Strategic Leadership: Leadership that Impacts
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Firm strategy stems from leadership, values, vision, competitive positioning and development of core capabilities and competencies. First, discuss this statement by undertaking a detailed and extensive literature review of refereed journal articles in the strategic management literature, particularly articles addressing strategic leadership. You should consider starting with the articles listed under the topic of Strategic Leadership in this Companion to the Unit Outline (p33-34)
(i have provide references list that has been allowed). You should also utilise the University’s extensive online journal database. Please note this essay should not be written as an essay on leadership from an organisational behaviour perspective. A minimum of 15 refereed articles on leadership from the strategic management literature should be used (preferably, substantially more should be used).
Second, select an organisation or firm you are familiar with (other than Temple & Webster). Identify a fundamental strategic issue that you believe your organisation will face over the next five years to ten years, and drawing on your earlier synthesis of the literature you reviewed, discuss the importance of strategic leadership to successfully meet the challenges presented by the issue.
While you may choose the issue to write about, the primary criterion for selecting it should be that you believe the issue is genuinely strategic and has the potential to materially affect the success and destiny of your organisation or firm. Examples of issues that you might consider include, business strategy content, executive succession, strategic management processes, responding to technological change, a major shift in customer needs, globalisation of the industry or changing workforce capabilities.
In this assignment you are expected to demonstrate strategic leadership skills by being a problem finder as well as a problem solver. Hence you are expected to make a reasoned, well-argued prediction of the potential impact of the issue, address the ways in which it can be dealt with, identify the impact of those actions on the organisation, as well as the issue, and address the implications for leaders who choose to ignore it.
Your paper should address strategic management theories, concepts and tools that may prove useful to understanding and addressing the issue, coping with the consequences of actions and the importance of leadership to sustainable competitive advantage for above average returns within societal values.
Area of evaluation     Mark Available     Mark Achieved     Comment (if applicable)
Introduction; identification of critical strategic issue and statement of purpose.     2
Synthesis of the literature on strategic leadership from refereed journal articles within the strategic management discipline.
(depth and breadth of review, logical and articulate presentation of ideas).
Application of the literature to a discussion of how firm strategy stems from leadership, values, vision, competitive positioning and development of core capabilities and competencies.
Relevant strategic management theory must be well explained and applied.
Discussion should be strongly supported by reference to refereed journal articles, texts, the business or education literature, websites, etc.     20
Identification and discussion of a fundamental strategic issue facing a firm or organisation over the next 5-10 years.
Discussion of the importance of strategic leadership to successfully meet the challenges presented by the issue must be well-reasoned and well-argued and supported by reference to the literature.     10
Conclusion
Discussion of the implications for strategic leadership of your literature review and application of it to a strategic issue facing an organisation or firm of your choosing.

A Checklist for Preparing Assignments
1. Comprehensiveness
Have you addressed all aspects of the assignment tasks (read each task carefully)?
2. Synthesis and Use of the Research Literature
Have you carefully selected a wide range of texts and journals for your assignment preparation? Have you used the literature to explore the topic and as evidence to support the points you make?
Reliance on your own experiences and observations will not satisfy the assessment requirements for this unit. You must use the research literature. However, the descriptive retelling of source material alone, is insufficient. You are expected to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the literature by using the literature to argue your points of view in relation to the scenario. Be sure to use your own words to present the ideas you have obtained from the literature and to cite your sources. Direct quotes generally do little to demonstrate your understanding of the source material and are often regarded as very weak evidence. Quotations if used, should be accurately quoted, referenced and interpreted.
3. Analysis
Have you moved beyond simple descriptions? From the theoretical foundations, have you drawn conclusions, and insights which address the assignment tasks? To undertake an analysis you have to answer the questions: “So what?”; “What does it all mean in relation to my point of view?”. Based on your analysis you must make some logical conclusion/s. Without a conclusion your analysis is incomplete.
Analysis does not come by just descriptively listing the views of the various writers; you must break down their arguments and look for the strengths and weaknesses in each. If you have read widely, many of those strengths and weaknesses will have been highlighted for you in the other papers you have read.
4. Application
Have you demonstrated skills in applying theory to practice?
5. References
In-text: Using the author-date method of referencing, have you correctly cited all the authors whose work you have drawn upon? (See this unit outline for the required referencing style.)
Reference List: Have you correctly listed all references used in the body of your work in an end reference list, featured on a separate page? Note that a Bibliography is not required.

References lists

Chakrabarti, A., Singh, K. & Mahmood, I., 2007. Diversification and Performance, Strategic Management Journal, 28: 101-20.

Hamel, G. & Prahalad, C.K., 1990. The Core Competence of the Corporation, Harvard Business Review, 68 (3):79-91

Klein, P.G. & Lien, L.B. 2009. Diversification, Industry Structure and Firm Strategy: An Organizational Economic Perspective, Advances in Strategic Management, Vol 26, 289-312. (See Moodle)

O’Reilly and Tushman, 2004. The Ambidextrous Organization, Harvard Business Review, April, pp.74-81.

Montgomery, 2008. Putting Leadership Back Into Strategy, Harvard Business Review, January.

Hughes, R.L. and Beatty, K.C. 2005 Becoming a Strategic Leader: Your Role in Your Organization’s Enduring Success, Ch. 7.

Gosling and Mintzberg, 2003. The Five Minds of a Manager, Harvard Business Review, November, 54-63.

Keene, A. 2000. Complexity theory: the changing role of leadership, Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 15-18.

Collins & Porras 1996. Building Your Company’s Vision, Harvard Business Review. September-October.
Schaeffer, 2002. The Leadership Journey, Harvard Business Review, October, pp. 43-47.

Cross & Prusak, 2002. The People Who Make Organizations Go – or Stop, Harvard Business Review June, 105-112.

Gabarro, J., 1989. When a New Manager Takes Charge, Harvard Business Review, May-June.
Porter, Lorsch, & Nohria 2004. Seven Surprises for the New CEO, Harvard Business Review, October, pp. 62-72.

Kotter, 1995. Leading Change, Why Transformation Efforts Fail, Harvard Business Review, Mar-Apr pp. 59-67.

Grosysberg, McLean, & Nohria, 2006. Are Leaders Portable? Harvard Business Review, May.

Hagel and Singer, 1999. Unbundling the Corporation, Harvard Business Review, March-April.

Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1994. Changing the Role of Top Management: Beyond Strategy to Purpose, Harvard Business Review, November-December, pp. 79-88.