Corporate Culture & Management
Week 1 – Corporate Management
1) Re-study: Reader on strategy, based on Jones & George (2009) on Planning and Strategy,
already covered last year (see BlackBoard)
2) Watch and study: Online lecture Corporate Strategy
3) Read (recommended) Reader on strategy, based on Mintzberg (1987) on Five P’s of Strategy
4) Watch: Mintzberg’s 5 P’s of Strategy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhM1JW2Bb8Q
Mission = the essential purpose of the organization, concerning particularly why it is in existence, the
nature of the business it is in and the customers it seeks to serve and satisfy. Deals with the present.
Vision = a powerful message that tells people how you view the future of your business. The
mission and vision are translated into goals. Strategy is a cluster of related managerial decisions and
actions to help an organisation to attain (one of) these goals. Level and time-horizon planning:
Mintzberg’s 5 Ps of strategy;
Plan – a carefully crafted set of steps that a firm intends to follow in order to be successful.
As a plan, strategy needs to be developed in advance and with purpose.
Ploy – a specific move designed to outwit or trick competitors. As a ploy, strategy is a means
of outsmarting the competition.
Pattern – the degree of consistency in a firm’s strategic actions. With strategy as a pattern,
we learn to appreciate that what was successful in the past can lead to success in the future.
Position – a firm’s place in the industry relative to its competitors. With position, strategy is
about how the organization relates to its competitive environment, and what it can do to make
its products unique in the marketplace.
Perspective – how executives interpret the competitive landscape around them and how this
is shared in the company by its values. Perspective emphasizes the substantial influence that
organizational culture and collective thinking can have on strategic decision making within a
company.
Week 2 – Leadership
1) Robbins, S. & Judge, T. (2018) chapter 12 ‘Characteristics of leaders’, except pg 219-221 on
“Fiedler model”
A leader is someone who works together with the team. A manager is someone who gives the team
directions from the side-lines. So what is leadership?
The ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals.
Formal (based on organisational hierarchy) or non-sanctioned (outside the formal
organisational structure
Organisations need strong leadership and strong management but leadership is not the same
as management.
Theories of leadership
, Leader Behaviour Theory: Focus on the premise that behaviours can be taught and traits cannot,
so leaders are trained not born. Important dimensions (from studies):
- (1) initiating structure and (2) consideration
- (1) employee-oriented and (2) production-oriented
Theories proposing that specific behavoir differentiate leaders from non-leaders:
Behavioural theories of leader ship (= train people to be leader) Trait theory
(=selecting the right people for leadership)
Trait theories: looks at personality, social, physical or intellectual traits that differentiate leaders
from non-leaders. Leadership traits: extraversions, conscientiousness, openness (Big 5 Test) and
emotional intelligence (EI). Traits predicts emergence of a leader rather than the effectiveness of a
leader. Trait theories help u predict leadership but not explain.
Contingency theory: Take the context in which the leader is operating into consideration and try to
isolate the conditions that allow effective leadership. Find a leader to fit the situation or change the
situation to fit the leader. Theories explaining situational variables (self-study). the effectiveness of
leaders depends to a large degree on their followers.
Styles of leaderships
Transactional and transformational leadership
Week 1 – Corporate Management
1) Re-study: Reader on strategy, based on Jones & George (2009) on Planning and Strategy,
already covered last year (see BlackBoard)
2) Watch and study: Online lecture Corporate Strategy
3) Read (recommended) Reader on strategy, based on Mintzberg (1987) on Five P’s of Strategy
4) Watch: Mintzberg’s 5 P’s of Strategy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhM1JW2Bb8Q
Mission = the essential purpose of the organization, concerning particularly why it is in existence, the
nature of the business it is in and the customers it seeks to serve and satisfy. Deals with the present.
Vision = a powerful message that tells people how you view the future of your business. The
mission and vision are translated into goals. Strategy is a cluster of related managerial decisions and
actions to help an organisation to attain (one of) these goals. Level and time-horizon planning:
Mintzberg’s 5 Ps of strategy;
Plan – a carefully crafted set of steps that a firm intends to follow in order to be successful.
As a plan, strategy needs to be developed in advance and with purpose.
Ploy – a specific move designed to outwit or trick competitors. As a ploy, strategy is a means
of outsmarting the competition.
Pattern – the degree of consistency in a firm’s strategic actions. With strategy as a pattern,
we learn to appreciate that what was successful in the past can lead to success in the future.
Position – a firm’s place in the industry relative to its competitors. With position, strategy is
about how the organization relates to its competitive environment, and what it can do to make
its products unique in the marketplace.
Perspective – how executives interpret the competitive landscape around them and how this
is shared in the company by its values. Perspective emphasizes the substantial influence that
organizational culture and collective thinking can have on strategic decision making within a
company.
Week 2 – Leadership
1) Robbins, S. & Judge, T. (2018) chapter 12 ‘Characteristics of leaders’, except pg 219-221 on
“Fiedler model”
A leader is someone who works together with the team. A manager is someone who gives the team
directions from the side-lines. So what is leadership?
The ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals.
Formal (based on organisational hierarchy) or non-sanctioned (outside the formal
organisational structure
Organisations need strong leadership and strong management but leadership is not the same
as management.
Theories of leadership
, Leader Behaviour Theory: Focus on the premise that behaviours can be taught and traits cannot,
so leaders are trained not born. Important dimensions (from studies):
- (1) initiating structure and (2) consideration
- (1) employee-oriented and (2) production-oriented
Theories proposing that specific behavoir differentiate leaders from non-leaders:
Behavioural theories of leader ship (= train people to be leader) Trait theory
(=selecting the right people for leadership)
Trait theories: looks at personality, social, physical or intellectual traits that differentiate leaders
from non-leaders. Leadership traits: extraversions, conscientiousness, openness (Big 5 Test) and
emotional intelligence (EI). Traits predicts emergence of a leader rather than the effectiveness of a
leader. Trait theories help u predict leadership but not explain.
Contingency theory: Take the context in which the leader is operating into consideration and try to
isolate the conditions that allow effective leadership. Find a leader to fit the situation or change the
situation to fit the leader. Theories explaining situational variables (self-study). the effectiveness of
leaders depends to a large degree on their followers.
Styles of leaderships
Transactional and transformational leadership
