The document discusses strategic change and strategic leadership. It provides information on managing strategic change, including identifying areas for change, barriers to change, using organizational persuasion, and becoming a learning organization. It also discusses types of strategic change, strategic issues such as time, scope, diversity and readiness. Additionally, it outlines the key actions of strategic leadership, including determining strategic direction, managing resources, sustaining culture, emphasizing ethics, and establishing controls.

1. STRATEGIC CHANGE
&
STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Sensei Ndlovu- MBA
Director: Kaizen Academy
contact@sensei-Ndlovu.com

2. STRATEGIC CHANGE & STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Every day around the world, organizations face changes, such as:
 Introducing new products to the market place
 Streamlining the organization.
Supposing organizations commenced such changes without making careful plans
and implementing change in a meticulous way, the result would not be as favourable.
Strategic change allows organizations to :
 Carefully and responsibly make needed changes,
Counting all the efforts and actions that will take place in order to move an
organization from its current state towards the desired future state to increase its
competitiveposition and its profitability.
Change is necessary for organizations to continue to flourish and exceed the
competition of industry competitors.

3. MANAGING STRATEGIC CHANGE
Strategic Change
Analysing the causes
of change
The strategic change
process
Identify areas
for change
Identify barriers
to change
Use organisational
persuasion
Become a learning
organisation

4. The four steps in the process of managing strategic change
There is no easy way to manage strategic change, and no magic pill or simple
formula that will work overallin all organizations. Naturally, one would begin with
asking questions such as, what change is deemed necessary?
Given that the process of managing strategic change is not an easy one, one of the
most important tasks in this process is to understand and manage resistance to
change.
The issues that must form part of such process include:
• Identifying the areas of change
• The first and important issue regarding the process of strategic change is to identify
the areas in which change has to take place. Change is associated primarily with
employees and the tasks that must be performed. Broadly the areas that need to be
changed as a result of a new strategy will includetechnology, operations,
administrationand people
STRATEGIC CHANGE & STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Identify areas
for change

5. The issues that must form part of such process include:
Managing resistance to strategic change
• Change is about changing people, not organizations.
• Organizations change when the managers and employees change their
way of doing business.
• It needs to be recognized that employees are an essential part of the
change process.
• The effect of change is that it disrupts normality.
• Employees may feel that their job security is threatened and they may also
fear changes to their personal position in the organization
STRATEGIC CHANGE & STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Identify areas
for change

6. The issues that must form part of such process include:
• Power and influence
• Major change requires a shift in the underlying culture of the organization
and therefore the attitudes and behaviors of the employees.
• Many change initiatives stumble because they fail to deliver this shift by
addressing the cultural and political reality of organizations.
• Persuading organizational members to support the change is a crucial step
in strategic change management. Organizational culture plays a significant
role as a driver in strategy implementation.
STRATEGIC CHANGE & STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Use organisational
persuasion

7. The issues that must form part of such process include:
• The learning organization
• The concept of a learning organization entails the capacity of thinking
continually about strategy and creating synergy by sharing knowledge and
ideas, and by generating actions that will contribute positively to the whole
organization. The idea behind a learning organization is that it is easier to
adapt to change if the organization first has the ability to learn.
STRATEGIC CHANGE & STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Become a learning
organisation

8. TYPES OF STRATEGIC CHANGE
Incremental
Revolutionary
Current
Organizational
Setting
Adaptation
Reconstruction
Fundamental
Changes
Evolution
Revolution

9. The strategic change issues that an organization may experience
Given the fact that strategic change requires that important issues be taking
into account, it is crucial to understand and accept the fact that no two
change processes look the same.
No technique ever materializes in the same twice. Each change is different
and every organization is different.
• Some of the strategic change issues that must be managed and taken in
consideration are:
• Time, Scope, Diversity, Capacity, Readiness and Capability
STRATEGIC ISSUES OF CHANGE

10. Time:
• How quickly is change needed
• does the organization have time to change?
• Constant innovation ensures that an organization
remains aligned to the changing needs of its
customers and enables it to be better positioned to
respond to emerging changes in the business
environment.
STRATEGIC ISSUES OF CHANGE

11. Scope:
• What is the scope of change needed?
• Is it dramatic revolutionary change needed, or only
a moderate change?
• Survival in this brave new world is no longer based
on the size of the bank, but rather on its ability to
innovate.
STRATEGIC ISSUES OF CHANGE

12. • Diversity:
• What is the level of homogeneity in the
organization?
• A heterogeneous workforce can hamper
change.
• An organization may recognize that its social
media strategy is needed to grow organically.
• An organization may also decided that its
actions has to be primarily driven by the needs
and demands of its communities and
customers rather than its brand or risk
managers.
STRATEGIC ISSUES OF CHANGE

13. • Capacity
• Does the organization have the capacity in
terms of the resources needed to change?
• Many organizations are faced with significant
challenges in developing the processes and
tools that enable disparate parts of its
organization to create access and share a
single view of its customers
STRATEGIC ISSUES OF CHANGE

14. • Readiness:
• Are the employees ready for the change? This
also refers to the level of resistance to change.
• People who have been in the organization for
many years are often unwilling to contemplate
change.
• Organizations my need to spent time
developing tools that will enable incongruent
parts of its organization to create access and
share a single view of its customers.
STRATEGIC ISSUES OF CHANGE

15. • Capability:
• Do the organization’s employees and management
have the capabilities to implement change?
• Social media can also enable the organization to
collect rich data about its communities and
customer
• segments that – in turn– will allow the organization
to develop more effective communications and
marketing strategies, valuable process
improvements and targeted product development
that meets the future needs of its key customer
segments.
STRATEGIC ISSUES OF CHANGE

16. The five building blocks an organization might have
• The organizational structure divides and coordinates work throughout the
different functional divisions and work processes. Therefore, there are
certain parts of the organization that are responsible for certain duties.
The five building blocks of the organization categorizes employee duties are:
• The operating core, the middle line, the strategic apex, the techno
structure and the support staff
STRATEGIC ISSUES OF CHANGE

17. The operating core:
• This is the area where the organizations products and services are produced
or delivered.
The middle line:
• The organization’s middle line serves as the connection between the strategic
apex and the operating core, linking the authority from senior managers’ to
first line managers.
• The strategic apex:
• This is the area where the company’s strategies are formulated, responsibility
for strategy implementation is carried and supervision is given to ensure that
an organization serves its mission statement, social network communities and
platforms evolved, driven by the needs and demands of its communities and
customers rather than its brand or risk managers.
STRATEGIC ISSUES OF CHANGE

18. The techno structure:
• This will include the company’s employees who are concerned with
coordinating work by standardizing work processes, outputs and designing
the work process of others in the business as a whole. A company might need
developed processes and tools that enabled different fragments of its
organization to create access and share a single view of its customers.
The support staff:
• Support staff provides assistance for a company outside its normal
operational activities.
• Promotions and competitions allow the business to build and reinforce
ongoing relationships with both existing and potential customers’ right across
the business.
STRATEGIC ISSUES OF CHANGE

19. The key actions and responsibilities of strategic leadership at any organization
• Strategic leadership involves the application of strategy in the management
of an organization.
• Leaders are very instrumental in ensuring that organizational change
establishes and is permanent.
• Leadership is the key component in the strategy implementation process.
Ireland, Hoskisson and Hitt (2008) identify five actions and responsibilities of
strategic leadership.
• There is a close interaction among these actions and effective strategic
leaders will understand how these interactions can be applied in the
organization.
STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP

20. Determining the organization’s strategic direction
• Strategic leaders are the most important assets of the organization since their
mode of leadership determines the future of the organization and the
productivity of the employees.
• Their most important task is not to determine the vision of the organization, but
also to develop the strategy to achieve this vision.
• Effectively managing the organization’s resource portfolio
• The management of the organization’s resources is perhaps the most
important strategic leadership task. The management of financial resources is
obvious, because it will lead to organizational success. The management of
human resources is critically important, as well as the integration of these
resources. (Lazenby 2014: 348). Strategic leaders implement their leadership
roles by training the employees to get things done by combining resources in
order to come up with the best results for the organization.
STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP

21. Sustaining an effective organizational culture
• Organizational culture refers to the complex set of ideologies, symbols and
core values that are shared throughout the organization and will influence
“the way we do things here”. Culture plays a vital role in the development of
strategy, but more importantly, perhaps, in the strategic implementation.
Emphasizing ethical practices
• The effectiveness of an organization increases when its operations are based
on ethical practices. Ethical practices refer to right and fair behavior when
conducting the organization’s business. When top management bases its
decision on the desire to do the right thing, and also value honestly, trust and
integrity, this has a crucial influence on the organization’s ethical practices.
(Lazenby 2014: 349).
STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP

22. Establishing balanced organizational controls.
• Organization control is an important part of the strategy implementation.
Control will guide the work in such a way that the performance goals are
achieved. Organizational control will help strategic leaders to build their
credibility to organization’s stakeholders, because it provides the parameters
within which strategy implementation takes place.
Reflection and Conclusion
• Strategic leadership and change management are two very close areas
which are very interdependent. Change management can be very
frustrating and at times disappointing if it is accompanied by poor
leadership. To have proper and effective organization change, it is
necessary to employ good management whose source is from the leaders.
STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP