Shared vision and organizational strategy implementation challenges

Leadership Vision

Over the last several years, a wide variety of organizations have been addressing challenges associated with effective leadership. This is because most firms have traditionally created strategies behind closed doors and then introduced these ideas to everyone. The problem with this kind of approach is that no one is able to share the same kind of vision as the individuals in the planning group. The reason why is, most people were left out of the process (which makes it difficult to become excited about the new strategy). Once this takes place, is when a firm will waste time, money and resources in trying to implement an approach that has very little support.

Evidence of this can be seen with observations from Lussier (2009) he determined that vision and sharing is essential for any kind of organization to be successful. Commenting about these ideas Lussier observed, "Organizational leaders too often plunge into a long-term planning process without first deliberating on certain fundamental factors. Effective leaders must understand that creating a vision involves content, process and implementation. To be widely accepted, vision creation should be a shared exercise." (Lussier, 2009, pg. 424) This is illustrating how all good leaders will use the ideas of vision and sharing to motivate everyone around them. To fully understand how this occurs requires: examining the importance of vision / sharing, organizations that are facing challenges from these issues and assessing five failures of ineffective leadership. Together, these different elements will provide the greatest insights as to the role leaders are playing in conflict resolution and problem solving.

The Importance of Vision and Sharing

The significance of vision and sharing are that they help to bring different stakeholders into the planning process. This takes into account numerous viewpoints when creating any kind of strategy. At the same time, the ability to bring more individuals into the process will create a shared set of values. These ideas can be discussed with other employees to establish broad support for new programs that are being introduced. The combination of these factors will create a situation where everyone will do more for the firm. This is because they are: having their basic needs addressed and feel that the different viewpoints are taken into consideration.

Evidence of this can be seen with observations from Kantabutra (2010). She observed, "Effective visions are characterized by conciseness, clarity, abstractness, stability, future orientation, challenge and desirability or ability to inspire. Such visions are associated with higher performance outcomes." (Kantabutra, 2010, pg. 37) This is illustrating how all leaders will utilize a strategy that is bringing more people into the decision making process. In the future, this is increasing the ability of firms to take these ideas and create a shared vision that everyone is supporting. This is when organizations can adjust to different challenges (as they are more responsive to needs of stakeholders).

Identify organizations that may be facing economic, human capital, and ethical issues in which conflict between vision and stated missions

One of the best examples of an organization that is facing economic and ethical issues is the U.S. government. The way that this is occurring is most individuals in positions of power have sense of entitlement about their position. This means that they believe they have a right to continue to serve in public office for: their own benefits and what they can provide to their Congressional district. This is occurring through what is known as pork barrel spending (which wastes government resources on projects that benefit limited numbers of people). This problem has become so engrained that is contributing to record debt levels. These issues are a combination of ethical and economic difficulties, which are from a lack of leadership. This is taking place with no one standing up against these practices (inside Congress) and demanding some kind of change. Instead, when new individuals are elected into public office is the point that they will follow similar practices. Over the course of time, this has been having an adverse impact on consumer and business confidence. Until these kinds of issues are addressed, by creating effective strategies for shared vision. There will be no improvement in dealing with these challenges. (Chait, 2007, pp. 155 -- 275)

Assessing the Role of Leaders in Conflict Resolution and Problem Solving

Leaders play a major role in dealing with conflicts and solving problems. The way that this is taking place, is they will serve as a go between for the different parties in a dispute. During the process of understanding these views, they will objectively listen to both sides of the argument and make suggestions for dealing with the challenges. This will involve each side giving up something in order to create a compromise that is acceptable for everyone. (Baker, 2010, pp. 157 -- 180)

When this happens, the organization is effectively addressing challenges that could have an impact on the ability of a firm to provide a host of products and services. This prevents negative attitudes and perceptions from adversely impacting productivity and costs. Instead, the leadership is able to create a set of common goal and ideas. During the course of the workday, this will shape how everyone views their jobs and their roles inside the organization. Once someone is able to have a favorable image of the firm, is the point that they are willing to do more for stakeholders. This is because, they feel that they are respected and appreciated for the contributions that they make. It is at this point that the organization will have sense of higher purpose and unity about reaching the larger objectives. Therefore, the role of leaders during this process is to serve as: a confidant, supervisor and objective third party. This is when they will be seen as someone who has a balanced approach when dealing with everyone. (Baker, 2010, pp. 157 -- 180)