skills and through the methods mentioned
it is possible to go ahead for leadership development.

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

Report on the usefulness of methods used to plan the development of

leadership skills
As we identified it is important to develop skills for leaders to meet with more challenges
and cope with them better while meeting demands in the dynamic business environment.
As identified in the previous section regarding current and future levels of requirements
under leadership it is vital methods which are identified for to improve and enhance
leadership skills to be effective and useful where then only the desired objective could be
achieved (Bennis, 1989).

 Formal methods - Formal method can be seen as a good way to enhance skills and
acquire more knowledge about future challenges. To which level different leadership
skills are needed and used will depend on different development activities company
undertake.
 Training – In Dilmah this method is really effective and authentic as well. When the
training is given on the job then employees can learn better and gain more experience
to be a better employee and a leader.
 Experimental learning – This is where in Dilmah they can engage employees to
activities such as critical thinking, problem solving and taking decisions for ongoing
problems. This method further involves in brainstorming and feedback sessions
where employees can apply their knowledge and skills in different situations (Foster,
2002).
 Self-learning – this can be the best way for employees and leaders to learn and
enhance their skills where they need to get the full use of this method and importance
of this method is employees will not need go after higher level employees in order to
enhance their skills.
 Coaching and mentoring – both of these methods are focusing on the individual in
improving morale, their motivation level and their influence level which will mostly
will result in lesser staff turnover and better productivity (Pearce and Conger, 2003).

The above mentioned methods are important ways for Dilmah management team in
developing leadership skills of their employees.

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

Conclusion and Recommendation

Dilmah is a multinational corporation, which is perceived as many different things to
different people. Dilmah is a place where a person visits more often than any other place
to buy their basic needs. People could see Dilmah from different perspectives and it is
important for Dilmah staff to understand their customers better. And as Dilmah working
over number of countries it is important for Dilmah to manage their activities well and
keep their staff at a very good level with relevant skills. Therefore it would be important
for them to identify different skills their employees possess and identify the need to
develop them in order to face future challenges better. In improving them there could be
number of ways and identifying the best of them would be tricky but as those are
identified Dilmah will be able to face challenges easily than ever and compete in global
market more efficiently and effectively.

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Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

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Web References
Ceylon Tea services PLC Annual Report And Accounts, (2014/2015), (Online), Available
from : http://www.cse.lk/cmt/upload_report_file/489_1340768452334.pdf
[accessed on : 9-3-2016]

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