The Influence Of Strategic Leadership

Background Strategic leadership represents a process used by leaders with an aim to achieve a desirable and well-understood vision through influencing organizational culture, resource allocation, and providing policy directive (Schwartz & Castelli, 2014). The process also includes building consensus in complex and uncertain situations that exists in business environments where there are great opportunities and increased levels of risks (Bibu & El-Moniem, 2011). According to Honore (2009) employee motivation encompasses a host of factors that are either extrinsic or intrinsic which cause employees to pursue organizational goals and act in certain ways. Extrinsic factors emanate from aspects related to an organization such as the provision

Strategic leadership requires creating meaning and purpose for the organization with a powerful vision and mission that creates a future for the organization (Hambrick, 2007). Despite the burden of strategy implementation being placed on the top managers in an organisation such as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the input from lower level managers as well as other employee networks contribute significantly towards the implementation of the strategy. As a corporate or strategic leader, one has a role in developing a vision that inspires the organization’s employees as well as partners, where appropriate clients and the community at large. Therefore, organizational leadership is central to the creation of a learning and performance culture in the organization that motivates managers and staff members to pursue organizational

One of the theories in this area of research is the upper echelons theory. The central premise the theory is based on bounded rationality indicating that situations that are informationally complex and riddled with uncertainty are not handled from an objective point of view by the top managers of an organization but they are merely interpreted from their experiences (Hambrick, 2007). From this theory, organizations are a reflection of the top leadership and hence to develop an understanding of the manner in which organizations act, it is important to consider the existing disposition of the top leadership in the organization (Hambrick, 2007). Other areas of literature that have been mainly developments of this theory indicate that in essence what need to be studied are the characteristics of the entire top management team rather than the traditional focus of the top individual executive who in most cases is the CEO. The literature indicates that higher leadership in organizations is a shared activity, and hence, strategies are determined by the collective cognitions, interactions and collaborations among the top leadership as a