Strategic Management LO15242

Winfried Dressler (winfried.dressler@voith.de)
Mon, 6 Oct 1997 18:47:18 +0100

Replying to LO15217 --

Doc Holloway wrote:

>Strategic management maneuvers resources (including people)
>according to a plan to obtain a specific goal. Pretty innocent stuff, it
>seems. Except people, eventually, don't enjoy being maneuvered.
and
>I also believe that the
>leadership ability to inspire confidence, build trust, and be authentic
>reduces the use of artificial techniques designed to manipulate.

Doc--

May be it is interessting to know, that german language has no different
words for leading and management, it is both "Fuehrung".

The link between management and leadership is in my opinion a "consistent
dynamical concept". What do I mean by this?

It is impossible to develop "skills and behaviors congruent with your
vision, mission and strategic plan" as long as vision, mission and
strategic plan are not consistent.

And it must be dynamical, which means that it must be flexible and open
for two-loop-learning. "Dynamical" also anticipates, that a business will
pass several phases (start, growth, advantage, effectivity). The
transistions need to be leaded, the phases need to be managed. Both would
not work without a consistent concept behind.

A concept is more than a plan to achive a goal. It has to do with identity
and personality (of a company), where identity is a combination of vision
and competency.

So, a consistent concept for a business has the power to form a congruent
identity. If the concept is wise enough to be dynamical, it makes the
identity open for learning. Transformations will change the identity but
without becoming incongruent.

What is felt like "maneuvers resources" in an incongruent context becomes
a process of alignment in a congruent one. The concept attracts people who
are attracted by it, others will leave. This is basically what happend to
ABB by Barnevik, who managed to lead via his concept.

The concept of Knut Bleicher and the school of St. Gallen in Switzerland
("Integriertes Management") which Bill mentioned is also quite a good
example for such a concept and will be part of the course. There are two
others I know about (Wolfgang Mewes ("EKS") and Wigand Grosse-Oetringhaus
("Strategic Identity")). In general, the big Japanese companies are
conceptional giants, I haven't heard too much from the US. The well known
Gurus seem to me are great in selling their parts. Oh, I must not forget
Jack Welch from GE!

Winfried

-- 

Winfried.Dressler@voith.de

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