Week 7 - Assessment Point 2

You are required to engage in presenting the anatomy of the top

management team (including yourself) within your organisation.
You are also required to explain how the characteristics of the top
management team and yourself influence the strategic decision-
making process by giving examples from the latest strategic
decisions taken

Benson Gilbert Odo

A2002D10328392
Strategic Leadership and Practise (MBA718)
Antonis Antoniou
01.08.2021

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 Catalog
Introduction................................................................................................................................................3
Ideal Top Management Team.................................................................................................................... 4
Leadership Styles in Top Management..............................................................................................4
Leader with a Vision.................................................................................................................. 5
Managerial Leader..................................................................................................................... 5
Leader of Strategic Initiatives.................................................................................................... 5
Anatomy of a Strategic Leader.................................................................................................................. 6
Levels of Management.......................................................................................................................7
Top-level management...............................................................................................................7
Middle level management..........................................................................................................8
Lower-level management...........................................................................................................8
Anatomy Of Weights and Measures Agency and it’s latest decision made.............................................. 8
Anatomy of Weights and Measures Agency......................................................................................9
Latest decision made..........................................................................................................................9
Characteristics Which Influence Strategic Decision-Making Process.....................................................10
Age........................................................................................................................................... 11
Position in The Company.........................................................................................................11
Individuality............................................................................................................................. 11
Professionalism/ Expertise.......................................................................................................11
Prior Experience.......................................................................................................................12
Proclivity to take risks..............................................................................................................12
Gender......................................................................................................................................12
Conclusion............................................................................................................................................... 12
Appendices...............................................................................................................................................15
References................................................................................................................................................16

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Introduction
According to Selart (2010), leadership and organizational ideas are inextricably linked.
Leaders must understand organizational culture in order to lead the organization and
its people. As a result, organizations must have capable and effective top management
with the ability to lead toward achieving desired goals. As Maxwell (1998) puts it,
“anyone may steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course”. A "strategic
leader" with excellent visionary and managerial skills should head such an
organization. Maxwell states, "Everything rises and falls on leadership" (1998).
Grout and Fisher (2011) define a leader as someone who accepts full responsibility
for whatever outcome.The qualities of the senior management group are extremely
important in the execution of an organization's critical tasks.
“...leadership is the art of persuading others to do what you expect them to do because
they want them to be done,” remarked Eisenhower Dwight, the 34th President of the
United States (Wilkins and Carolin, 2013). The structure of the senior supervisory
group is responsible for the planning, monitoring, and implementation of all critical
activities. Most functional activities are delegated to chiefs for an organization's
exhibition, while top supervisor focuses on essential execution of an organization's
core objective and vision. Leaders are strategic decision-makers who make decisions
primarily to benefit their organizations. Strategic decisions are new-fangled, intricate,
and exposed in nature, and establishing a strategy is the most challenging task a
strategic leader faces (Selart, 2010).
Because of the importance of having a short and long-term focus on organizational
objectives and goals, strategic leadership is essential for strategic decision-making.
To achieve the greatest outcomes from them, management must be aware of the
various elements that influence decision-making and establish purposeful structural
frameworks.
According to Rowe, the CEO and other top supervisory group members should use
important authority style; nevertheless, it is also best in class for high level

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supervisory group members to balance their administration style with both
administrative and visionary initiative styles
This study examines top managerial leadership styles, top managers, as well as the
anatomy and impact of top leadership on the strategic decision-making process, or the
art of strategic decision-making..

Ideal Top Management Team

As indicated by Wiersema and Bantel, (1992), the authority dynamic unit inside the
most elevated vital level of an association is the top supervisory group. The Top
Management Team are the creation of all general authorities inside an association for
the most part at the degree of chief (Hambrick et al, 1996). It is likewise proposed by
Amason (1996) that all corporate choice and meaning of vital vision are made by top
supervisory crew who comprise of high level directors. According to Wu et al (2017).,
mental models are "intrinsic cognitive processes used by humans when accomplishing
an action in a certain setting", the "interior" picture of the outer world of a person. As
a result, having a diverse senior management team in terms of age, education,
experience, cultural origins, professions, and expertise is a huge strength that
positively influences strategic decision-making
Top supervisory crews requires key initiative to advance the mission of the
association. Each individual from the top supervisory group has the ability to impact
the every day activity of the association towards the achievement of its main goal.
The shortfall of vital administration in top administrative level will make it truly
challenging for the advancement of vital destinations and projects for the benefit of all
of the association.

Leadership Styles in Top Management

The role of authority is extremely important and crucial in every human institution or
organization. House and Podsakoff (1995) proved that initiative is one of the most
important contributing factors to an authoritative exhibition.
According to Robbins et al (2010), initiative is defined as "the ability to influence a
group toward the achievement of a dream or a set of objectives."

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The ability of a leader to achieve long-term goals is defined by different strategic
leadership styles. The CEO, for example, must be able to apply the proper top
management leadership style to emergent day-to-day occurrences. According to Rowe
(2001), there are three basic top managerial leadership types: visionary leadership,
managerial leadership, and strategic leadership

Leader with a Vision

In authoritative administration, the role of visionary initiative is extremely important.

A visionary leader has the ability to create a vision for an organization's future
potential in terms of providing an answer to a problem using imaginative techniques
and then interacting with devotees to receive such vision for extra activity.
In general, visionary pioneers plan for the future with a higher focus on human
resources and development.

Managerial Leader

Administrative pioneers are activity-oriented, focusing on the day-to-day operations

of a company. They are frequently enthralled by the execution of significant plans that
appear to achieve a set goal in accordance with hierarchical arrangements. The
administrative pioneer's role is critical to the proper execution of day-to-day
operational movements.

Leader of Strategic Initiatives

An essential leader is someone who can bring an authoritative vision and mission to
fruition through execution. Essential chief, according to Rowe, possesses the qualities
of both a visionary and an administrative pioneer. Important pioneers, like Steve Jobs
of Apple, can pool their resources to provide everything needed to work on an
organization's overall execution through a sequence of major decisions, projects, and
execution.

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Anatomy of a Strategic Leader
This is how the attributes and makeup of a strategic leader are described. Strategic
leaders, according to many philosophers, must be developed rather than born. As a
result, ethics, moral code, and values are all part of the strategic leader's anatomy.
There's no quick way to the top, and there's no way to start at the top. The anatomy of
a strategic leader necessitates the acquisition of values, ethics, morals, codes, and
standards as a foundation for the profession..
The next step is to acquire the requisite experience, abilities, and knowledge on a
specific subject. Continuing education can assist in hastening the process. The
individual is then exposed to the command and duties of the organization. During this
phase, the employee will be exposed to key organizational decision-making.
Employee competencies are improved by further education. Finally, the individual
will advance to the position of strategic leader and will be involved in strategic
decision-making.
Long-term plans that define an organization's competitive advantage, especially in a
dynamic environment with unknown results, are known as strategies (Jauch and
Glueck, 1988). Mintzberg (1996) defines a strategy as a multifaceted vision, attitude,
and plan. Decision making, on the other hand, is defined as a deliberate technique
used by senior managers to choose the best course of action from a set of alternatives
in order to fulfill organizational objectives. It can be traced back to mental processes
(Otlu and Demir, 2005; z and Baykoç, 2004).
Furthermore, it is defined in psychology as selecting the best actionable option from a
group of alternatives based on key decision makers' beliefs, values, and preferences.
When there are multiple options for action, the core leadership role is defined, with
the purpose of finding the best plan. Every conceivable alternative must be analyzed
through a detailed process that takes into consideration a range of elements that
influence decision-making in order to arrive at the most actionable option. It is the
culmination of a careful investigation of ideas, logic, and conclusions.Strategic
decisions (Quain et al., 1990) and (Tarakç, 2010) are long-term decisions that take
into account risks and uncertainties. As a result, strategic decision-making
necessitates major risk-taking on the part of strategic leaders in order to act on long-

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term objectives (Wally and Baum, 1994), and top managers must have the confidence
to act (Eisenhardt, 1989).
Decision making, according to Otlu and Demir (2005), is the process of choosing
among options in order to fulfill organizational objectives.
The decision-making process must be disseminated across all levels of management,
and operations, innovation, risk-taking, strategies, structure, and culture must all be
taken into account.All personnel in their jurisdictions are participating in decision-
making. The company's vision, mission, goals, objectives, products, services, money,
and human resources are all decided by top executives. The CEO-led team, on the
other hand, takes operational decisions such as program development, staffing, work
outputs, monitoring strategies, and reporting designs (Robbins, 2001).
Each and every individual from the top supervisory group has some degree of key
initiative abilities needed to execute doled out liabilities as needed by the position. As
an individual from the supervisory group with advertising focused foundation the
whole top supervisory crew have a typical obligation regarding the corporate
organization of the business.

Levels of Management

Organizational choices are made at three levels of management: the top level, the
middle level, and the lower level.

Top-level management

The executive chairman chairs the board of directors, which is largely responsible for
strategic decisions affecting the organization's broad emphasis, long-term goals,
objectives, and values (Selart, 2010).

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Middle level management

The CEO is in charge of this. The team is in charge of tactical decisions with a decent
level of importance and impact on the business.

Lower-level management

Administrative assistants, accountants, coaches, facilities officers, teachers, and

librarians are among the staff, all of whom are overseen by managers. According to
Selart, they deal with operational decisions on a daily basis (2010).

Nonetheless, the interrelationships between a company's three management levels

make it simple to construct a strategic agenda from time to time (Dutton, 1996). Selart
(2010) states, "Such an agenda isn't exclusively the product of senior leadership's
perception." As active actors, middle managers also play an important role in the
design process.” Furthermore, “the strategic agenda is influenced by an organization's
routines and ecological processes.”

Anatomy Of Weights and Measures Agency and it’s latest

decision made
“Weights and Measures Agency”, (WMA) performs its functions in pursuance of the
Weights and Measures Act Cap.340 (R.E. 2002) together with its cognate Regulations.
In its activities, WMA strives to meet the state and public expectations in protecting
consumers and providing a level playing field for business competition.

Vision
To be an exemplary Institution that provides credible Legal Metrology services for
sustainable socio-economic development.

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Mission

To provide Consumer protection in relation to legal metrology through Verification

and re-verification of measuring instruments or measuring system and metrological
supervision for promoting confidence in measurements results.

Mandate
The Mandate of WMA is to provide protection to consumers in relation to legal
metrological control which includes legal control of measuring instruments,
metrological supervision and metrological expertise in trade, health, safety and
environment.

Core values of WMA are Team Work, Professional Excellence, Customer Focus,
Transparency, Accountability and Result oriented.

Anatomy of Weights and Measures Agency

The Weights and Measures Agency is one of the ministries of trade and investment's
institutions. The agency's Chief Executive Officer is appointed by the Minister and
reports to the Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Investment. He is also the
Secretary of the agency's Ministerial Advisory Body.
The director of business support division and the director of technical division report
to the chief executive officer, who manages day-to-day operations. Regional
managers report to the directors directly, while officers report to their supervisors
directly.
Every quarter of the year, managers meet with the directors, principals, and chief
executive officer to review technical and business concerns and challenges that the
organization is facing while the Advisory body does meet once a year.

Latest decision made

The weights and measures agency opted to outsource parts of their day-to-day
operations, such as the calibration and verification of small businesses weighing

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scales. This is due to new operations involving the verification of residential water
and electric meters prior to their installation in homes.
Because the workload would be reduced, this will improve work efficiency and
effectiveness while also allowing for improved human resource management. Officers
will be required to audit private enterprises that do the calibration and verification of
small businesses weighing scales in order to determine if they have completed their
jobs to the acceptable standard.
Because the verification price for household water and electric meters is substantially
greater than the verification fee for weighing scales, the overall collection of the
organization will not reduce, but rather increase. Also, practically everyone uses a
water and electric meter, whereas only a small percentage of the population uses a
weighing scale, implying that the number of meters is significantly bigger than the
number of weighing scales..

Characteristics Which Influence Strategic Decision-Making

Process
The significance of top executives in leading strategic changes in a company cannot
be emphasized. Diversity in senior management should be a defining feature of all
sectors of leadership. Diversity, according to Carson et al. (2004), is defined as the
features that distinguish one person from another. This style of strategic leadership
development is crucial for an organization's long-term viability; it takes a progressive
approach, has a diverse set of skills, is imaginative and creative, and values learning
as a key component (Jackson and Bantel, 1989).This group exhibits strategic
leadership characteristics such as leadership roles/levels, age, gender, education, risk-
taking, personality, experience, and knowledge that strategic leaders should have in
order to influence strategic decision-making (Papadakis and Barwise, 2002) Some of
the most common characteristics of top managers are listed below.

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Age

According to Hitt and Barr (1989), “managers' age has a negative impact on
remuneration decisions.” Singh Amarjit and Jampel Gempo (2010) believe that as
engineers get older, they make less risky judgments out of a desire to avoid
disagreement. Many phycologists agree, claiming that aging can affect decision-
making abilities and can lead to a reduction in cognitive abilities.

Position in The Company

A company position could convey authority. The more influence and authority you
have in your job, the easier it is to lead and communicate your vision to others. A
manager should have adequate position power to carry out their leadership tasks
effectively at every level of the company, whether operational, tactical, or strategic..

Individuality

Personality influences decision-making because it influences whether a situation is

treated rationally or emotionally. The firm benefits from the different experiences,
competence, and understanding of top executives.
Risk-taking proclivity; An individual's risk assessment and willingness to take risks
influence strategic decision-making. Some people are naturally risk-takers, while
others are naturally risk-averse.

Professionalism/ Expertise

Expertise makes it possible to make quick and effective decisions. According to

Edwardo, Michael, and Deborah (2009), expert decision-making is influenced by
intuition gained over years of experience.

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Prior Experience

You can make decisions based on your previous experiences if you have enough
experience. Data collection and modeling of previous occurrences are required to
learn from or predict future events. In the modern world of practice, experienced top
management makes it easier to make appropriate strategic judgements that are
grounded in reality.

Proclivity to take risks

Individual risk assessments and willingness to take risks have an impact on strategic
decision-making. Some people are naturally risk takers, while others are naturally risk
averse

Gender

Men and women are treated differently, regardless of their professional abilities.
Gender differences in character and potential are revealed by mental assumptions,
which are reflective of procedural intelligence. Men are more progressive dominant,
self-assured, objectively focused, and practical, whereas women are more influenced
by their surroundings; they pay more attention to details and make procedural
commitments.
According to Riaz and Haider (2010), women are more intuitive and considerate than
men who pursue rational and scientific approaches to decision-making.

Conclusion
Power and prestige, the capacity to assist others, a high salary, respect and status,
opportunities for advancement, a sense of being in a position of competence, and the
ability to control money and other resources are all advantages of leadership. On the
negative side, there is too much unpaid work time, there are too many challenges,

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there is loneliness, there is organizational politics, and there are competing interests to
pursue.
While some philosophers believe that leadership is innate since some people are born
with stronger leadership characteristics than others, strategic leadership theory
believes that this form of leadership can be taught and gained through experience,
education, mentorship, or observation. It is transformative in the sense that it brings
new ideas (Ullah, Khattak, Khan, & Sana, 2019). As a result, everyone in the team
has the potential to be a great leader. As stated in this paper, several philosophers
have conducted research that suggests that optimal decisions are widespread in
organizations with a mix of old and young strategic leaders..
Strategic leadership is a combination of visionary and managerial leadership
approaches that produce synergistic results for the firm. As a result, top-level
management must exercise strategic leadership, focusing on the company's long- and
short-term objectives.

If organizations are to function effectively and reap the benefits of being progressive,
innovative, and creative, they must be led by strategic decision makers. Desired goals
can be met with a diverse top management team that includes a mix of age, gender,
education, experience, knowledge, and personality. Top managers, both visionary and
skilled managerial leaders, are crucial in increasing an organization's impact. In all
strategic decision-making processes, top leadership's demographic characteristics
should be considered a source of strength.
Every strategic leader contains specific qualities that are essential to the tasks they
perform in top management, and these qualities enable members to think about and
make effective strategic judgments. Top leaders always make superior decisions,
regardless of how much time they spend analyzing possibilities. Each option is
evaluated from a variety of perspectives and demographics to determine the potential
strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and dangers across the market and practice,
and no matter how much time is spent debating possibilities, top leaders always make
the best decision.

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Experience and talent both have an impact on strategic decisions. The more
experience a leader has, the more knowledge and ability to make quick, intuitive
decisions he or she will have. Strategic decisions are riddled with uncertainty and risk;
as a result, all strategic decision-makers should be comfortable with the organization's
risk tolerance and appetite. Finally, in order to excite and inspire others, a leader's
position in the organization has an impact on decision-making.
Many factors influence strategic decision-making, but the goal is to acquire the
greatest results possible from all levels of the organization's leadership, from
operational to executive and vice versa.

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Appendices
FIGURE 1. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES AGENCY ORGANISATION STRUCTURE

MINISTER

MINISTERIAL
ADVISORY BODY

PERMANENT
SECRETARY

CHIEF EXECUTIVE
OFFICER

DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DIRECTOR OF

PRINCIPLES OF TECHNICAL DIVISION
SUPPORT DIVISION
UNITS

MANAGERS MANAGERS

OFFICERS OFFICERS

DRIVERS DRIVERS

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