Introduction to Strategic Management
Strategy is a comprehensive plan of action that sets critical direction and guides the allocation of resources for the effective and efficient accomplishment of an organization's long term objectives. It is a road map which an organization follows in an endeavour to successfully fulfill its vision. In strategic planning, an organization has to align its mission, values and culture to the vision so that there is synchrony for successful attainment of the organization's vision.
Key strategic issues include strategy formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. In formulating an organization's strategy, it is very important to include personnel at all levels within the organization so that there is buy in when it comes to implementation. While senior management are the custodians of the organization's strategic plan, implementation largely rest with functional managers and their support staff. It is therefore important for the organization to be inclusive in the planning process so that the functional and operation levels can effectively support the corporate level leadership in implementing the organization's strategy.
Most organizations come up with very good strategic plans, on paper, but fail on implementation. Implementation refers to the actual application and execution of the strategic plan. It is the carrying out, execution, or practice of a plan, a method, or any design
for doing something. As such, implementation is the action that must follow any preliminary
thinking and/or planning in order for something to actually happen.It is important to develop an implementation plan, which is a detailed listing of activities, costs, responsible person(s) for each action, and schedules that are requisite for achieving the objectives of the strategic plan.
The need for monitoring and reviewing the implementation of strategy cannot be overemphasized. It arises from a number of factors. Levels of commitment, skills, changes in the operating environment, changes is availability of resources, and the impact of cash flow challenges are some of the factors that affect effective strategy implementation and as such there is need for periodic reviews to ensure that the progress is on course as planned. Monitoring and evaluation are necessary so that there are adjustments along the way, realignment with changes in the environment and resource availability or the lack thereof. Certain objectives and milestones may be reviewed where necessary.
The next post will develop the strategic planning process and subsequent posts will develop other concepts like implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
