According to Shakespeare, “Uneasy is the head that wears the crown”. Leaders particularly in the area of business bear the daunting task of driving and fulfilling the visions and objectives of the organization they oversee. They must possess the tact, reliable information, vision, and a collaborative attitude in order to gain the buy-in of their peers, executives and at all levels of the organization in order to lead strategically. According to Coulter, the six key dimensions of strategic management are determining vision, exploiting and maintaining the organization’s core competencies, developing the organization’s human resource, establishing and maintaining the organization’s culture, accentuating the organization’s policies and practices
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Roger Smith’s vision was clearly to shift manufacturing processes to an automated base in efforts to reduce the cost of labor. Herb Keller, from the inception of the idea to form Southwest Airlines, had the vision to differentiate the company by offering a “positively outrageous service,” (Bacon & Pugh, 2003). Barrett who worked under Keller at Southwest for thirty years shared his same passion for customer service as the platform for organizational success. The same continuity can be said about Southwest’s development and sustaining of a strong organizational culture. Both Keller and Barrett maintained a people friendly, relaxed and laidback culture while still focusing on the vision of providing a joyous experience for their …show more content…
Company executive and employees alike preached and conducted internal and external interaction by the Golden Rule which infers accountability in treating others the way one would like to be treated. Smith did not do the same but instead led his organization in an autocratic manner. This also speaks to his leadership style in balancing organizational controls. Smith did not seek or welcome buy-ins from other company executives or the board of directors and solely made strategic decisions which had negative impacts on GM. The organization controls were shared at Southwest for example when Keller stepped down as CEO to sin on the company’s board of directors, responsibilities were split between Collen Barret and Jim Parker. The contrasting management styles at Southwest and GM share an insight in the concepts of strategic management. It highlights the importance of situational analysis as well as strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation. These principles ultimately determine the success and failures of leaders and organizations in which they manage. I as either a customer, employee or partner to an organization would definitely prefer the management strategies at Southwest Airlines over that of GM’s Roger
Roger Smith’s vision was clearly to shift manufacturing processes to an automated base in efforts to reduce the cost of labor. Herb Keller, from the inception of the idea to form Southwest Airlines, had the vision to differentiate the company by offering a “positively outrageous service,” (Bacon & Pugh, 2003). Barrett who worked under Keller at Southwest for thirty years shared his same passion for customer service as the platform for organizational success. The same continuity can be said about Southwest’s development and sustaining of a strong organizational culture. Both Keller and Barrett maintained a people friendly, relaxed and laidback culture while still focusing on the vision of providing a joyous experience for their …show more content…
Company executive and employees alike preached and conducted internal and external interaction by the Golden Rule which infers accountability in treating others the way one would like to be treated. Smith did not do the same but instead led his organization in an autocratic manner. This also speaks to his leadership style in balancing organizational controls. Smith did not seek or welcome buy-ins from other company executives or the board of directors and solely made strategic decisions which had negative impacts on GM. The organization controls were shared at Southwest for example when Keller stepped down as CEO to sin on the company’s board of directors, responsibilities were split between Collen Barret and Jim Parker. The contrasting management styles at Southwest and GM share an insight in the concepts of strategic management. It highlights the importance of situational analysis as well as strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation. These principles ultimately determine the success and failures of leaders and organizations in which they manage. I as either a customer, employee or partner to an organization would definitely prefer the management strategies at Southwest Airlines over that of GM’s Roger