Leadership as a Framework for Successful Strategy Implementation

Master's Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Management Styles, grade: 1,3, University of applied sciences, Munich, language: English, abstract: In this study interdependencies between dimensions of leadership and successful strategy implementation have been analyzed. As prerequisites both an integrative model of leadership and subjective parameters for successful strategy implementation have been developed and operationalized. Based on selected publications on leadership seven main dimensions of leadership have been derived. Depending on how the sample was configured, different aspects of leadership proved to be good predictors for company success. For the whole sample the following dimensions and their relation to company success from an economic perspective turned out to be of particular significance: •Focused activities in dealing with innovations. •Economic sustainability as the guiding principle. •Transparency regarding strategic decisions of the top management. •The stability of decisions. •The fit of the functional strategies to the corporate strategy of a company. The empirical data suggested a slightly different dimensional structure for the leadership model as originally assumed. Given the high predictive value of the model regarding the success and futureability of a company the roughly fifty items operationalizing leadership can be reduced to the following ten dimensions: 1.Orientation and Direction. 2.Conflict and Caring. 3.Change Management and Enabling. 4.Decision-Making. 5.Sustainability. 6.Results-Orientation and Empowerment. 7.Innovation. 8.Authenticity. 9.Focus. 10.Active Involvement and Attentiveness. Leadership is a multidimensional phenomenon in the mirror of a specific time spirit. Despite basic aspects may stay stable, future generations will come up with different requirements and challenges regarding the basic thing leadership is all about: the target-oriented influence of people on people.