The determination of an effective strategy
The term strategy refers to a high-level plan focused on achieving one or more goals under uncertainty conditions. It entails a leadership and management art that utilizes various subset of skills, including logistics, tactics, and siegecraft, for the achievement of specific goals. Determination of a strategy is important s it facilitates the effective utility of the limited available resources. In general, it entails the actions of goal setting, action determination set towards the achievement of the goal, and the execution of resources for the achievement of the set actions. Through the strategy, there is a description of the end goal and the various ways by which it would v-be achieved. In an organization, the strategy can either be intended and pre-determined or, in some circumstances, emerge as a pattern of activities in the course of the attempt of the organization to adapt effectively in its environment or compete with other similar industries effectively. The determination of an effective strategy entails activities, including strategic thinking and strategic planning.
According to Henry Mintzberg, strategic planning entails a pattern in a stream of decision to contrast with a view of strategy as planning. Henrik von Scheel, on the other hand, defines strategy as the totality of the activities aimed at the achievement of a unique mix of values. It entails the determination of the pattern of activities to engage indifferently in comparison to the activities of the rivals. For max McKeown, the aspect of strategy entails the shaping of the future through the human attempt to acquire the effective ends through the utility of the available means. Dr. Vladimir, on the other hand, defines the subject of strategy as a system of generating, formulating, and developing a doctrine focused on ensuring long term success if wee adhered to by an organization. According to the complexity theorists, it entails the unfolding of internal and external factors of an organization that results in actions in a socio-economic context.
An emergent strategy entails a pattern of actions that come up over time in an organization without the consideration or utility of goals and missions. It also occurs despite the availability of goals and a mission. In some cases, it is referred to as a realized strategy. The functioning and context of an emergent strategy differs with an intended strategy. It is viewed as a set of strategies that entail actions that form an unintended pattern that as initially not anticipated or intended in the initial phase of planning. For instance, despite the fact that the adoption of an emergent strategy may not be intended, it has the potential of assisting and facilitating businesses to adapt and subscribe to more flexible practices and practicalities of the changing conditions in the market. With regards to the operations of an organization, it could be referred to as a happy accident, or an unplanned success. It results from the totality of actions that were not part of the initial plan of an organization or a company. Following the effective realization of the aspects of strategy and emergent strategies in an organization, this paper seeks to determine the extent to which strategies in an organization should be emergent.
The determination of the extent to which the strategies of an organization should be emergent depends on the understanding of strategic planning in an organization, with regards to the advantages and disadvantages, and the determination of the advantages and disadvantages of emergent strategies. With regard to the advantages of emergent strategies, there is the fact that the emergent strategies are perhaps more useful and necessary as a result of the uncertainties and unpredictabilities that surround the current culture in comparison to the past. As a result of the emergent strategy, the business organizations get to adopt the roll without mechanism a factor that encourages business opportunities to accept various results even in the case that they were not expected, and that the resulting course of actions is not in accordance with the original plans of the organization.
There are various advantages and disadvantages that relate to the emergent plans of the organization. These benefits are realized in the case that the leaders and the organizations operate by casting doubt on the veracity and trustworthiness of strategic planning. The resulting factor is the development of an emergent strategy for the organization. Among the benefits of emergent strategies include that it reduces the pressure of the bussu0iness owners and business operators who pay excessive attention to details through the use of the emergent strategies, there is the fact that the owners and operators of business organizations tend to adopt the more flexible approach, consequently minimizing the pressure under which they expose themselves. As a result of minimizing the pressure to which the business operators are exposed, there is the fact that they can operate in a more relaxed way, a factor that is necessary for the increase of awakening and increase of creativity in the process of running the organization to maximize on the profitability and productivity.
It naturally forces information to be synthesized, often resulting in more robust, meaningful results.
The engagement of the organizations in emergent planning also an efficient factor in the promotion of business profitability and productivity as it can naturally function to propel the business owners and the business manager to the previous instinctive habits that are in the long run dependable. Since the nudge occurs naturally, there is the fact that minimal resources and input is utilized to generate the required or desired outcome. There is, therefore, the fact that the effective results for the organization are realized without the utility of many efforts by the organization. The aspect of workplace culture is also responsible for the promotion of culture and strategic innovation within the workplace. Through the promotion of workplace culture and entrepreneurial innovation, there if the fact that the employees within the organization could become more productive and ready to work, a factor that would be necessary for the improvement of the performance and output of the workers and the organization at large.
the disadvantages of emergent strategies
Other than the advantages associated with the emergent strategies in the workplace and business organizations, there are also various disadvantages that relate to the subject of emergent strategies in business organizations. Among the disadvantages of emergent strategies include that as a result of the emergent strategies, the small business owners and managers are caught off-guard with reference to the changes that occur in the marketing conditions. In some cases, the emergent strategies may not be in line with changes. The emergent strategies may fail to match the real-time changes in the marketing environment. As a result, there is the fact that the organizations could end up incurring losses.
The small business owners are also left ill-prepared and not able to deal with the changes caused by the emergent strategy effectively. This is mainly characterized by the fact that the business owners and the business operators are not in the position to gather all the resources that they require to facilitate the improvement of the business organizations. The business opportunities, therefore, face the risk of collapsing as the result of the lack of enough resources to run the businesses. As a result of an emergent strategy, the small business owners may end up being placed behind possible competitors who could be head in addressing change. The emergent strategy could result in a worse outcome than anticipated. As a result, the business organization ends up in an adverse position.
Emergent strategy theory in practice
despite the possibility of the rise of an emergent strategy, organizations should still engage in the process of strategic planning. In essence, the emergent strategy should never be used by organizations as an excuse for not engaging ion strategic planning. The organizations that are best practices and embrace emergent strategy engage in the creation of a broad business strategy. After the strategy creation, they facilitate the arising of the details on the strategy from the learning they acquire on a continuous basis. For the adoption of an emergent strategy, organizations are required to established mechanisms for review and reflection. Instead of the adoption of the free form mechanism g-for the development of the company activities and decisions, there is continuous evaluation of the organization strategy to determine a consensus before the determination of the subsequent steps. Often, the success of strategic planning is found through a combination of intentional and emergent strategy approaches. Despite the fact that the operation of business entities without broad goals and strategies do not make sense, it is also senseless to fail to adopt organizational strategy focused on changing realities. A more balanced approach is focused on embracing both intentional, strategic planning and the development of a learning culture that provides space for strategic details to emerge in the context of business practice.
Strategic management
Strategic management entails the formulation and implementation of the maintain organizational goals and initiatives taken by the top management of an organization on behalf of the owners of the organization. It is based on the considerations of the organizational resources in addition to an assessment of the internal and external operational environments of an organization. The intent of strategic management in an organization is the provision of overall direction to an organization. It entails the specifying of the objectives, plans, and development policies of an organization, and the allocation of the necessary resources for the implementation of the plans. There are various frameworks and models used in the formulation of strategic management plans and procedures. The plans and framework range with reference to the environmental complexity and dynamics of competitiveness. The factor of strategic management is not static in nature. Rather, it keeps evolving with regards to the nature of the change in business practices and the change in the business environment. The models engage in the strategic management practices entail the utility of a continuous process with a feedback loop focused on the monitoring of the execution and predict and determine the subsequent round of planning and the necessary factors to consider in it.
Advantages and disadvantages of strategic planning
There are various advantages and disadvantages related to strategic planning in an organization. In essence, despite the fact that strategic planning in organizations has a wide range and variety of advantages, there are also disadvantages associated with the aspect of strategic planning in organizations. The advantages of strategic planning, however, are more in comparison to the disadvantages. As a result of the more advantages, organizations utilize a significant amount of money and resources in the formulation and implementation of strategic planning.
Advantages of strategic planning
Among the major benefits of strategic planning is that it facilitates the identification of organizational risks., in essences, in practice, there is no business that operates without organizational risks. Consequently, there is the need of the organizations to formulate various mechanisms through which they can identify risks within the organization and act on them efficiently. The use of strategic planning facilitates the identification i-of the organizational risks. It further facilitates the determination of the various ways through which the organizations would deal with the risks in the case that they occur. The resulting factor is that the organizations are better prepared to handle the risks, and the risks cause minimal adverse effects on the organization and its operations. Strategic planning also facilitates the aspect of risk management.
Through strategic planning, the managers and business owners get the ability to think effectively on issues related to the business. The aspect of creativity is encouraged through the utility of the ideas of the management and the ideas of the team in the running of the organization. There is the engagement of the employees in the management of the organization. In senescence, the employees are included through the use of both top to bottom and bottom to top approaches. The approaches used by the managers are for the engagement of the employees in the process of the running of the organizations.
Despite the fact that organizations have their aims and objectives, there are situations where it is necessary for the organizations to create and utilize amendments there are also situations where the aims and objectives of organizations may require clarity and elaboration. Through the engagement of efficient strategic planning in the organizations, the aims and the objectives of the organizations are well clarified, this through the effective definition by the planners of the what they plan to do and the goals that they seek to achieve.
The managers entrusted with the factor of strategic planning need to inform the entire organization of the aims, objectives, and future plans of the organization. Through the effective dissemination of information by the top management, there is the fact that the organization facilitates the identification of resistance to change within the organization. Further, organizational management managers take the necessary remedial actions that facilitate the effective functioning of the organization.
Through organizations, there are various departments responsible for the performance of different roles and tasks. There is a need for effective collaboration and cooperation between all the different departments within the organization. There is, however, the fact that the manager in various departments ends up competing rather than collaborating. The establishment of a strategic plan for the organization, therefore, presents an effective way of preventing this competition through the detailing of the work of al the various managers and employees within the organization.
The allocation of resources, including money, people, and the land that an organization has is also an effective factor in the process of running the organizations. Through the effective allocation of resources, there is the fact that the organization manages to achieve its objective as there are enough resources for all the work that the organization requires to be done. There is the fact that in the course of the working of the organization, there are situations where it is necessary to move people and s resources around within the organization for the purpose of facilitating the improved performance of the organization. The utility of strategic planning for this factor is essential in enabling the organization the right organizational resource to be at the right place ion the rights time for increased performance in the organization.
Disadvantages of strategic planning
there are various disadvantages that are associated with the aspect of strategic planning within an organization. These factors represent the negative impacts that strategic planning represents within the organization with regard to its use in the organization. For instance, there is the fact that there sare time that the strategic plans of organizations fail as a result of the influence from outside forces, including the changes in the economic environment, the action of the competitors, and the occurrence of technological change. Also, there are situations. Also, there are situations where there might be extreme changes in the macro-environmental factors o the organizations. Also, these challenges that were not initially envisioned causes stress to the strategic plan, leading to the failure of the strategic plan.
There is also the fact that in the case that organizations thoroughly engage in strategic planning, the entire process becomes costly, time-consuming, and rigid. There are situations where a significant amount of time may have to be utilized for the implementation of the strategic plans as envisioned by the organization. The result, therefore, is that the benefits of the strategic planning process are, therefore, not immediately realized.
Conclusion
Following the realization of the benefits and disadvantages of both the strategic planning of an organization and the emergent strategy of an organization, there is the fact that both the factor of strategic planning and emergent strategy are essential in an organization depending on the extent to which they are utilized. In response to the question concerning the extent to which the emergent strategy should be practiced in an organization, it is essential to established both facts of strategic planning to determine the level to which an organization withstands both the advantages and the disadvantages of both elements.
While the emergent strategy in an organocation is essential as there is less stress associated it its development and implementation, there is also the need top relies on that in the case that an organization does not engage in and effective planning, the running of the organization of difficult as there no clear established goals and objectives. This, therefore, suggests that despite the need to engage the aspect of emergent strategy within the organization, it is important to engage in strategic planning to establish the aims and the objectives of the organization for the purpose of the provision of a sense of direction for the organization. It is also essential to engage in the process of strategic planning to ensure that the roles of the employees within the organization are well defined. The efficient defining of employee roles, the factor of competition between the employee and even the top management is minimized. Also, there is no role overlap as each employee is aware of the function that they are required to carry out within the organization. The engagement of the strategic planning within the organization is also essential ins ensuring that the resources are well distributed and that all the functioning of the organization works effectively.
The emergent strategy within the organization, on the other hand, is essential in the process of increasing creativity within the organization. It is essential in encouraging the managers to act in a way that enables them to utilize the available resources efficiently and wisely to maximize the productivity of the organization. In essence, while the engagement on the emergent strategy is essential for the organization, there is the fact that the organizations should also significantly consider the factor of strategic management, the combination of the emergent strategy, and the determination of a middle ground for the functioning of the organization s essential as it facilitates the balance of the negative factors presented by both the emergent strategies and the strategic management factor.