Leadership Practices and Models in Innovation
In the modern world, the ongoing literature touches on the leadership practices and various models that can be used to innovate new technologies of doing things in both the private and the public sector. It is believed that the appointed leaders found in different organizations have the necessary skills required to run such organizations. However, situations arise whereby the managers and other top officials lack the basic skills to be in charge of the overall performance of these organizations. Under such circumstances, the organizations end up performing poorly since the managers do not have or do not realize the importance of developing models that are capable of handling the risk factors that may adversely impact negatively onto the business practices. As such, this paper seeks to address the various practices by the leaders and models from an innovation perspective that can sufficiently lead to the competitive advantage of the organizations. Besides, the paper intends to assess the level of personal skills and practices at leading to innovation in organizations. Further, the paper also determines to analyze models of innovation and change management to create a culture of innovation and the reason as to why it is important Fiat Automobiles.
Practices of an Innovative Leader to Reveal Lessons for Fiat
Leadership practices are categorized into two broad categories, that is, political practices and managerial practices. The political leadership of the managers entails to the professional responsibilities that attach themselves to enacting policies and programs that are progressive in nature to the organization (Hussain et al., 2016). Political leadership practices separate political powers of a leader from the administrative responsibilities bestowed in that leader, which dictates that the powers of the leader are limited only to implementing policies in a more traditional and bureaucratic aspect.
In reality, though political and administrative practices cannot be able to replace each other, they can work substantially in a more reciprocated manner. The implication is that neither of the two leadership practices can do without the other as they are mutually inclusive practices. Political leadership practice in innovation relates to the personal style of a leader as opposed to the political status of that leader (Hussain et al., 2016). As political leaders, managers are supposed to have the ability to maximize the use of the available resources for the benefit of the company. They are rather not supposed to be driven by personal interests.
The Kuhnert and Lewis model provides an important base for assessing the development of leadership about the practice of transactional and transformational leadership. Based on this framework model, the two authors suggested two stages of transactional leadership, one side containing weak and high leadership practice, and one stage of transformational leadership based on individual development (Mabey, 2012). Collectively, the framework attempts to assess the impact of the practice of leaders on employees. In this model, innovation is influenced by personality ambitions and how effectively they can use their knowledge and expertise to influence changes in the company. Therefore, this calls for leaders to have specific goals and agendas that bring positive changes in the competitive business environment.
Further, there are transactional and transformational aspects of leadership practices of a leader that has a strong influence on innovation (Hussain et al., 2016). Under this perspective, transactional leadership relates to the operational practice of a basic level whereas, transformational leadership refers to a social practice of a more complex level. However, the commonality between the two levels of managerial practices relates to the leadership talent in a person but not their professional positioning in office.
In initiating innovation Fiat, one must have a combination of at least all of the mentioned practices. For instance, the impact of a leader who is having political endorsement is very crucial to Fiat. Leaders with good political practices always have connections with topmost leaders in the government, who can help in the growth process in various ways such as facilitating the processing of various certification programs that relates to the expansion of the company in different geographical locations. Consequently, this goes hand-in-hand with the administrative or managerial practice of a leader. Leaders who have the best managerial practice always result to the success of the company. As such, for innovative ideas to be real, a leader must put the theoretical ideas into reality for the benefit to Fiat. A leader with transactional competency can help Fiat in the growth process by applying the transactional practice of the company at each level of production. On the other hand, the transformative leader will carry out the overall transaction and generate ideas on how the transformation Fiat can take place regarding production and distribution of commodities.
Models of Innovation and Change Management
There are various innovation and change models that emphasize on the continuous growth and competition among industries. They collectively highlight the importance of change regarding strategies, processes, and structures for organizations. Some of the models of change and innovation include the action research model, positive model and Lewin’s change model (Bucciarelli, 2015). The Lewin’s model is differentiated into three important stages (unfreezing, movement, and refreezing). The model developed by Lewin emphasizes on how organizations can do to manage the status quo and change. The structure of the model is based on various loops consisting of leadership, management, and organization. According to the model, change and innovation for leaders are influenced by their ethical conditions. Further, culture is also an important ingredient for organizational change and development.
At Fiat, the model can be used to harness important benefits such as changing the behavior patterns of some groups with unethical practices with the aim of reaching a wider market. Again, the model will help reduce resistance to change as well as tension thus, implying that the model is more effective for company’s change (Bucciarelli, 2015). The model has been successful in companies such as Continental Airline: Using the Lewin’s model, the company moved from two cases of bankruptcy to the best company in the world. The focus was on ensuring that employees felt part of the company by only offering bonuses if the target goals were met. Fiat can do the same and motivate its employees to work tirelessly for the organization’s success by sharing its success with them. The company can also use Lewin’s model to produce more fuel efficient cars to meet changing customer preferences and demand.
Innovative Merits of a Plan against Successful Practices and Models of Innovation
Leaders, yearning for innovation in organizations must be result-oriented individuals in the sense that, they must be driven by the need to achieve global goals and stay a step ahead of their rivals (Mabey, 2012). As such, these leaders must be swift enough to respond to the existing problems and act tirelessly in making creative ideas from divergent aspects. Ultimately, to achieve this goal means that, managers must have the ability to identify new opportunities for investment.
Further, leaders must also have the ability to create visions and sell it accordingly for profit gains in the long-run. The idea is that they must formulate realistic thoughts that rhyme with the growing needs of the company (Bucciarelli, 2015). Moreover, a leader is supposed to have the skills that transform the mindset of the people in the direction of achieving company goals.
Based on the above merits that accrue to Fiat after successful use of the plan and the model used in developing and implementing the strategy for innovation, leaders must embrace such attributes to ensure that the organization has a competitive advantage over the others in a competitive environment. As such, the solution-based technique allows the leaders and the researchers to identify what needs to be done in the company so that they can align the goals in order of priority. Besides, in Fiat, the visions must be realistic and not ambitious. In this sense, leaders must keep re-inventing new visions as every day dawns to make Fiat have a competitive edge.
One’s Leadership Skills and Practices that Foster Organizational Innovation
Based on my experience, I possess diversified skills and practices that influence organizational change. I believe that everyone has some inherent strengths and weaknesses in various aspects. However, the weaknesses can be altered to bring better ideas that can be incorporated in one’s career for innovation and development purpose (Sulaiman et al., 2015). As a leader, I have great observing skills, which allow me to note key details in any activity I engage in and among those I work with.
Further, being investigative is also important in shaping my leadership because it leads to developing a new knowledge of what needs to be done and how it should be done. As such, this allows me to formulate new plans for tackling the problems and develop new opportunities. An effective practice for this ideology is to address the challenges in a different way that seeks different ways of approaching the problems while also managing the status quo. Basing on the above skills, I feel that I have a great potential of developing a complex solution-oriented approach that drives me into generating new innovative ideas for the betterment of Fiat Automobiles. As such, having mastery of these individual skills may lead into finding suitable solutions that match with the intended purpose of Fiat. My great observational and investigative skills will allow me to identify areas that need innovation, understand different solutions, and analyse their impact. As such, as a leader, being on the forefront in pushing for innovation will give me great satisfaction since this is a chance to influence change.
Conclusion
The prime focus of the paper was to address the various practices by leaders and models from an innovation perspective that can sufficiently lead to the competitive advantage of an organization. Besides, the paper also assessed the level of personal skills and practices that lead to innovation in organizations. Further, the paper also focused on analyzing models of innovation and change management to create a culture of innovation and addressed its importance for Fiat. In essence, different skills, models, and practices are important for bringing change and innovation in the society. The most driving force of organizational innovation is the skills and practices that the leaders and other stakeholders possess. Indeed change and innovation are important in organizations and leaders should have the heart to be solution-oriented towards realizing the goals of their companies.
References
Bucciarelli, L. (2015). A review of innovation and change management: Stage model and power influences. Universal Journal of Management, 3(1), 36-42. http://dx.doi.org/10.13189/ujm.2015.030106
Hussain, S., Lei, S., Akram, T., Haider, M., Hussain, S., & Ali, M. (2016). Kurt Lewin’s process model for organizational change: The role of leadership and employee involvement: A critical review. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 2(1), 1-7 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2016.07.002
Mabey, C. (2012). Leadership development in organizations: Multiple discourses and diverse practice. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15(4), 359-380.http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2012.00344.x
Sulaiman, I.F., Hashim, C.N., Ibrahim, M.B., & Hassan S.S.S. (2015). Impact of creativity to organizational competitiveness. International journal of humanities and social science. 5(8), 106-113.
