Strategic Management

1) Strategic planning is the method used by organizations to help plan for the present based on future projections. Hence defining a strategic plan for a specific organization is not an easy task. It involves creative thinking by a team on the focus of an organization and its work. The development team should also define a point of focus. An organization has a lot of goals and functions hence establishing a point of focus helps eradicate derailment from major issues affecting an organization. Defining a proper strategic plan also involves developing plans in collaboration with other organizations sharing interests and goals. This proves to be very helpful as organizations experienced in the development of strategic plans prove to of much assistance. The workforce handling the development of the strategic plans will be very large and experienced and hence errors and over sites will be minimized significantly. To define a proper strategic plan for an organization, decisions must be made on how to maximally utilize financial and human resources within the organization.

One of the elements to be put in the planning efforts and the final plan is gathering background information. The background information provides a basis for the strategic planning team to develop their work. The next step is the establishment of a planning workshop. The workshop assesses the current situation in the organization and how it got there. It thereafter determines the goals and targets of the organization. The next step is the designing of a planning workbook. The planning workbook gathers all the information necessary to develop a strategic plan. A second planning workshop is established whereby the set goals are translated into objectives. Hence, the mission statement is converted to a strategic plan (Chermack, 2011).

Operational plans are established and defined based on monitoring progress in the development of a strategic plan. They describe mission and goals that a program entails and also its activities and objectives. Operational plans contain clearly stated objectives about the quality of the service to that are supposed to be provided by an organization.

2) Determination of whether an organization should develop a strategic process and plan involves the use of data gathering methods. Data gathering methods include the library study and the survey study. Library study involves the use of writing and the compilation of research principles coming up with factors affecting the readiness of the organizations alignment to strategic planning. Survey study accessed the importance of prioritizing the factors affecting the readiness of the organizations alignment to strategic planning. Through research, an organization can access its readiness to employ strategic planning. Research allows for the study of available models of similar organizations and selecting them to act as base models. Tests can be performed on these models and hence determine the readiness of an organization to employ strategic planning. Through the evaluation of the models and frameworks of other organizations, an organization is able to determine the viability of a strategic plan and whether it will be of benefit. Organizations are evaluated based on their specified fields based on criteria simplicity and application rate. The application rate dictates the success rate of application of a strategic plan within an organization. From such statistics, organizations are able to determine whether it is feasible to employ a strategic plan (Chermack, 2011).

The procedure of making a strategic plan should include an executive summary. An executive summary is very essential in the generation of a strategic planning report. It is seen to act as a preface to the strategic planning report. The next thing to be included in the development of a strategic plan is the vision statement. The vision statement contains the society’s vision, which the organization works towards. It also contains the vision of the organization whereby its goals and targets are clearly stipulated. A summary and analysis of the internal and external environments should also be included in the process of accessing the readiness of an organization to employ strategic planning. Analyzing the environment aids in the determination of the viability of implementing strategic planning in the organization. An assessment of the human resource requirements and needs is another requirement in accessing the readiness of an organization to implement strategic planning. Meeting the staff or the workers requirements is the first step in establishing a successful strategic plan. Once the employee’s needs are met, the employees are then able to focus their efforts in achieving the organizations goals. Finally, a budget analysis should be included in assessment of an organizations readiness to implement strategic planning (Bryson, 1995)

4) Mission statements are responsible for clarifying the direction, goals, and targets of a specific organization. The mission statement is for use by the leaders and staff within the organization. The leaders use the mission statement to clarify to the employees the primary purpose and the objectives of an organization. Strategic planning may sometimes involve altering the mission statement to give a new sense of direction within the organization. Vision statements are also seen to provide information about an organization. The purpose of vision statements is to act as a source of inspiration for the employees and direct employee behavior within the organization. Developing vision and mission statement is not an easy task. One of the strategies used to develop mission statements is through brainstorming. Brainstorming involves a group of people or a development team coming together each with their individual ideas on how to come up with vision and mission statements. All the ideas and suggestions are compiled together and the best mission and vision statements are selected to be implemented. Consequently, robust mission and vision statements are developed. The vision and mission statements should be clear and precise. Lengthy mission and vision statements inhibit understanding and the ease of grasping. Hence, the statements should be to the point such that they are self-explanatory to the employees and leaders within the organization. Technical terms and jargon should be avoided in mission and vision statements. This as a result enhances understand and hence this results in ease of implementation of these statements. In the development of mission and vision statements, organizations should work hand in hand with other organizations. This results in acquisition of ideas that will help in the development of effective mission and vision statements. Thus, mission statements are needed in organizations that are serious about meeting their vision effectively.

References

Bryson, J. M. (1995). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: a guide to

Strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. Rev. ed. San Francisco:

Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Chermack, T. J. (2011). Scenario planning in organizations how to create, use, and assess

scenarios. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.