Why Some Firms Do No Strategic Planning
Some firms do no strategic planning, and some firms do strategic planning but receive no support from managers and employees. Ten reasons (excuses) often given for poor or no strategic planning in a firm are as follows:
Some firms do no strategic planning, and some firms do strategic planning but receive no support from managers and employees. Ten reasons (excuses) often given for poor or no strategic planning in a firm are as follows:
- No formal training in strategic management
- No understanding of or appreciation for the benefits of plannin
- No monetary rewards for doing plannin
- No punishment for not planning
- Too busy “firefighting” (resolving internal crises) to plan ahead
- To view planning as a waste of time, since no product/service is mad
- Laziness; effective planning takes time and effort; time is mone
- Content with current success; failure to realize that success today is no guarantee for success tomorrow; even Apple Inc. is an exampl
- Overconfident
- . Prior bad experience with strategic planning done sometime/somewhere
Pitfalls in Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is an involved, intricate, and complex process that takes an organization into uncharted territory. It does not provide a ready-to-use prescription for success; instead, it takes the organization through a journey and offers a framework for addressing questions and solving problems. Being aware of potential pitfalls and being prepared to address them is essential to success.
Some pitfalls to watch for and avoid in strategic planning are these:
• Using strategic planning to gain control over decisions and resources
• Doing strategic planning only to satisfy accreditation or regulatory requirements
• Too hastily moving from mission development to strategy formulation
• Failing to communicate the plan to employees, who continue working in the dark
• Top managers making many intuitive decisions that conflict with the formal plan
• Top managers not actively supporting the strategic-planning process
• Failing to use plans as a standard for measuring performance
• Delegating planning to a “planner” rather than involving all managers
• Failing to involve key employees in all phases of planning
• Failing to create a collaborative climate supportive of change
• Viewing planning as unnecessary or unimportant
• Becoming so engrossed in current problems that insufficient or no planning is done
• Being so formal in planning that flexibility and creativity are stifled1
Guidelines for Effective Strategic Management
Failing to follow certain guidelines in conducting strategic management can foster criticisms of the process and create problems for the organization. Issues such as “Is strategic management in our firm a people process or a paper process?” should be addressed. Some organizations spend an inordinate amount of time developing a strategic plan, but then fail to follow through with effective implementation. Change and results in a firm come through implementation, not through formulation, although effective formulation is critically important for successful implementation. Continual evaluation of strategies is also essential because the world changes so rapidly that existing strategies can need modifying often.
Strategic management must not become a self-perpetuating bureaucratic mechanism. Rather, it must be a self-reflective learning process that familiarizes managers and employees in the organization with key strategic issues and feasible alternatives for resolving those issues. Strategic management must not become ritualistic, stilted, orchestrated, or too formal, predictable, and rigid. Words supported by numbers, rather than numbers supported by words, should represent the medium for explaining strategic issues and organizational responses. A key role of strategists is to facilitate continuous organizational learning and change.
R. T. Lenz offers six guidelines for effective strategic management
Strategic planning is an involved, intricate, and complex process that takes an organization into uncharted territory. It does not provide a ready-to-use prescription for success; instead, it takes the organization through a journey and offers a framework for addressing questions and solving problems. Being aware of potential pitfalls and being prepared to address them is essential to success.
Some pitfalls to watch for and avoid in strategic planning are these:
• Using strategic planning to gain control over decisions and resources
• Doing strategic planning only to satisfy accreditation or regulatory requirements
• Too hastily moving from mission development to strategy formulation
• Failing to communicate the plan to employees, who continue working in the dark
• Top managers making many intuitive decisions that conflict with the formal plan
• Top managers not actively supporting the strategic-planning process
• Failing to use plans as a standard for measuring performance
• Delegating planning to a “planner” rather than involving all managers
• Failing to involve key employees in all phases of planning
• Failing to create a collaborative climate supportive of change
• Viewing planning as unnecessary or unimportant
• Becoming so engrossed in current problems that insufficient or no planning is done
• Being so formal in planning that flexibility and creativity are stifled1
Guidelines for Effective Strategic Management
Failing to follow certain guidelines in conducting strategic management can foster criticisms of the process and create problems for the organization. Issues such as “Is strategic management in our firm a people process or a paper process?” should be addressed. Some organizations spend an inordinate amount of time developing a strategic plan, but then fail to follow through with effective implementation. Change and results in a firm come through implementation, not through formulation, although effective formulation is critically important for successful implementation. Continual evaluation of strategies is also essential because the world changes so rapidly that existing strategies can need modifying often.
Strategic management must not become a self-perpetuating bureaucratic mechanism. Rather, it must be a self-reflective learning process that familiarizes managers and employees in the organization with key strategic issues and feasible alternatives for resolving those issues. Strategic management must not become ritualistic, stilted, orchestrated, or too formal, predictable, and rigid. Words supported by numbers, rather than numbers supported by words, should represent the medium for explaining strategic issues and organizational responses. A key role of strategists is to facilitate continuous organizational learning and change.
R. T. Lenz offers six guidelines for effective strategic management
- Keep the process simple and easily understandable
- Eliminate vague planning jargon
- Keep the process nonroutine, so vary assignments, team membership, meeting formats, settings, and even the planning calendar.
- Welcome bad news and encourage devil’s advocate thinking.
- Do not allow technicians to monopolize the planning process.
- To the extent possible, involve managers from all areas of the firm
An important guideline for effective strategic management is open-mindedness. A willingness and eagerness to consider new information, new viewpoints, new ideas, and new possibilities is essential; all organizational members must share a spirit of inquiry and learning. Strategists such as chief executive officers, presidents, owners of small businesses, and heads of government agencies must commit themselves to listen to and understand managers’ positions well enough to be able to restate those positions to the managers’ satisfaction. In addition, managers and employees throughout the firm should be able to describe the strategists’ positions to the satisfaction of the strategists. This degree of discipline will promote understanding and learning.
No organization has unlimited resources. No firm can take on an unlimited amount of debt or issue an unlimited amount of stock to raise capital. Therefore, no organization can pursue all the strategies that potentially could benefit the firm. Strategic decisions thus always have to be made to eliminate some courses of action and to allocate organizational resources among others. Most organizations can afford to pursue only a few corporate-level strategies at any given time
Seventeen Guidelines for the Strategic-Planning Process to Be Effective
1. It should be a people process more than a paper process.
2. It should be a learning process for all managers and employees.
3. It should be words supported by numbers rather than numbers supported by words.
4. It should be simple and nonroutine.
5. It should vary assignments, team memberships, meeting formats, and even the planning calendar.
6. It should challenge the assumptions underlying the current corporate strategy.
7. It should welcome bad news.
8. It should welcome open-mindness and a spirit of inquiry and learning.
9. It should not be a bureaucratic mechanism.
10. It should not become ritualistic, stilted, or orchestrated.
11. It should not be too formal, predictable, or rigid.
12. It should not contain jargon or arcane planning language.
13. It should not be a formal system for control.
14. It should not disregard qualitative information.
15. It should not be controlled by “technicians.”
16. Do not pursue too many strategies at once.
17. Continually strengthen the “good ethics is good business” policy.
No organization has unlimited resources. No firm can take on an unlimited amount of debt or issue an unlimited amount of stock to raise capital. Therefore, no organization can pursue all the strategies that potentially could benefit the firm. Strategic decisions thus always have to be made to eliminate some courses of action and to allocate organizational resources among others. Most organizations can afford to pursue only a few corporate-level strategies at any given time
Seventeen Guidelines for the Strategic-Planning Process to Be Effective
1. It should be a people process more than a paper process.
2. It should be a learning process for all managers and employees.
3. It should be words supported by numbers rather than numbers supported by words.
4. It should be simple and nonroutine.
5. It should vary assignments, team memberships, meeting formats, and even the planning calendar.
6. It should challenge the assumptions underlying the current corporate strategy.
7. It should welcome bad news.
8. It should welcome open-mindness and a spirit of inquiry and learning.
9. It should not be a bureaucratic mechanism.
10. It should not become ritualistic, stilted, or orchestrated.
11. It should not be too formal, predictable, or rigid.
12. It should not contain jargon or arcane planning language.
13. It should not be a formal system for control.
14. It should not disregard qualitative information.
15. It should not be controlled by “technicians.”
16. Do not pursue too many strategies at once.
17. Continually strengthen the “good ethics is good business” policy.
Strategic planning process has 9 steps to make effective use of human and material resources of organization for achieving objectives of organization.
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