Leadership Essay: Development & Sustainability of Corporate Entrepreneurship
Question
Task: Prepare a leadership essay which identifies how the leadership has an impact on the development and sustainability of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation in an organization.
Answer
1 INTRODUCTION
The current leadership essay presents a critical discussion on leadership that is considered as a process by which an individual/individuals help to influence a group to achieve a common goal in a said environment. In the olden days, leadership was only confined to one single idea of leading a group, nation, and so on. With the advancement and segregation of responsibilities in organizations, came different types of leadership. Transformation leadership, transactional leadership, democratic, autocratic, situational, cross-cultural, charismatic, ethical are some of the most important types of leadership (Simsek et al., 2015). These are based upon the qualities of a leader. A leader is known to influence/guide a group to that extent which leads to its development. A leader is known to guide the whole team by providing them with equal opportunities.
This in turn boosts their morale and helps to create a better workplace. A leader acts as a coach and a constant guide for the employees who are keen on bringing development to an organization. As this thirst for learning increases among employees increases, it leads to a further increase in revenue of the organization.A leader can have an instrumental role in an organization. The current scope of discussion is to analyze the impact of leadership on the development and sustainability of corporate entrepreneurship along with innovation in an organization.
2 ANALYSIS
James Macgregor Burns known as the grandfather of leadership studies in business once wrote, “Leadership is one of the most observed and the least understood phenomenon on earth”. It is a collective consciousness that leads to the understanding that leadership is only limited to one person, that is the leader.
However, it is not the case because a leader has to include people who would work simultaneously and with the same vigour as a leader works. To understand the term leadership, there are an array of definitions and theories but it is only when it ispractised it the actual meaning of leadership is understood.Vast is the concept of leadership and the roles that a true leader ascertains upon the followers which in turn benefits the organization (Burgess, 2013, p 200). Corporate entrepreneurship is also known as intrapreneurship, refers to the concept of guiding, supporting, and paving way for employees to think and behave like entrepreneurs within their confined space. This also includes a SWOT analysis of the employees for themselves as well as for the institution. Innovations in corporate entrepreneurship lead to growth, competition, an increase in morale, along with multiple other factors.
Corporate entrepreneurship defines the individuals within an organization who can lever their assets and resources which will help to build a service or a new product or even an idea. This idea, product, or service will be built in that way so that it contributes to the market position and positively influence the revenue system (Ünay, and Zehir, 2012, p 318).A transformational leader influences corporate entrepreneurship in many ways. It is the transformational leader who helps to navigate and set up an organization by inculcating thoughts, culture, and inspiration. A transformational leader must have innovation and must be empathetic and motivating. There are various impacts a transformational leader can have upon corporate entrepreneurship. A transformational leader must pave the way to start an innovative idea by standing up for one’s belief. For a transformation to take place, one must have discovered one’s ideas that would lead to the change. Along with giving importance to one’s idea, the team’s ideas and thoughts must also be given importance.
Business innovation is the crux of the main framework of an organization as no organization works without innovation.Business Innovation refers to a thought process where an individual exercises his/her mind to develop or create an idea. It can also be called the development or planning of an idea that helps to improve or create something. Innovation helps businesses grow drastically. A leader can greatly impact the organization from the point of view of innovation (Chen, and Nadkarni, 2017, p 42). They can collect innovative ideas and work upon them to formulate something better. Innovation works by seeking feedback from customers as well as from employees and investing in a particular resource through strategic planning. Improvising research techniques can also help in innovation.
A transformational leader can influence the corporate by choosing the path not taken by many. In other words, as transformational leaders are pioneers, they must tread the untrodden paths. Taking up challenges becomes an important aspect that can greatly impact corporate entrepreneurship.Unless a transformation leader develops the capacity to influence others, it can bring no change for an organization. Gone are those days when leaders in corporate acted like a boss or an upper hand who could hardly be reached (Soriano, and Huarng, 2013, p 1965). To create a significant impact on corporate entrepreneurship, the leader must influence the team with his/her strength. The leaders must enable others to act.
The transformational leader works by bridging the mental gap between the supervisors and their followers. To create an impact that would be globally accepted, one must shed off the distance and come together to ignite the isolated ideas. An amalgamated idea often creates a better opportunity and impact in the market, hence for ideas to club, the team must be united. It is this unification that is done by such leaders.
Transformational leaders must look forward by inculcating the “Four I’s” of leadership which impacts corporate entrepreneurship.The first is the Idealized influence which again refers to the role model function of a leader which impacts the organization.A transformational leader must produce the “Intellectual Stimulation” which includes ways to seek ideas, ways to formulate a work, and so on. Such stimulation creates an impact on corporate entrepreneurship by improvising the productivity of the employees (Schweitzer, 2014).Inspirational motivation being the third helps to set standards by providing meaningful and apt for the team. This also includes setting a standard and quality for the work by the transformational leader.Individual consideration is the last “I” of corporate entrepreneurship. This involves the act of being a mentor to the individual. A transformational leader must possess every quality to act as a mentor or a guide that helps members of the group to sort out the issues. A guide does the work by acting like a facilitator who will teach, coordinate and explain members to achieve a better goal.
Every manager becomes an agent or facilitator of corporate entrepreneurship by executing the overall strategy of the team, looking for the mission and the future of a particular plan, and all the essential pre-requisite of starting an innovative idea (Bagheri, 2017, p 164). A transformational leader must be well aware of the future risk which is also known as calculated risks. The leader must look for enough risk-taking propensity measures.
A leader impacts the development and sustainability of corporate entrepreneurship by strengthening the creative efforts of the subordinates or the team. It has often been observed that people are sometimes incapable to work when they are not given a defined set of rules. This makes people uncreative and leads to produce defective works. Creative individuals are seldom oriented organizationally and they are more inclined towards having an intrinsic approach. Therefore it becomes the role of the leader, especially a transformational leader to control and regulate this thinking. Every person is creative in their regard and so is a leader (Gamze, 2014, p 85). The only difference between the creativity of a leader and the creativity of the team it monitors is that a leader will think for the better good of an organization by looking precisely at the issues without deviating. A member of the team often tends to deviate.An efficient leadership helps to create an impact on the engagement of the employee. It is said and believed that higher levels of engagement lead to higher innovation. An engaged employee is the main crux of an organization as it helps to create more productivity. Even a high number of engaged employees at a given place and time is known to create more financial improvement thus leading to high revenue. A leader, therefore, regulates the work and the engagement of the employees which serves towards a better goal.
3 CONCLUSION
The fact that leaders impact is evident from various examples which are set by grand leaders in every field. In the field of business leaders are known to create a strong impact and it is evident from the successful business that is running globally. For an organization to be sustainable, there is an utmost need for a leader. In the world of business, there are numerous leaders, but transformational leaders serve to excel as they can motivate their subordinates in the maximum possible way. A company without a leader is like rowing a boat without an oar. It would be just like running a business or an organization without a plan and a source of motivation which would ultimately lead to the downfall of a company. Therefore, innovation accompanied by a successful leader who can motivate and transform the group becomes an essential aspect or requirement of an organization.
4 REFERENCE
Bagheri, A. (2017). The impact of entrepreneurial leadership on innovation work behavior and opportunity recognition in high-technology SMEs. The Journal of High Technology Management Research, 28(2), 159-166.
Burgess, C. (2013). Factors influencing middle managers’ ability to contribute to corporate entrepreneurship. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 32, 193-201.
Chen, J., &Nadkarni, S. (2017). It’s about time! CEOs’ temporal dispositions, temporal leadership, and corporate entrepreneurship. Administrative Science Quarterly, 62(1), 31-66.
Gamze, S. A. R. T. (2014). The new leadership model of university management for innovation and entrepreneurship. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, (57), 73-90.
Schweitzer, J. (2014). Leadership and innovation capability development in strategic alliances. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.
Simsek, Z., Jansen, J. J., Minichilli, A., &Escriba?Esteve, A. (2015). Strategic leadership and leaders in entrepreneurial contexts: A nexus for innovation and impact missed?.
Soriano, D. R., &Huarng, K. H. (2013). Innovation and entrepreneurship in knowledge industries. Journal of business research, 66(10), 1964-1969.
Ünay, F. G., &Zehir, C. (2012).Innovation intelligence and entrepreneurship in the fashion industry. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 41, 315-321.
