Assignment: LASA 1 Assignment—The Leader as a Strategist Report

  
Module Overview:
In this module, you will explore the leader as a communicator.  Leaders today must be effective in all three communication  modalities—one to one, one to many, and in various “e” forms of  communications (e.g., e-mails, blogs, webinars, or teleconferences).  They must also be consistent and “in the moment.” It is all about making  connections and creating an atmosphere of open, bi-directional  dialogue. 

Effective communication occurs only if the receiver understands the  message as the sender intended. The importance of effective  communication to leaders is clear daily in all organizations. Since  1938, when Chester Barnard concluded that communication was the main  task of managers and executives, emphasis has been placed on improving  leadership communication in organizations.

The key to the success of any executive is the ability to communicate  effectively. Can you imagine an effective leader who is not an  effective communicator? Some research suggests that leaders devote seven  of every ten minutes of their leadership time to some form of  communication.

Because today’s employees demand a more coaching or mentoring  leadership style, leaders need to develop strong interpersonal skills.  Leaders today often pride themselves on the ability to multitask  especially through the use of technology. Others argue that this creates  superficial relationships and interactions with employees and that it  is far more effective for leaders to focus on the “moment” and to create  meaningful interactions with employees.

Barnard, C. (1938). The function of the executive. Cambridge, NY: Harvard University Press.

 
Module Readings:
 
Complete the following readings early in the module:

Read the overview for the Module 
From the textbook, The leadership challenge (5th ed.), read the following chapters: 
    
Recognize Contributions
Foster Collaboration


From the Internet, read the following: 
    
Barrett, D. (2006). Leadership communication: A communication approach for
senior-level managers. Handbook of Business Strategy, (7)1, 385–390. Retrieved from http://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/27037/Leadership
%20Communication%20-%20A%20Communication%20Approach
%20for%20Senior-Level%20Managers%20-%20Barrett.pdf?sequence=2




 LASA 1 Assignment-The Leader as a Strategist Report

For this assignment, you will choose an organization to analyze. This  organization can be one you are personally familiar with, or one you  have observed to be an effective organization, You now become a newly  appointed senior leader in that organization. 

 As a new leader, you must prepare a report for the CEO that assesses the  organization’s overall alignment between its vision, mission, values,  and strategy. This report should consist of the following sections: 

 1.) An analysis of the strategic cascade of the organization This  includes assessing the organization’s strategy and market position. Use the framework implied in Michael Porter’s (1997) article “What is  Strategy.” When describing the business strategy of your organization,  consider the following questions: 

What is the target market (target customer)?
What is your organization's value proposition (How does it deliver value that satisfies the target’s wants and needs?)?
How is your product or service positioned in the market (What  specific features and attributes define the product/service and how is  its value reflected in its pricing, distribution, marketing  communications, etc.?)?
How is your organization sustainably different from your competitors  (What is the source of uniqueness and how sustainable is it from being  diminished by competitors?)?

2.) A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis
 A SWOT analysis is a strategy planning tool that examines both internal  and external environments for factors and trends that should shape  planning and operations over the next five years. Environmental factors  internal to the company are classified as strengths (to be leveraged) or  weaknesses (to be mitigated), while external factors are classified as  either opportunities (to be pursued) or threats (to be monitored and  responded to) 

 
Some primer questions for the SWOT analysis include the following:
Strengths

What advantages does your organization have?
What do you do better than anyone else?
What unique or lowest-cost resources can you draw upon that others cannot?
What do people in your market see as your strengths?
What factors mean that you "get the sale"?
What is your organization's unique selling proposition (USP)?

 
Weaknesses

What aspects of your product or service could you improve?
What market segments or competitive areas should you avoid?
What are people in your market likely to see as weaknesses?
What factors can make you lose sales?

  
Opportunities

What good opportunities can you spot?
What interesting trends are you aware of? Useful opportunities can come from such things as the following:
 
    
Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale
Changes in government policy related to your field
Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, and so on
Local events



 
Threats

What obstacles do you face?
What are your competitors doing?
Are quality standards or specifications for your job, products, or services changing?
Is changing technology threatening your position?
Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?
Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business?

3.) A summary of the internal environment, including the organization’s  values and the key elements of the organization architecture that  influence worker behavior.  

 

Include the following characteristics when analyzing the internal environment:
Structure: This includes the ways the organization assigns formal  roles and responsibilities, decision-making authority, expertise and  skills, and work tasks. Think of the organization chart and how its  implied structure directs the decision making, resource allocation, and  workflow of the organization. Is it consistent with the strategy?
Systems: This comprises the information flows that coordinate  activities between groups and across the organization structure while  helping direct worker behavior, including performance management,  financial management, operating, forecasting and planning, and other  regulating mechanisms. How do these systems help align workers and their  actions with the strategy?
Culture: This consists of the unwritten rules and norms that govern  worker behavior and help coordinate the activities across structural  boundaries. Is the organization culture an enabler or impediment to the  corporate strategy? What specific behaviors embedded in the culture  support the strategy? What specific behaviors block the strategy?

 4.)A synthesis of the information evaluating the ability of the  organization to implement the strategy using Kouzes and Posner’s Five  Practices (for example, modeling the way) as a framework.  

  Include answers to the following: 
 
 

Company Culture 
    
Describe the values and culture of your organization.
What are the values of your organization?
How are they reflected in the behaviors you see at work?


Employee Behaviors 
    
Describe the behaviors in your organization.
Are these behaviors consistent with the business strategy?
Where do they conflict with the strategy?
What new behaviors are required to align with the strategy?


Leadership 
    
How might you and other leaders create new behaviors to support the strategy?
What specific actions would you implement to communicate, motivate,  model the way, coach, inspire the vision, challenge the process, and  encourage the heart?



Your response to each part of the assignment should be approximately three pages. 

Your final product will be Turned-in on time, Plagiarism Free in a word document and be approximately 6–8  pages in length and utilize 4–7 scholarly sources in your research.  This is A Mid-Term Assignment and Needs to Be treated as such...
All Assignment Details and  Qualifications Followed, Running-Heads  Included, Pages Numbered, Cover  Page Included, reference Page Included  Paragraphs Indented, Questions Included Followed By the Answers, Follow   Grading Criteria,   main heading should be centered; all new  paragraphs  should be indented;   paper should have been right ragged,  not right  justified; references,   should always go on a standalone  page.  abstracts are not usually  indented; should be right ragged, and  not  right justified.  acronyms  should be spelled out when using them  for  the first time, for example  HR.   references as listed are APA   standard.   When you  submit your  papers through turnitin.com, you   overall  similarity  index  score  should not be exceedingly high, with   ten to  fifteen percent  being  the  maximum,   acronyms should be   spelled out  when using them for the   first time, for example HR,    abstracts are not  usually indented;  should  be right ragged, and not   right justified,   Please work on your  APA  formatting of citations. I   have provided the  APA resource cite for  you. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01,      Please work on using literature within the span of the last 5  years,      keep in mind there should not be any one, two, or three  sentence   paragraphs 
Your response should be  thorough and address all components of the  discussion question in  detail, include citations of all sources, where  needed, according to the  APA Style, and demonstrate accurate spelling,  grammar, and punctuation. Your  paper should be written in a clear, concise, and organized manner;  demonstrate ethical scholarship in accurate representation and  attribution of sources; and display accurate spelling, grammar, and  punctuation. 

By Tuesday May 8, 2018, deliver your assignment to the Submissions Area. 

Assignment Components Proficient  Max Points:
     
Content Knowledge: Understanding
Communicates understanding of the organization’s current vision, mission, and strategy.
Response incorporates analysis and synthesis of central concepts of the assigned topic.
 
 Response reflects understanding of the nature of the specific topic  within the discipline and its applications in contemporary times.
 
Response provides necessary details and specific examples.  / 80 pts    
 
Content Knowledge: Application Component 1
Communicates the ability to analyze the “strategic cascade” of the organization and complete a SWOT analysis.
Response demonstrates a working command of the disciplinary content knowledge.
 
Response examines the specific issue within the context of the topic area using relevant details and examples.
 
 Response analyzes the specific aspect of the issue to applicable areas  within the discipline and their relevance to real world contexts.
 
Response is adequately supported by current and relevant literature.  / 40 pts 
    
Content Knowledge: Application Component 2
Communicates the ability to summarize the internal environment,  including the organization’s values and the key elements that influence  the worker’s behavior.
Response demonstrates a working command of the disciplinary content knowledge.
 
Response examines the specific issue within the context of the topic area using relevant details and examples.
 
 Response analyzes the specific aspect of the issue to applicable areas  within the discipline and their relevance to real world contexts.
 
Response is supported by current and relevant literature  / 40 pts    
 
Content Knowledge: Application Component 3
Communicates the ability to state the ability of the organization to implement the strategy.
Response demonstrates a working command of the disciplinary content knowledge.
 
Response examines the specific issue within the context of the topic area using relevant details and examples.
 
 Response analyzes the specific aspect of the issue to applicable areas  within the discipline and their relevance to real world contexts.
 
Response is supported by current and relevant literature  /20 pts  
   
Written Communication/Personal Effectiveness
Conveys through written word understanding and application of the essential assignment components.

Writing is concise and clear in content, language use, grammar, organization, and sentence structure.
 
Writing is free of major grammatical and usage errors. / 20 pts    
 
Total:    /200 pts