Strategy in Action Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Strategy in Action - Essay Example Based on the situations that face the managements, it is essential for the managers to emulate an organizational style that effectively meets the needs of their company. Some of the notable organizational styles includes pre-bureaucratic, bureaucratic, functional, divisional and post-bureaucratic. Strategic management on the other hand, involves systematic collection of all the processes undertaken by a firm and aligning them with the vision and the mission of an organization. This aim of this paper is to indicate that organizational structure must be considered as part of strategic management. According to Nag et al (2007) there are three major processes that are involved in strategy formation. These include situation and competitor analysis, setting objectives and implementing the objectives. After a strategy is formed, it undergoes evaluation process that involves all the aspects of a strategy the affect an organization. Additionally, the suitability and the feasibility of the str ategy are determined by use of the available or new human resources. During the stage of strategic implementation, three key steps are involved. The first one is organizing. Organizing entails making organizational as well as functional changes to ensure that factors that will led to the success of a strategy are put on board. The second step is resourcing. During the resourcing stage, the management comes up with the budget and the capital expenditure as well as the human resources responsible for overseeing the implementation of the strategy. Organizational strategy entails the plan that indicates how an organization will utilize the available resources to achieve the preset goals. It is vital to note that for any firm to be successful, it should come up with a vision and mission as well as objectives that are smart, measurable, accurate, realistic and timely. For any company to achieve its plans, it is essential for managers to ensure that both the structure and the strategy are combined together. Most importantly, any strategy that is undertaken by an organization must be divided into smaller tasks that are allocated to each of the employees based on their skills and the experience. In the contemporary business atmosphere, most of the firms aim at improving efficiency, creating synergy, enhancing strong team work and reducing the total organization costs by revising their structures. Even though this is achievable in most cases, it is not always possible (Heckscher and Donnellon, 1994). As earlier mentioned, for any strategy to be implemented, it should be evaluated. Companies that lack skilled personnel to undertake strategic implementation and evaluation have an option of hiring qualified personnel to undertake the process. Alternatively, the managers can hire the services of consultants who are experts in the filed of strategic management and leadership. In the two scenarios, there must be changes in the structure of human resources department to avoid conflict of goals. Connection between a strategy and structure Essentially, organizational structure is not the organization chart that depicts the flow of authority but it entails the people, position, technology and procedures that make up the organization. Most importantly, a structure indicates how all pieces and the procedures works or does not work together. This implies that it is vital for the structure to be

Guest lecturer reports Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Guest lecturer reports - Essay Example This is achieved through applying the imaginations on the knowledge available. Sustainable development (SD) is one which meets the prevailing needs of the society without compromising the ability of the future generations for the purposes of their sustainability. It can be conceptualized both as an objective and a process. As an objective it advocates for the maintenance of environmental integrity, ensuring social equity and aiming for economic efficiency. However, as a process it explains the integration of environment, society and economy in a model. The environment provides material for the economy and also gives grounds for disposal. The raw materials are converted to goods and services to be consumed by the society, which takes back the wastes to the economy for recycling (Bogliotti, & Spangenberg, 2006). The society also gets free goods and services directly from environment. The environmental integrity is self reliable system that mainly evaluates that economy arose from the n eeds of the society to specialize in what it could produce. At this time, the ecosystem service was sustainable to society mainly because the subjects were small in number. Economy grows rapidly and outdoes the ecosystem service such that almost all societal needs are sustained by the economy. For instance finite resources like oil are being exhausted and the renewable resources used up quickly more than they are replenished. Ensuring social equity entails fulfilling the needs of all men and women, development of communities and respect for diversity. The invention of trade and later currency led to the economic explosion. Economic explosion is defined by accumulation of capital which funded major mega-projects. Thus a sustainable economy can be viewed as one which uses renewable resources as quickly as they are replenished, returns wastes to the environment at accepted limits, recycles finite resources and is resilient to changes within particular sectors. However, the environmenta lists have different opinion from the political view whose concern is on the need for further economic growth to combat global poverty, environmental problems and climatic change (Ayong Le Kama, 2001). See the diagram below; SD as a process may be analyzed in a model, as illustrated in the example of the UK SD strategy of 2009. It aimed at social progress, environmental protection, efficient use of natural resources and stable economic growth and employment. The four-legged table model explains how this quality of life was prioritized. First vision is creation oriented where a bare land resources is utilized by building structures. Decision making is the next aspect and is given a social approach. This actor-approach advocates bringing possible ideas and fostering integration of ideas and mindsets. It is an important point noted and lesson learnt that the SD is to balance and amalgamate economics, social science and environmental science. Technical experts and stakeholders should en sure vision is sound and fair. Recognition of context e.g. from a worldly view to a specific locality is equally important as considering the world trends in relation to the state of the planet, technology, people’s values and behaviors and the new legislations and regulations. When environmental problems such as global warming and climate change are considered, humans are found to cause this thus their behavior to be