strategic management assignment help

strategic management assignment help

Strategic Management in Organizations

1. Introduction to Strategic Management

As a strategic management process, it is essential for organizations to have an overall framework of where it is now, where it is heading and the commonly agreed set of objectives to follow. This is in order to make best use of all the resources. Every strategy should have a supporting structure to facilitate and sustain the planning.”

The development of a mission or purpose is a key distinction in the strategic management process. The mission provides the foundation for the current strategic management and a basis for the formulation of strategies that will have an impact in the future. The mission of an organization is the unique purpose that sets it apart from other entities of its type and that broadly outlines what management hopes to achieve in the long term. A well-conceived mission is typically focused on today and what the organization does and it answers the question “what is important to us as an organization?” rather than the question “how do we accomplish our mission?” The mission provides general boundaries for the formulation of objectives which are the foundation for strategy. Objectives are in the roadmap; the purpose of the mission, those market conditions that the organization needs to satisfy, and that specification of an implementation period for a strategic plan. Objectives focus on the competitive position of an organization.

The introduction of new technology can sometimes have beneficial impacts on the organization, for example, efficiency can be improved through new technology such as computerization. However, the introduction also has negative impacts; employees might not be able to use the new technology given and the benefits to the organization may not be realized. Also, it is clear that new technology can be an expensive investment and a risk as well. So a thorough strategic analysis is needed to meet the required objectives.

“Strategic management is the process in which an organization develops and implements plans that espouse the goals and objectives of that organization. It entails the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, the identification of the threats and opportunities facing the organization, the establishment of long-term objectives, the generation of alternative strategies in order to achieve those objectives, the selection of specific strategies to pursue, and the allocation of resources necessary to achieve the goals. Strategic management is a way to transform the existing static plan in a proper systematic process. It is also an important way to make the organization’s main aims and objectives and the means to achieve them and the staff involved in the delivery of the aims and objectives.”

2. Importance of Strategic Management

According to Jerald Greenberg, an organizational behaviorist and psychologist, strategies are likely to be of better quality where there is a longer timeframe for planning and where those involved are focused on the external environment and not just in appeasing internal stakeholders. Well-implemented, consultative strategic management will provide a medium-to-long term framework, based on outcomes rather than outputs, and will enable the team to review its direction in the light of changes in that environment. This means that if an organization is the kind of organization that places an emphasis on the continuous quality improvement methodologies, it will be useful for them to develop a strategic management system.

Secondly, by not only setting clear objectives but also taking stock of the resources and capacities that the organization has to begin with, strategic management is an essential tool in helping a team to understand where they currently sit and what they will need to do in order to move forward. This kind of emphasis on self-evaluation and planning is likely to also be reflected in a happy and hard-working organizational culture, which is likely to be felt by service users. For instance, a recent study of head teachers in the U.K. found that just over 80% of them believed that effective strategic leadership was closely linked to job satisfaction. And it is easy to see why creation of a sense of unity and progress in the workforce can not only help the organization meet its objectives; it can also play a part in helping employees to realize their personal and professional goals and to take ownership over their own success.

First and foremost, one of the most important reasons why strategic management is important is that it allows organizations to set clear objectives and choose the direction that they want to move in. This is important in giving the organization a sense of unity and cohesion. For example, for a charity, the primary aim may be to help the local community. But the question is “What are the specific objectives that will help us achieve that aim?” With strategic management in place, the senior leadership team will have a framework to help them think about which objectives are most important and which will have the greatest impact. This rigor in decision-making and the alignment of the whole workforce to a set of agreed objectives will not only help efficiency; it can also be a useful tool in measuring how effectively the organization is meeting its stated goals.

3. Key Elements of Strategic Management

Human Resource Management Processes, which can give a central role to HRM if they are managed properly, will provide employees with ‘meaningful work, acknowledge’ their contributions, and reward desired performance. These processes can take a variety of forms, all of which can be important but none should be used in every case. Such as job analysis and design, the recruitment and the selection process. The Human Resources department is continually looking for talented professionals to interview and recommend for positions in the organization. However, strategic human resource management takes these responsibilities one step further by aligning them with the goals of other departments and the overall mission of the company. This essay shall demonstrate that strategic human resource management is a fundamental aspect of the effective performance and long-term success of the organization.

Objectives are the end results of planned activity. There must be a close link between an organization’s mission, its objectives, and the strategies needed to achieve these objectives. All managers must ensure that the corporate objectives are clarified, shared, and supported by everyone. Every manager must have the freedom to explore how that mission ‘can be made practically operational in the area for which he is accountable for.’ Every manager’s plan must be integrated so that a common understanding of strategy and common action cut across the entire organization. Every manager is capable of ‘assuming that the divisional or departmental aims of the work unit match the corporate objectives. And every manager has been given the freedom ‘to take action in an appropriate, timely, and cost-effective manner in response to change and putting new ideas into the corporate plan.’ Every manager must “logically over some period of time” be able to achieve the mission of his or her work area. This is the interweaving of setting both long-term and short-term objectives in a cyclic nature. Every manager has a planning system that starts from and reflects the objectives of the corporate strategies and then ‘action – what to do’ and ‘means – how to do it’. Every manager has the flexibility to be innovative and creative when developing his or her plan, and every manager is expected to implement the plan with “dynamism and effectiveness.”

The first and foremost element of strategic management is the strategic planning. It involves developing the mission, objectives, and strategies of an organization. The mission is the organization’s reason for existence, which is expressed in a mission statement. A mission statement concisely presents in written form what an organization does. The mission statement is the broad definition of the organization’s very purpose. It is usually found in the front of the organization’s annual report. It is important to note that the mission statement should be market-oriented and not product-oriented.

In order to achieve the “Strategic Management in Organizations” and not-for-profit organizations, managers must have a clear understanding of the key elements of strategic management in order to allocate resources in accordance with the planned strategy. In doing so, they are better positioned to progress the organization’s mission. The four key elements of strategic management which underpin a central role of HRM are: strategic planning; measurement and evaluation; equal employment opportunity; and managing the process. Managers are deeply concerned about these Human Resource issues as a result of the changing nature of organizations and widespread use of technology, which require new skills.

4. Strategic Planning and Implementation

Strategic planning is the process of outlining a roadmap for achieving the organizational goals and specifies the allocation of resources. The development of a strategic plan takes into account the outcomes of the environmental analysis and the establishment of the initial organizational direction. The strategic planning is done by defining the organizational mission, vision, and values and by setting the organizational goals and objectives. The mission statement focuses on today and what the organization does while the vision statement focuses on tomorrow and what the organization aspires to be. The mission and vision statements provide the foundation for formulating goals and objectives. The organizations require leaders to develop and communicate a collective leadership vision and selecting the initiatives that are most important for the organization. The leaders engage the employees by setting a mission and vision and focusing on achieving the goals. Engaging employees is a critical component of strategic planning as it is essential that everyone is committed, involved, and aboard. The leaders also maintain “strategic dialogue”; the ongoing discussions and conversations about their initiatives by focusing on innovation and responsiveness. The leaders should keep engaging in regular conversations and asking people throughout the organization for their input. The action plan provides the roadmap that helps the direction provided by the strategic plan and gives the details about who should do what and when it should be done to achieve the objectives. An action plan step is to plan the implementation and monitoring of the strategic plan. The plan may include quality processes, resource allocation, training, and performance management. All leaders must be accountable for their areas and should have a continuous and iterative dialogue on strategies throughout the year. The leaders should meet formally at least on a quarterly basis to review progress of the strategic initiatives. The strategic planning is an ongoing process and good leaders regularly review the strategy and its implementation it also checks the validity of its mission and vision as well as clarify specific responsibilities for leaders at all levels. Modern organizations are facing the challenges of dynamic environments and strategic planning is a dynamic activity. Leaders must enable and facilitate changes and keep up with day-to-day operations. Successful strategic planning implementation requires a large amount of time for research, information sharing, critical thinking, discussions, and decision making. The leaders should have a good strategic planning process in place and it should be aligned with the organizational mission and vision. Also, they need to create an enabling organizational culture. The strategic planning process in a healthcare organization has to be approached in a logical and step-by-step manner. The leaders should select a strategic planning team. Plans in healthcare organizations should be started from the stakeholders’ needs and expectations. It is a good practice to get patients and beneficiaries involved in the needs assessment. Then get a situational analysis by the team selected. This may involve SWOT analysis which evaluates different areas of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It is followed by the mission statement that sets the direction about what the organization wants to be in the future. After that, develop a vision statement which is based on the significant change made by the visitors in the patients’ recovery and their lives. Then, set up goals and objectives that are strategic and actionable. Work out a tactical plan, set the performance targets, and specify the methods of monitoring and evaluation in the plan. The last step is to put actions into work by implementing and monitoring the plan.

5. Evaluating and Adjusting Strategic Management Practices

The logical next section would be to consider how to evaluate the different strategies that may have been implemented and how to measure their effectiveness. This section begins by examining the various inputs used in strategic management and how it is necessary to evaluate systematically the different inputs. Critically, the need to balance conflicting input measures is recognised. From this, the different types of strategic control are considered and how these are used to evaluate the performance of an organization. Such an assessment is made by outlining corporate governance controls, whilst the idea of considering how to evaluate the performance of an organization is linked to discussions of strategic controls. However, the discussion goes further than just looking at corporate levels of evaluation and there is a consideration of the different forms of strategic control at different levels in the organization. This addresses a common criticism of strategic management in practice: that all too often there is poor execution and inadequate delivery of the strategic plans. The need to assess and continually improve the implementation of the strategy is critical and hence this is covered in this part of the section. In practical terms, the involvement of various stakeholders in these stages of evaluating and adjusting strategic management practices is discussed and the critical success of these stages is considered. Some of the examples used in this part of the book help to illustrate how evaluations actually take place in organisations, for example in the use of balance scorecards or other similar assessment tools. This provides students not only with the theoretical knowledge to consider how these things should be done, but also with insight into some of the practical issues that need to be considered when evaluating strategies. An example of a careful evaluation of success and failure in publicly available information is used to illustrate the pitfalls of inaccuracy in such evaluation. However, there is also mention of the need to be open to change and the ready.