Effective Leadership, Systems Thinking, and Social Responsibility

Leadership Roles and Key Characteristics

Leadership Roles:

• Characteristics of the task: Variety, fragmentation, and brevity.
• Contents of the task: Roles information (Monitor-Disseminator-Spokesperson), interpersonal roles (Figurehead-Leader-Liaison), decision roles (Entrepreneur-Disturbance Handler-Resource Allocator-Negotiator).

Management Skills

Management Skills: Conceptual skills, business vision, problem-solving, resource management, customer orientation, effective relationship building, negotiation.

Human Abilities

Human Abilities: Communication, organization, empathy, delegation, coaching, teamwork.

Personal Effectiveness

Personal Effectiveness: Managing self, proactive approach, personal development.

Systems Thinking

An organized joint system comprising two or more parts, components, or subsystems interdependent and differentiated with environmental limits. Its supra-purpose properties are designed to achieve one or several purposes. Hierarchical relationships of systems:

1. Decay in other lower order (subsystems).
2. Is part of other higher order (supra-systems).

Holism: Any stimulus that affects one of the elements affects the whole system.

Synergy: The interrelated functioning of all elements of the system can get different results than those achieved by acting elements in isolation.

• Positive synergy
• Negative synergy

Equifinality: You can achieve the same final state starting from different initial conditions and using alternative methods.

Functional Analysis

• Commercial Area: Market share, brand, sales force structure.
• Production Area: Cost, quality control, productivity level.
• Financial Area: Financial cost structure and profitability of investment capital.
• Technological Area: Available technology, R&D effort, assimilation of technology.
• Human Resources: Incentive systems, social climate level, training, direction, and organization.
• Organizational Structure: Entrepreneurial culture.

Social Responsibility

Basic responsibilities or social obligations of the company: Set of business obligations arising from legal imperatives or economic factors, which originate both in the rules at the time of its formation (e.g., obligations to shareholders) and current legal regulations where it operates (e.g., labor standards).

Corporate Social Responsibility: Set of obligations arising from a firm's ethical imperatives, the company itself is self-imposed, and that go beyond what is required by law. The social responsibility plan may undertake two levels in their actions:

1. Responsibilities of priority social groups: Targeted improvements directly related to the company (employees, customers...).
2. Responsibilities of social change: Actions to contribute to the development of the corporate social environment (combating social inequalities, cultural development...).