The influence of leadership styles (as per Lewin) on the strategy-formulation-implementation-performance gap : An exploratory case study of selected organisations in the South African wine industry

Abstract

Purpose: The strategy-to-performance gap is a contemporary problem that causes organisations to perform less than optimal or fail. Leadership, strategy and performance are complex areas of research on the topic with lack of conclusive results, and solutions to the issue remain elusive. This study offered a clearer understanding of the problem. Design: This qualitative study explored leadership style in the context of strategy execution with the objective of offering a better understanding of performance and the strategy-to-performance gap. The study is a case study of selected organisations in the wine industry in South Africa. Data were collected via interviews on leadership figures and employees. Data were analysed qualitatively. Findings: The study confirmed the existence and issues surrounding the strategy-to-performance gap. Some findings concurred with previous studies on the gap and confirmed that it is intertwined with leadership and strategy execution issues. New themes were identified that contributed to the field of study and could prove to be valuable to narrow the strategy-to-performance gap in future. Value: Leadership is linked with performance in literature but there was limited research found on leadership style specifically in the context of the strategy-to-performance gap. This study confirmed issues surrounding the gap and it was found that the issue is a contemporary problem affecting organisational performance in various ways. This contributed to a better understanding of the problem. New themes that emerged could prove valuable to further research. Leadership and specifically leadership styles (as per Lewin) were found to influence and be interwoven with the strategy-to-performance gap. This study is original as it is the first study that explored leadership styles specifically in the context of the other key themes: strategy and the strategy-to-performance gap. The new themes that emerged are leadership style requirements from an employee satisfaction perspective as well as specific skills suggested to improve performance, all highlighted in the findings. Recommendations: Further research could explore leadership styles in more detail with regard to the strategy-to-performance gap. New themes in the context of strategy execution and leadership style could also be valuable. Future studies could also potentially evaluate the key themes with other measurement instruments such as different leadership styles or different performance criteria