Leadership and implementation of the strategy in the company

All strategic management process essentially has three phases, planning or formulation, implementation and control, in this article we will address the implementation of strategies in a theoretical and practical way, taking into account their importance to achieve the sustained development of our companies. faced with the challenges they face to satisfy the needs and demands of an increasingly competitive market.

The implementation of the strategies involves all the functions and people of the company, but the strategic apex is responsible for evaluating and leading the three essential elements of this process: strategic change, formal and informal structure, and culture. Due to the above, it is considered that the role of leadership is decisive in this phase of strategic direction since the positive or negative results depend on it.

Leadership is an art or process to influence people so that they carry out a certain activity. People follow those who are bearers of satisfaction of their needs and interests.

For decades, scholars of management have sought an optimal leadership style and have developed countless theories. Research indicates that there is no optimal style. "The effective leader is one who adapts his behavior to the demands of his own unique situation." Paul Hersey, Situational Leadership Theory.

In the Middle Ages the personal conditions that characterized the leaders were their personal courage and their magnificent skills as a warrior, demonstrated in combat that allowed them to exercise great power and inspire respect in the group. Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz expresses in this regard: “each era, each society, each historical moment requires certain qualities; possibly, the conditions of a leader in the future will be different from the conditions that have been required for a revolutionary stage of struggle, the imagination and the audacity that were required at a given moment. Perhaps at another time colder, less intuitive, more methodical people are needed; another type of man, the one brought up to lead society in another phase of its development, although a dose of creative spirit and imagination will always be necessary.No matter how far one goes, society will always be susceptible to improvement, to changes ”…

Effective leaders must know their staff well enough to respond appropriately to the demands that their ever-changing skills demand at all times. Also establish and strengthen the values ​​of these that guarantee the unity and cohesion of the group, as well as their feeling of belonging to them and their fidelity to them.

The leader must remember that over time, followers as individuals and as groups develop their own patterns of behavior and ways of operating. Example: norms, customs, habits, etc. Those that must be taken into account because if they are omitted, conflicts can arise, even dysfunctional ones.

The good leader to avoid the aforementioned must create a climate that induces workers to achieve certain objective and organizational results. What it means to achieve motivation in them. Create a family climate where positive behavior patterns develop, to influence the behavior of others the leader must have the power to help him correctly implement the strategy in the organization he leads.

The power role.

Although there is a popular conception that power is innate in certain people, this perception is far from the truth, the higher positions they climb in the organization they become increasingly dependent on other people since the performance of an organization depends of all its members, that is why the importance of knowledge and use of sources of power for leadership.

Sources for the use of power

1. Expert power. The greatest source of power for many senior leaders is expert power, leaders acquire this power base through feats visible to all, the greater the feat performed by the leader, the greater amount of power the leader accumulates. The expertise encourages the leader skills to influence the behavior of others since individuals to influence the behavior of others which allows them to recognize that the leader is the best connoisseur of any necessary solution that requires a certain problem that the company faces. organization. Senior managers who reach that position by moving through the different positions of the command echelon make it easier for all members of the organization to consider that they have mastery to guide them successfully.When the leader comes from external organizations, he must first achieve such recognition by the members of the organization, a situation that would be easily overcome by the one who comes from the organization itself.Power of control over information. It refers to the access and control that a leader has over important information and the possibility of choosing those who distribute this information. Henrry Minztberg points out that a leader is the most informed person in the organization since he guarantees cooperation and coordination between all the parts of the organization, which allows him to have control of the internal activities of the organization, he also has external contacts that represent Valuable sources of information, although the leader cannot master everything, he knows more than the rest of the organization. As the leader possesses information above others, he can make analysis and evaluations of it, which enables him to exert influence on the perception and attitude of his subordinates.This also facilitates the possibility of making decisions with a high level of effectiveness.Commitment / exchange. The use of exchange as a very common power base. In the exchange, the leader does something for a member of the group which encourages that person to feel committed to the leader, in the future when faced with the need for an effort, they will act spontaneously. Almost always the establishment of mutual relationships with the members of the organization requires the capacity for empathy and the ability to place ourselves in our past, leaders who deviate from their status and power tend to raise their image before those who are above and above lower in the hierarchical structure of the organization which causes them to achieve greater enthusiasm and motivation in the cooperation of the members of the group. Indirect influence. Leaders at the strategic apex generally have the power to employ others to implement the organization's strategy through indirect influence, that is, by modifying the situations in which individuals work. A variant of this technique is to make constant changes in the formal reward systems of the organization, in these cases only people who meet the performance expectations of the implementation of the strategy are rewarded, with these methods the leader can dominate the forces who resist the changes imposed with the implementation of the strategy since those workers who think that the strategy will affect their status are opposed and do not commit, sometimes they subtly express it with poor performance and covert actions.Another means of indirect influence is that the leader chooses his followers among the most loyal and who have the greatest support for the responsibilities of the organization, this technique must be used with great care because it can tend to create a false decision-making collegiate and that no opposition will appear to the leader's proposals.Charisma. Another effective power base for influencing other people's behavior is charisma. Charisma is an ability to influence other people through personal magnetism, enthusiasm, and strong convictions. Generally charismatic leaders are able to communicate these convictions and their vision of the future through a dramatic and persuasive manner in their speeches, thus creating the image of competence and success. The halo of success and personal magnetism make them role models for their workers. The more followers admire and identify with their leaders, the easier they accept their beliefs and values, providing a valuable source of power to influence followers. The more successful the leader is, the more power he will have.The combination of charisma and expert can be powerfully effective in influencing others as leaders with these powers tend to possess the group motivated and goal-oriented in the organization. These qualities guarantee the leader the management of the organization in periods of crisis and stress or change processes with a high level of effectiveness in the performance of the organization, which makes these sources of power grow more.Power to face uncertainty. Every organization faces the contingencies of the environment, this consists of several trends or development such as competition, legal regulations, pressures of production costs, new technologies, etc. The importance of these trends is relative for a company with respect to others since for one organization it may represent a critical contingency and for another it may not mean anything. These aspects are closely related to the strategies used, especially at the level of business strategies.

Figure 1. The sources of power of the leader.

Role of the leader in the strategic change process.

Role of drivers of the strategic change process.

• Detect, from their perspective of vision within the organization, facts and / or trends of the environment or internal that justify the change Advocate before those who have legitimizing power for the need for change Become themselves legitimators, facilitators, agents and / or recipients a once they get the start of a planned change process.

Role of facilitators of the strategic change process.

• Help the leader and his team to reflect to define why to change, what to change, when to change, how far to change and how to change Be part of the change management team that supports the management team in the design, implementation and Change monitoring Provide methodology and conceptual tools to develop the specific change plan Help observe and question what is happening throughout the change process Transmit errors and successes of experiences of change in other contexts Contribute to the design and implementation of the training plan for change. Contribute to the design and implementation of the communication plan for change. Facilitate communication between all stakeholders in change, helping to build new shared mental models.

Role of the agents of the strategic change process.

• Technically put into practice the new processes or systems that are necessary: ​​new technologies for automated data exchange, new performance evaluation systems, new training programs and managerial development, new production systems, etc. Legitimize or validate conceptually at their level the process of change, taking advantage of the credibility that the reality of its implementation gives it.

Role of clients or recipients of the strategic change process.

• Buy the result of the product change, so they have to decide to modify their expectations in relation to the vision of the future of the company Buy the process of change itself (especially the workers), so they have to decide to change their usual way to think and do things. Express your opinion on the suitability of the product change, both at the level of its design and initial cost and at the level of its operation over time.

Functions of the role of legitimating leadership of strategic change

• Use of his power within the organization to legitimize the type of strategic change detected by himself or by the drivers of said change Use of his power within the organization to legitimize why to change, what to change, when to change and to what extent to change. Use of its power within the organization to legitimize the concrete change project supported by the facilitators and implemented by the teams of specific agents. Decide and allocate the economic, temporal and human resources necessary to carry out the change project.

Analysis of the formal and informal structure of the company.

When executing a strategy, leaders must observe both formal and informal structures for three reasons. First, the current structure of the business may or may not help, or even impede effective execution. Second, execution demands the assignment of tasks to the various levels of the organization and its personnel. A radical change or organizational redirection strategy is often led by the CEO, while routine changes in strategy may be left to middle managers. Third, informal organization can become a valuable tool to facilitate successful execution as the informal communication network can be used to stimulate rapid strategy implementation.

The formal structure can present different classifications, from bureaucratic to meritocratic structures. In this paper, the types of structures that should be used for the effective implementation of strategic direction in security and protection organizations will be briefly addressed.

Matrix structure.

The origin of the matrix structure is linked to the project organizations, they have a double flow of authority (vertical from the hierarchical point of view and horizontal from the technical or project point of view), this type of structure is formed by the formation of teams with members of various areas of the organization to carry out a project, ceasing to exist with the conclusion of the project.

Advantage.

• It allows several experts to be brought together in a team Greater flexibility of the organization It allows to allocate resources to the projects of greater importance from the strategic point of view Helps to mitigate conflicts between the objectives generated by the different functional areas of the organization. Members tend to be more motivated. It is used for the training of Chiefs quarry. It contributes to increase the involvement and commitment of the team members. It avoids promiscuity among team members and with the members of the organizations they protect.

Disadvantages.

• The double flow of authority sometimes creates conflicts, it can lead to stress on team members by being accountable to 2 Heads.

The adhocracy.

It is used to face temporary operational situations, it consists of creating teams made up of members from different parts of the organization to face specific projects, the main characteristic is the little formalization, little complexity and high decentralization in decision-making and the predominance of mutual adjustment coordination mechanisms.

Advantage.

• The same ones provided by the matrix structure.

Disadvantages.

• There tends to be a lack of authority and coordination.

Structure - strategies relationship.

In 1962 Chandler began studies on the relationship between strategy and organizational structure, reaching several conclusions:

• Structure follows strategy The most complex type of structure is the result of the concatenation of several basic strategies.

Analysis of the culture of the company.

Culture can be defined as the set of shared values ​​and beliefs that develop in a company over time. Organizational culture affects strategy implementation by influencing the behavior of its workers and / or motivating them to achieve or exceed organizational goals. Generally, the present or past leaders of an organization exert a definite influence on the culture. It is also frequent that several subcultures coexist between the particular departments of the organization, which in turn are influenced by the leaders of those levels. The organization develops and reinforces cultures in different ways. The five primary mechanisms are:

• What leaders pay attention to, measure and control: Leaders can communicate their vision of the organization and what they want done most effectively by continually emphasizing the same topics in meetings, in comments and spontaneous responses and in discussions about strategies Leaders' reactions to critical incidents and internal crises: The methods leaders use to resolve crises can give rise to new beliefs and values ​​and reveal underlying assumptions in the organization Deliberate role modeling, teaching and training: the behavior of leaders, in both formal and informal contexts, has significant effects on the beliefs, values ​​and behaviors of employees. Criteria for the allocation of compensation and status:Leaders can quickly communicate their priorities and values ​​by consistently linking rewards and punishments to desirable behaviors Criteria for Recruitment, Selection, Promotion, and Retirement: The kinds of people who are hired and successful in an organization are those that accept the values ​​of the organization and behave accordingly.

Instrumental values.

Every organization has the final values ​​associated with its mission and vision, which are explained in the third stage of the system.

Instrumental or operational values ​​are associated with the way of thinking and doing things with which the organization intends to face the demands of its environment and integrate its internal tensions to achieve its vision and mission.

The instrumental values ​​configure the operational culture and are equivalent to the explicit principles of action that have to regulate the daily conduct of people to achieve the vision and mission, for example, the mission of an organization can be to obtain benefits (final value) and quality will be the instrumental value to achieve it.

Leader actions to legitimize the new culture.

• Affirm values ​​honestly and consistently. The leader must assume and defend values ​​that are worth striving for, being especially careful to be consistent between what he says and what he does.

• Maturity and tolerance for ambiguity. The leader must get used to relying little on rules, systems, procedures and controls, getting used to living with a notable degree of risk and uncertainty. The mature leader must learn to help others to live with complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity, and to do so, he must begin with himself.

• Self-knowledge. It is essential for a leader to know how to evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses and to make strategic decisions to strengthen and improve.

• Adaptability. The belief of own adaptability is easily generalizable to the new situations that may arise in the company.

• Intuition. Confidence in one's own intuition and that of others, without an excess of search for rationality, is one of the essential characteristics of true leaders.

• Energy. A transformative leader must have a great deal of personal energy and courage, both to transmit it to his collaborators and to support himself the emotional rhythm of the work that his role requires.

• Communication. Developing interpersonal and public communication skills is investing in one of the most useful work tools of leadership.

• Stress resistance. If the leader becomes distressed or inhibits the whole process of change, it can also be blocked. The professional stress coping profile has three characteristics.

1. Ability to get excited about new stimuli Ability to contemplate new situations as learning experiences Belief in one's own ability to modify adverse circumstances.

Evaluation of skills for execution.

Interaction skills.

It manifests itself in the conduct of one's own behavior and that of others to achieve the objectives. Depending on the level of strategic change required to execute a strategy, leaders may have to influence others within and outside the organization.

Assignment skills.

Managers' ability to schedule tasks and efficiently budget for time, money, and other resources. Able leaders avoid allocating excessive resources to mature programs and recognize that new and risky ones require the investment of many resources.

Organizational skills.

They help the leader to create a new informal organization or deal with any problems that occur. Good leaders tailor informal organization for good execution. Managers require particular skills tailored to overcome obstacles and ensure tasks are accomplished efficiently. These skills enable the leader to continually evaluate the execution of the strategy and the objectives set by the organization.

Follow-up skills.

It implies an efficient use of information to correct problems that may arise in the implementation process and requires efficient feedback information systems to analyze the progress made in the execution of the strategy, as well as problems that may arise along the way.

As can be seen, in the arguments expressed above, the leader plays a leading role in the process of implementing strategies in the company he directs, due to the importance of the presence of strategic thinking, strategic attitude and strategic intention. addressed in previous articles, to achieve sustainable competitive advantages in the face of the challenge faced by organizations in this century.

Bibliography

1. Castro Ruz, Fidel., Nothing will be able to stop the march of history./ Political editor, La Habana, 237 pp. Certo, Samuel. C. Strategic Direction. / Samuel C. Certo and J. Paul Peter./ Ed. Irwin, Madrid Spain. 382 pp.. Menguzato and Renau., The strategic direction of the company an innovative approach to management. SPI, 427 pp. Morrisey, George. Strategic thinking. Build the foundations of your planning. / Ed. Prentice Hall Hispanoamericana, Madrid, Spain. 119 pp..Odiorne, George S. Management by objectives. New management system. / Ed. Limusa, Mexico, 247 pp. Porter, Michael., Competitive advantages. / Ed. Free Press, New York, sp. Porter, Michael., What is strategy? / Brochures Management, No8Schein, Edgar., Business Culture and Leadership./ Barcelona, ​​Plaza & Jones, pp 10 - 250.Steiner, George A Strategic Planning.What every leader should know. 11th Edition. / Ed. Compañía Editirial Continental, SA, Mexico. 360 pp. Wright, Peter., Strategic Management./ Peter Right, Charles D. Prngle, Mark J. Kroll and John Parnell, 2nd Edition. / Ed. Woodstock Publishers Service, USA, pp 4 - 101.