Monday, April 27, 2020

  • There can be no strategic leadership without an instinctive understanding of the “possible”.
    This fact was seen in the failures of such strategic leaders as Napoleon (the Spanish Ulcer and the
    Russian campaign 1812)
    47
    , Hitler again in the Russian invasion
    48
    , Tughlaq’s
    49
    shifting of the capital,
    Aurangzaib’s designs on the south
    50
    etc., the training module recommends case studies of such
    measures with emphasis on development of mechanisms to prejudge the obstacles through
    consultation, independent criticism etc. This component of the training module also recommend
    sensitizing the strategic leaders to crucial importance of media views as in the contemporary times
    media is a forum that represents objective if not collective wisdom of the polity.
    g) Role of the Government
    The Governments are today exposed to reinventing of their roles. There are structural,
    ideological economic reasons and international movement for change in the direction of the
    Government, the governance and the function it has to perform along with other players which have
    jumped into the field of governance in the 21
    st
    century. It is perhaps on account of realization of the
    fact that governance is today rather more complicated and can not be fully managed by the
    Government alone. The challenges of developed and underdeveloped countries are however
    different. The core task of the Government is now to regulate and not to run and to create enabling
    conditions for economic development of the country, managing change in the society, balancing the
    conflicting interests, to provide social justice and to provide mechanism for commercial decisions.
    There is no fashion of a Big Government now in terms of its functions. The Government is now
    supposed to involve in the transaction from an operational state to an enabling and
    facilitating/regulating state. That’s why devolution has taken place in much part of the Government
    and it is no more a sole player nationally and internationally. All this is a complicated policy
    devolution process involving dozens of processes and host of mechanisms for cooperation of the
    Government and the civil society simultaneously. A strategic leader involved in the Government
    today is required to be well acquainted with the entire process; therefore this important mechanism
    is proposed to form part of the training module.
    h) Managing Policy Change.
    Policy formulation is a complex process based on macro economic fundamentals and
    sustainability of the decisions. The strategic leaders are not only involves in the formulation of new
    policies but they have to bother about policies formulated by their predecessors also. They need
    skills to manage the policy change and the tools required in the process thereof in the wake of
    competing political considerations, authorizations and decision making process. It is a sequential
    47
    Napoleon was to blame these two campaigns for his decline and fall, See Ludwi, Emile, Life of Napoleon Bonaparte.
    48
    Hitler did not appreciate that Russian forces and Weapons far out-numbered his own. See Churchill History of the Second World War, Vol II
    49
    Tughlaq Shifted the capital from Dehli to Daulatabad and ruined his empire
    50
    Aurengzeb’s campaign against the Marhatas was a major cause of his decline
  • process starting from agenda setting to decision making, sustaining and implementation thereof.
    There are many players, issues and contexts which are likely to be confronted for mustering for the
    support. Prioritization of the issues and bringing them forward for the support is another important
    aspect of the matter, in addition to learning the long and short term lessons, monitoring and
    evaluation of the policy. The entire process directly involves the strategic leaders.
    In one of the Harvard studies on deregulation of fuel prices in Philippines, important
    question like context surrounding deregulation of fuel prices, it a effect current choice, linkage of
    the then President to other policy decisions, strategies for dealing with the problem and to measure
    how hard it would be to sustain a policy decision were confronted to the strategic leaders.
    51
    President Ramos is facing a budget deficit and a depleted Oil Price Stabilization Fund
    (OPSF). He needs to take some action that will affect the price of oil. In choosing what policy
    action to take he needs to find an alternative that will be technically sound and be politically
    acceptable and sustainable. How might he predict response to alternative policies and develop a
    feasible strategy for dealing with the problem?
    52
    Policy is made in many ways and is influenced by a wide variety of factors. In the
    Managing Policy Change module a basic model for the policy making process may be discussed. It
    could also be explored as to how it works differently under different circumstances and in different
    departments. It may also be examined as to how the training model can be used to help analyze the
    policy making process as a system and not just a set of unrelated actions. Therefore their exposure
    to this subject through appropriate training is of utmost importance.
    i) Stress Management
    Stress situations can be categorized in a variety of ways, and emergent and effective
    leadership will vary accordingly. Groups may be frustrated by unattainable goals. They may be fear
    of impending dangers. They may be anxious because of nuclear and ambiguous demands. They
    may be in conflict over competing demands or with other groups. They may be aroused to respond
    impulsively, defensively, or in panic. Threats to survival may be internal or external, substantive or
    interpersonal. The emergent leader will do what is immediately required to provide the group with
    ways of coping with the stress. Rapid direction, initiation of structure, and task-oriented leadership
    will make the leader more likely to succeed. The effective leader (Who, of course, must also
    successfully influence followers) is a transforming statesman who addresses the inert followers by
    shaking them out of their torpor in the face of impending dangers or by rousing them to work
    toward seemingly unobtainable goals. Competent leadership is especially needed in times of crisis
    to unite the efforts of members and strengthen group cohesiveness round a common purpose.
    j) Crises Management Component
    51
    Harvard University, Deregulating Fuel Prices in Philippines-the Political Price of Oil, Page-1
    52
    Managing Policy Change : I, Understanding the Policy Making Process, Harvard University, Page-1
  • In routine emergencies, leaders have access to a repertoire of capacities and executable
    operational routines that, with modest customization and adaptation, can provide an appropriate
    response to the situation. In true crises, leaders cannot have a previously planned, developed,
    tested, and deployable routine available to them that will adequately address the situation they face.
    By definition, they will have to improvise new approaches or combinations of existing routines.
    Much of this work is conceptual and cognitive in nature, and is therefore especially difficult to do –
    and to inspire others to do in circumstances of elevated stress, like those likely to prevail in a
    crisis situation.
    CRISIS MANAGEMENT
    Challenges of Routine Emergencies
    53
    A leader’s central challenges in a routine emergency will include the following:
    1. Assess the situation with accuracy;
    2. Promote effective customization and adaptation of existing routines to the specific
    circumstances of the given incident;
    3. Mobilize and inspire the efforts of the participants;
    4. Coordinate the potentially quite complex collection of customized, pre-planned
    responses;
    5. Organize and ensure support and flow of requisite resources to those operationally
    engaged in the response;
    6. Communicate effectively to those participating and to others involved outside the
    responding organization(s) about the situation and what they should do.
    Leadership Challenges of Crises
    1. The strategic leadership challenges of addressing true crises include the following:
    2. Accurately and quickly assessing the ways in which the current situation is significantly
    different from past circumstances;
    3. Resisting more comfortable (but inaccurate) diagnoses and assessments of the situation that
    ignore the significant elements of novelty;
    4. Mediating potential cultural conflicts among those with a bias for immediate action and
    those with an inclination to delay choices and deployments until a deeper understanding of
    the situation and analysis of the options can be developed;
    5. Developing and maintaining a “big picture” perspective of all the salient features of the
    situation (including its significant novelties);
    53
    Encyclopedia of Leadership Vol-I by George, Sorenson & James M. Burns Page 290-295
  • 6. Communicating, both internally and externally, relevant and comprehensible
    understandings of the situation that allow other to understand and organize their work and
    efforts productively;
    7. Orchestrating creative imagining, design, and development of new approaches and/or new
    combinations of existing routines;
    8. Maintaining high quality in reasoning and choosing among new, untested, risky, and
    relatively poorly understood courses of action;
    9. Coordinating the rapid development of new plans and details of operational action for the
    chosen approach;
    10. Mobilizing and inspiring the required effort from the participants, including their attention
    to the cognitive work that is essential but that they will find difficult given their elevated
    stress levels;
    11. Overseeing the execution of newly designed (and, therefore, probably imperfectly
    functioning) actions and deployments; and
    12. Performing all these tasks while the leaders are themselves operating under elevated stress.
    Understanding the challenges presented by true crisis situations is an important step towards
    being able to address them necessarily. Training would do this trick. Crisis transcends routine
    emergencies and can be of unprecedented scale, to which the existing routines can not simply be
    adapted. They require major innovation and redesigning of organizational structure and operations.
    Katrina in New Orleans and recent earth quakes in Pakistan invalidated application of a previously
    developed and practiced routines and required broader adaptation, thus requiring improved
    command and communication structure on short notice and a very little prior design. Even the
    American failed to meet Katrina Emergency (so much so that a few hundred drivers could not be
    arranger), although some grace was demonstrated in handling Rita a few weeks later. Even the 9/11
    crisis wan handled more professionally, perhaps on account of localized nature of the problem
    where time tested procedures perfectly worked. In Islamabad, removal of debris and taking out
    human beings from the sunk building posed a novel challenge to ICT Administration to which its
    strategic leaders were never exposed or formally trained.
    Professional and Moral Ethics
    54
    Absence of moral and professional ethic is the root cause of the most of the governance
    problems. Ethics are the Standards of conduct that guide decisions and actions, based on duties,
    derived from core values. The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary states the following on
    Ethics:
    54
    http://www.eaie.nl/pdf/torino/705.pdf
  • 1) Moral principles that control or influence, a person’s behaviour: professional/business/medical
    ethics; to draw up a code of ethics; he began to question the ethics of his position.
    2) A system of moral principles or rules of behaviour; a strongly defined work ethic; the protestant
    ethics.
    3) The branch of philosophy that deals with moral principles.
    It is a system of values, moral activities and virtues that the individual accepts. It is the
    basis of the choices he makes and it can be perceived by others as well. Professional ethics includes
    ethical sensitivity to perceive the morality of the decision making situation, the ability to apply
    the ethical principles in decision-making situations in a way leading to a fair conclusion and the
    will to act according to the ethically correct decision despite temptations and social pressure.
    Ethical problem solving is one of the key elements in professional ethics. What benefits and what
    harms will each course of action produce and which alternative will lead to the best overall
    consequences? What moral rights do the affected parties have and which course of action best
    respects those rights? Which course of action treats everyone the same, except where there is a
    morally justifiable reason not to, and does not show favoritism or discrimination? Which course of
    action advances the common good? The value basis of a certain unit, department or academic
    programme bears strong connection to professional ethics including ethical problem solving.
    Almost all professional groups, sections, businesses and organizations have a form of
    ethical code, or code of conduct.
    Ethics in the Institution
    Do we need a code of conduct? Does any institution or organization needs a code of conduct? It is
    the organizational responsibility to set behavioral standards and its obligation to train employees in
    what those standards are” (Jennifer J. Salopek)
    55
    A code of conduct is intended to be a central guide and reference for users in support of
    day-to-day decision making.
    56
    There is a delicate line of distinction between the professional ethics and common ethics of
    morality. There are inclusive and exclusive moral and ethical models. There is a difference as to
    their applicability in different departments which may even arouse the conflict. The principles of
    morality are to be applied across the board the society has the greater role to play through
    institutions created to serve the social goals. Unfortunately, in our country all pervasive societal
    decay has been degenerated into a big social problem, therefore, it is all the more imperative that
    this important component is included in the proposed training module for strategic leaders who are
    directly concerned with various cross sections of the Government and the Civil Society.
    55
    www.ethics.org/faq.html T+D Magazine, July 2001: Do the Right Thing
    56
    Driscoll, Dawn-Marie and W.Michael Hoffman, Ethics Matters: How to implement Values-Driven Management, 2000, p.77
  • Complex Negotiations
    57
    Handling negotiations, particularly complex, is a difficult task. It involves many steps. One
    has to prepare to negotiate from a position of strength by diagnosing the particulars of situations,
    participants, the roles of games, negotiate-able agenda, goals to be persuade, the interests,
    alternatives, potential agreements and their accessibility and linkages. Barriers/constraints, players,
    coalition building prospects, bargaining power, toxic issues, dispute resolution and conflict
    management and the process of assessing the trades offs and alternatives are some of the important
    segments. Strategic leader, equipped with adequate techniques can shape the structure of
    negotiations and enjoy the bargaining position. Therefore, needs to be properly trained accordingly.
    The leaders need understand the basics of negotiations, to create win -win situation, structuring of
    negotiations, managing the climate and environment, tactics, ploys and gambits, handling
    deadlocks, to better understand the other side and proper planning and preparations for negotiations
    so that they are highly effective in negotiations
    58
    . Presently hardly a few leaders possess formal
    negotiation skills and training and are thus not equipped with tool, techniques, and concepts that are
    vital in today’s highly competitive environment. In the case of HUBCO, the failure was
    predominately on account of completely unprofessional handling of negotiations mostly by non-
    representative characters, not with- standing the other factors involved in the case. They were not
    fully aware of tricks and skills which made them vulnerable and at the mercy of the other party who
    were obviously more aware.
    APPROPRIATE GROWTH STRATEGY
    There is a need to derive broad lessons from the diverse experience with economic growth
    in the last fifty years. The economic analysis of the renowned economists is now the subject matter
    of discussion for the purposes of drawing some economic package/design with reference to local
    conditions and design. It requires sound economic underpinning to endow the economy with
    resilience to shocks and maintain productive dynamism in the era of globalization and New World
    Economic Order. Economics has important ideas on the subjects of incentives, markets, budget
    constraints and property rights etc. It provides for different ways and means to analyze to
    distribution and alocative consequences of requisite changes in the policy in the light of political
    constants and local conditions which matters allot
    59
    . The real lesson of growth strategies is take
    economics more seriously and careful examination of the contingent relations between the
    economic environment and policy implication. Strategic leaders are essentially required to be
    exposed to the necessary decision making in this background. This does not mean the formal study
    of the theories of economic growth. Adequate sensitization of the strategic leaders to broader
    57
    Break Through in Business Negotiations by Michell Watkins
    58
    www.tmicyprus.com/web/training/scheduled/4210.php
    59
    Page 29, Growth Strategies by Dani Rodrik
  • principles is however essential. Therefore this important item is being proposed to form part of the
    training module.
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    5. Mintzberg (1994). ‘Rounding out the Manager’s Job’, SMR, Fall 1994, p11-26
    6. Porter (1998). 'Clusters and the New Economics of Competition', HBR, Nov-Dec 1998, p 77-90
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    Cowling and C.J.B. Mailer, Arnold, London, 1990.
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    25. http://www.henmanperformancegroup.com/strategicleadership.htm
    26. www.ethics.org/faq.html
    27. Encyclopedia of Leadership Vol-I by George, Sorenson & James M. Burns
    28. Harvard University, Deregulating Fuel Prices in Philippines-the Political Price of Oil
    29. The Harvard Project of American Indian Economic Development,

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