Introduction
Inasmuch as selling goods and services at a profit is central to businesses, they are not formed with that as their sole aim. That is, during incorporation a business is formed with a mission and vision that the proprietors want to achieve. In line with this, the success of a business is pegged on how well it is able to achieve the goals and objectives the proprietors set to achieve. Typically, this is the embodiment of strategic management which involves the development of strategies that are hinged upon propelling a business to attain its optimal performance. One such organization is TasteIT Inc. The company produces children snacks and breakfast cereals. One of the factors that set the company apart is its ability to enhance its product portfolio without causing product cannibalism. Additionally, its products have a significant approval rating among children and families on the grounds of being tasty and being healthy alternatives. The company has long maintained its reputation of being a trendsetter in the creation of varieties and they need to motivate their employees to be innovative and creative in the creation and marketing of new products and product lines. In line with this, this paper is aimed at offering tips to TasteIT Inc. on how to traverse key aspects that may impact on its strategic management approach.
First, there is goal setting, and the role leaders play in helping employees attain their performance goals. According to Bisk, there are several tips that executives can use to come up with goals that increase motivation and determination in its workforce. The first step is making quantifiable goals that the business is able to determine how close or far the business is from achieving the goal. The other one is making goals specific by clearly defining the objectives and the road map to how they will be attained (Bisk, n.d.) . This should then be followed by committing to the goals which entail ensuring high levels of motivation to guarantee that goal orientation. That being said, it is important to consider that intrinsic motivation is not always enough, for that reason, the business should make the goals public by outlining a promise for instance, to the society (Bisk, n.d.) . This serves the aim of establishing some degree of accountability which can be used to stimulate motivation. Finally, all goals should be characterized by a deadline to keep everyone committed.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
That being said, it is key to note that leadership is central to goal attainment in that, leaders are supposed to influence subordinates to take on their point of view. In line with this, leaders play a key role in communicating the roles the different members are to serve while also encouraging the exchange of ideas while at the same time monitoring progress (Gallo, 2011; Starks, 2015) . In addition to this, leaders have to understand that employees are the backbone of the business and hence, they should ensure their needs are met as the business pursues its goals and objectives.
On the other hand, it is important for a leader to build strong teams to inspire greatness. This is hinged upon applying the 5Cs, namely, collaborate, communicate, candid, connect and care (Starks, 2015) . Under collaborate, it is key to note in the present-day, technology present significant opportunities to organize team members around a certain task (Edwards, 2017) . Through communication, it is important to provide a clear direction to the goal being pursued. This is weaved with being candid whereby a leader should not withhold key information and feedback (Edwards, 2017) . This should also be enhanced under “connect” which is instituted with establishing a feedback system which a leader should also follow up on. Finally, under care is that a leader should put in place measures to enhance work/life balance.
So far, it is evident that communication is central in pursuing organizational goals and organizing the workforce around a task. In line with this, it is important to cultivate effective communication and the reward system. In relation to cultivating effective communication is using the Inspire/Educate/Reinforce framework (Everse, 2011) . Under inspire, a leader should make sure the message is in line with organizational goals and present it in a way that it gets attention and implies importance (Everse, 2011) . Under educate, a leader should disseminate information on the strategic organizational decisions and how they intend to achieve them. Additionally, this should be developed in collaboration with the employees to extend a sense of ownership (Everse, 2011) . Finally, under reinforce, a leader should continually chart a connection between purpose and strategy and that between strategy and execution.
In regards to how to create and improve team rewards, first, it is important to note that rewards should match the accomplishments of the teams and they should be consistently applied throughout the company (Peterson, 2017) . Secondly, a leader should note that reward s fall under compensation, benefits, recognition, and appreciation. Then a reward approach should be grounded in the following, the involvement of employees, rewarding that which is in line with the company goals, enhancing specificity and consistency, and finally rewarding teams and individual behavior and accomplishment (Peterson, 2017) .
Additionally, it is important for a leader to note that they can do all these and fail to stimulate the necessary motivation and/or reach the business goals and objectives. This is because, of key organizational barriers, namely, workplace conflict and resistance to change. Therefore, it is important to a company to have measures to deal with these. First, it is important for every leader to understand that both of them are inevitable. Therefore, as a business, it is key to position itself in a way that it is possible to control them before they result in negative extremities (Huhman, 2014) . For conflicts this should involve setting work guidelines on how to approach and deal with conflict at an individual level, training managers to serve as mediators to handle conflict by enhancing their listening and empathy skills, eliminating biases and stereotypes that pit employees against each other such as gender and racial biases and stereotypes (Huhman, 2014) . Finally, a leader should work on how to eliminate confusion on task allocation and the roles everyone should serve.
On the other hand, overcoming resistance to change is hinged upon preparing the employees about the change and working past personal issues. In line with this, it is first important for a leader to be honest and clear about the change process, to ensure employees do not start getting preconceived notions through gossip which may stimulate fear (McQuerrey, 2018) . Additionally, communication about the change should be all-encompassing which should also highlight the benefits for the company to help the employees understand the reason behind the change (McQuerrey, 2018) . Finally, change should be incorporated gradually to enhance its adaptability instead of the change becoming disruptive.
Conclusion
From the discussion above, it is evident that strategic management is focused on the creation of goals, charting a course for their attainment and controlling for barriers. In regards to the goals, they should be created in a way that they communicate the vision and mission of the business. In regards to charting the course, it should be informed by the awareness that employees are the backbone of the business. In light of this, it is important to enhance their motivation, develop their competencies and practice effective rewarding and communication. In the same manner, it is important to understand that they can also be the downfall of the company, and therefore, it is important to control for workplace conflicts and resistance to change. In this regard, it is evident that the business executives are tasked with the tasked of charting the strategic direction, but it is implemented by the employees hence the need to cultivate this relationship.
References
Bisk. (n.d.). Six Tips for Setting Business Goals . Retrieved from University of Notre Dame: https://www.notredameonline.com/resources/business-administration/six-tips-for-setting-business-goals/#.XFs6AaozbDd
Edwards, K. B. (2017, June 29). The 5 C's of Great Leaders . Retrieved from Inc: https://www.inc.com/partners-in-leadership/the-5-cs-of-great-leaders.html
Everse, G. (2011, August 22). Eight Ways to Communicate Your Strategy More Effectively . Retrieved from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2011/08/eight-ways-to-energize-your-te
Gallo, A. (2011, February 7). Making Sure Your Employees Succeed . Retrieved from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2011/02/making-sure-your-employees-suc
Huhman, H. R. (2014, December 31). 4 Strategies for Reducing Workplace Conflict . Retrieved from Entrepreneur: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/241199
McQuerrey, L. (2018, June 30). How to Overcome Resistance to Change in an Organization . Retrieved from Chron: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/overcome-resistance-change-organization-154.html
Peterson, B. (2017, April 14). How to Build Productivity Through Rewards and Recognition . Retrieved from Inc: https://www.inc.com/ben-peterson/how-to-build-productivity-through-rewards-and-recognition.html
Starks, F. (2015, September 15). Leaders Influence Team Performance and Goal Achievement . Retrieved from About Leaders: https://aboutleaders.com/leaders-influence-team-performance-and-goal-achievement/#gs.A9KZFRwc
