Strategic

Direction
Module 2:
Organizational Behavior & Strategic Direction
 Learning Objectives

• Understand the connection between organizational culture

and setting strategic direction
• Discuss corporate structure & corporate culture as the core of
organizational effectiveness
• Understand how leaders can promote effective strategic
management
• Discuss the role of leadership skills in strategic direction
setting

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 Organizational Behavior - Definitions

• Organizational behavior studies the impact individuals,

groups, and structures have on human behavior within
organizations.
• Concepts such as leadership, decision making, teambuilding,
motivation, and job satisfaction are all facets of organizational
behavior and responsibilities of management.
• Organizational behavior also deals heavily with culture.
Company or corporate culture is difficult to define but is
extremely relevant to how organizations behave.
 Example Discussion
• Transitioned from Dallas, TX, USA to Luanda,
Angola.
• At a high level, what are some differences you
think I might have experienced in organizational
culture and what factors do you think affected
this culture?
– Educational opportunities
– Unions
– Language and history
– Infrastructure
– Corruption
• From a departmental perspective, how do you
think that affected my strategic direction?
 Organizational Design and Structure

• Formal Design Elements • Informal Design Elements

– Strategy – Shared values
– Structures – Informal networks
– Processes and procedures – Communities
– Programs and initiatives – Pride
– Performance goals and – Holocracy
metrics

Formalization refers to the extent Informal design is difficult to define

that rules, policies, and and has no clear structural
procedures govern the behavior of boundaries. Elements are easier to
employees in an organization. use.

END
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 Factors Influencing Organizational Design

Environmen
t

Technology Strategy

Org
Design

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 Technology Factors

• The combination of resources, knowledge, and techniques

that creates a product or service output for an organization.
• The match between structure and technology is important for
the successful design of organizations
• Speed of communication is perhaps the greatest impact of
technology on organizational platforms:
– Sending texts, email transmission of documents, voice and face-to-
face communication, and virtual offices and work teams

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 Environmental Factors

• An effective organizational design takes into account powerful

external forces as well as the desires of employees and
managers.
• There are two main sets of parameters used to explain the
environment:
– General - the set of cultural, economic, legal-political, and educational
conditions found in the areas in which the organization operates.
These can include different global economies and markets.
– Specific - the mix of owners, suppliers, distributors, government
agencies, and competitors with which it interacts.

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 Strategic Factors

• Organizational strategy is the process of positioning the

organization in its competitive envi­ronment and implementing
actions to compete successfully.

• How do you think the strategy of a low cost retailer like

Walmart or Amazon would compare to a high margin
software as a service (SaaS) company like SAP when it comes
to strategic impact on organizational culture?
– Spend conscious versus employment engagement conscious
– Values efficiency versus values innovation
– High % of low-skilled versus high % of high-skilled

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 The Concept of Organizational Culture

• Corporate or organic cultures? In other words can culture be

designed or imposed by senior figures or must it, by
definition, grow organically?

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 Levels of Culture – Edgar Schein

Level 1
Visible organizational
Artif structures & process
(clothes, buildings, behaviors)
acts
Level 2 Strategic goals, philosophies
(values, norms, beliefs)
Espoused Beliefs
& Values
Unconscious, assumed
beliefs, thoughts, feelings
Level 3
(invisible at higher levels)
Underlying Assumptions

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 The Iceberg Cultural Model
10% of cultural characteristics are visible (explicit)
Visible Cultural Traits
Words
Food Actions
Customs
Behaviors
Manner
Traditions
Perceptions Beliefs

Assumptions Attitudes
Habits

Values
Invisible Cultural Traits
90% of cultural characteristics are below the water line (implicit)
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 Elements of “Strong” Corporate Culture

A widely shared A concern for A recognition of

philosophy individuals heroes

A well-understood A belief that what

A belief in ritual sense of informal employees do is
and ceremony rules & important to
expectations others

Examples?
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 Traits Associated with Effective Leadership

You want • Energy level

• Stress tolerance
to be • Self-confidence
•
here!!! Personality •
Emotional maturity
Integrity

Ability Motivation
• Interpersonal • Socialized power
skills orientation
• Cognitive skills • Strong need for
• Technical skills achievement
• Self-starter
• Persuasiveness
 Understanding Strategic Leadership

Creating a compelling vision and developing a strategy

to achieve it is one of leadership’s primary functions.
Historically, only top leaders understood the vision well
enough to organize human and material resources to
achieve it. Today, however, leaders at every level of the
organization must understand the vision.

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 Understanding Strategic Leadership (cont’d)

Excellence in organizational performance does not

come about by accident. It is a conscious choice made
by organizational leaders. Top leaders know their
organization’s environment, have a five- or ten-year
vision for the organization, and set believable plans to
achieve their vision. However, in this complex and ever-
changing world, anticipating the future can be very
difficult. This means leaders must anticipate their
future needs and position their organization properly to
fulfill those needs.
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 Leadership & Vision

• Organizational leaders must create a compelling vision that

will inspire and motivate their employees.
• A vision is more than just a dream. It is an ambitious view of
the future that everyone in the organization can believe in,
one that can realistically be achieved, yet offers a future that
is better in important ways than what now exists.
• Vision is what guides everyone in an organization down the
same path and at the same pace.

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 Strategic Direction & Leadership : The Connection

• Strategic Leadership is the ability to influence others to

voluntarily make decisions that enhance the prospects for the
organization's long-term success while maintaining short-term
financial stability.
• Different leadership approaches impact the vision and
direction of growth and the potential success of an
organization.
• Strategic leadership provides techniques that help focus
organizations when they are deciding on their purpose and
best business practices critical for remaining competitive and
relevant.

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 Using the Three Tools of Leadership for
Strategic Direction Setting
1. Envisioning the future

• Vision is timeless.
• It’s based on who/what you want to do.
• It’s why you have an organization in the first place. It must be
specific enough that everyone can use it to decide if their
work is moving the company forward.
• Progress towards the vision must be measurable.

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 Using the Three Tools of Leadership for
Strategic Direction Setting
2. Strategy

• Strategy links the destination (vision) with current reality.

Strategy applies to the whole company, and answers the
question:
– How will we reach our vision, given current market
conditions, competitive scenario, regulatory environment,
etc.?
• Strategy is narrower than vision, but broad enough to guide
companywide organization structure, hiring, capabilities that
must be developed, and so on.

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 Using the Three Tools of Leadership for
Strategic Direction Setting
3. The Tactics

• Tactics are limited in scope and typically apply to just a part of

the company. They’re shorter term than a strategy.
• They involve executing given the existing capabilities and
resources of the company.
• Unlike strategy, tactics generally work within the current
organizational structure rather than changing the
organization. 

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 Leadership Traits for
Strategic Direction Setting
• Ability to anticipate — a way to foresee changes and react to
every kind of business situation.
• Ability to challenge — good leaders know what they believe in
and are willing to go against the status quo and question
everything.
• Ability to interpret — instead of reflexively seeing or hearing
what you expect, you should synthesize all the input you have.
You’ll need to recognize patterns, push through ambiguity,
and seek new insights.

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 Leadership Styles & Traits for
Strategic Direction Setting
• Ability to decide — making decisions is often hard. As a
strategic thinker, you need to take a lot of input, have multiple
options, and choose.
• Ability to align — you must sometimes find common ground,
be a negotiator, and communicate well.
• Ability to learn — learning new things and behaving
accordingly is always a good mindset to have.

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 Leadership Styles for
Strategic Direction Setting

Examples of situations
why may require these
different styles?
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Leadership Styles & Traits for
Strategic Direction Setting

May be ineffective Drives best

at operations. behaviors in the
org.

May drive poor

engagement.
Poor results
generally.

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 Summary

• The connection between organizational culture and setting

strategic direction
• Corporate structure & culture as the core of organizational
effectiveness
• How leaders can promote effective strategic management
• The role of leadership skills in strategic direction setting

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