QUESTION 1
1.1 Answer
Any corporation, organisation or institution, whether public or private, will often proudly and boldly state its Vision and then give its Mission Statement. The art of leadership rests on three pillars: passion, vision and mission.What make a great leader? Inspiring a shared vision is an important aspect of leadership because leaders are expected to create and communicate organizational direction (Snee & Hoerl, 2004).
There are many definitions of vision. Vision is “an ideal and unique image of the future” (Kouzes and Posner 1987:85). Another definition of vision is “a mental image of a possible and desirable future state of the organization” suggests Bennis and Nanus (1985:89). Vision is the long-term goal. Conversely, mission is what actions one takes to translate that vision into reality. A mission statement is the intrinsic, ‘Why?’ of your department’s very existence and the vision becomes the “How?” – A compass from which everything else is driven. Simply put, vision is what you want to do with your existence, and mission is how you will go about it.
Leadership is a public transaction with history. Leadership affirms the capacity of individuals to move, inspire and mobilise masses of people so that they act together in pursuit of an end. The very essence of leadership is that one should have a vision, and the capacity to translate that vision into reality. Passion is that capacity which translates vision into reality. Without passion, leaders are just mere visionaries.
Leadership is all about alignment, so as to create a link between organization’s leadership and vision and mission of the organization.
Relating back to the case study, clearly there is a link between organisation’s leadership, vision and mission. Kulula.com had a vision of entering the low cost airline into the South African market. On the other hand the mission was to launch
Bibliography: Lynch, R. 2006. Corporate Strategy 4th ed. London. Prentice Hall Applegate, L, Austin, R.D, Soule, DL. Information Strategy and Management 8th ed. London. McGraw-Hill. Hough, J, Thomson, AA, Strickland, AJ & Gamble, JE.2008. Crafting and Executing Strategy. South African ed., London. McGraw-Hill David, a. Ricks. (1999). Blunders in International Business. Hoboleen, New Jersey: Blackwell. Katherine Hyatt,2011. The Influence of Vision on Perceived Organizational Support. Vol. 11 Kravis Leadership Institute, Leadership Review Dr J M Sampath, 2004. Organisation : Evolution of Organizational Leadership -The Vision-Values Approach Mapes. 1991. Strategic Vision. SKY Magazine Hough, J 2006. High performance Balanced Scorecards as a tool to instill sustainable and high performance cultures in South African busniesses. Business Day. March.