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Written and prepared by Professor Omar
Hasan Kasule Sr.
ISSUES
FOR DISCUSSION
·
Leadership competencies for change management
·
Models for successful change management
·
Critical issues and troubleshooting in change
management
CONCEPTS
OF STRATEGY
·
Strategy is a rational approach to management of
uncertainties
·
Strategic management involves assessment of the
internal and external environments, forecasting the future, thinking forwards
and reasoning backwards, and preparing for various hypothetical scenarios by
establishing strategic objectives and formulating plans to accomplish
them.
·
Strategic management deals with sudden changes
in the environment and is likened to shooting at a moving target when riding on
a galloping horse.
·
Study of the seerah reveals effective
strategic thinking and planning at all stages of the forward march of the
Islamic mission.
·
The Hudaybiyah events illustrate very
clearly the strategic thinking of the prophet.
CONCEPTS
OF PLANNING
·
Action planning is laying down the detailed
tactical or operational plans.
·
Effective plans are specific, action-oriented,
flexible, and consistent with organizational long-term goals and objectives.
·
Planning has limitations due to environmental
factors beyond the control of the planner.
·
Failure to plan is due to philosophical objections
to planning the future, resistance to change, fear of commitment, and
difficulty of the planning process.
CRITERIA
OF CLASSIFICATION OF PLANS 1
·
By objective: strategic, tactical/operational
·
By duration: short, medium, long-term
·
By specificity: general, specific
·
By complexity: complex, simple
·
By methodology: top to bottom, bottom to top
·
By scope: comprehensive, narrow
·
By importance: major, minor
CRITERIA
OF CLASSIFICATION OF PLANS 2
·
By scale of measure: qualitative, quantitative
·
By security class: confidential, public
·
By formality: formal, informal
·
By implementability: easy, difficult
·
By flexibility: flexible, inflexible
·
By creativity: rational, intuitive, creative
·
By cost: expensive, cheap.
STAGES
OF STRATEGY FORMULATION
·
Defining organizational vision and mission
·
Clarifying externally-imposed mandates
·
Analyzing stakeholders
·
Analyzing the internal and external environments
·
Identifying strategic issues
·
Collecting information
·
Making assumptions and forecasts
·
Formulating general strategic approaches for
various possible scenarios
·
Choosing the most favored scenario and
formulating detailed tactical plans for it.
MAKING
A STRATEGIC CHANGE PLAN
·
A strategic plan covers a long period of time.
Its practical implementation is through a series of annual action or tactical
plans.
·
Contingency plans should be ready for immediate
implementation if the chosen plan fails or encounters obstacles.
·
Each chosen plan must be subjected to a
workability test: can it work in practice?
·
Can the underlying vision be maintained, can the
barriers be overcome?.
·
Strategic plans need constant revision.
·
Strategic moves are actual measures taken to
implement the strategy.
TYPES OF STRATEGIC MOVES TO PRODUCE CHANGE
·
Sudden and major to throw competition off
balance
·
Paced and incremental with continuous evaluation
·
Slow today with major impact in long-term
perspective.
·
Sequential or simultaneous.
·
Conditional or unconditional.
ZERO
and NON ZERO SITUATIONS
·
Strategic moves are preceded by assessment of
key players.
·
In a zero sum situation, in which one person's
gain is always another person's loss.
·
In non-zero sum situations collaboration and
coordination lead to a win/win outcome.
FACTORS
IN STRATEGIC MOVES
·
Relative power
·
Resources
·
Time
·
Environment.
BRINKMANSHIP
and PRE-EMPTIVE MOVES
·
Brinkmanship in strategic thinking is risky but
has its rewards.
·
Pre-emptive moves involve taking reactive moves
even before the events reacted to have not yet fully unfolded which results in
gain of lead-time and an upper hand.
STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
·
The timing and sequence of strategic moves must
be in stages and be part of strategic logic.
·
Each strategic move must be broken down into its
separate specific components to make analysis, monitoring, and modification
easier.
·
Very big strategic moves are riskier.
·
Each move must consider previous moves and
anticipated future ones.
STRATEGY
IMPLEMENTATION
·
Strategy implementation requires motivated
leaders, resources, organizational restructuring, and behavioral changes.
·
Strict control measures are needed to ensure
that there is no deviation.
·
Contingency or back up plans must be made.
·
Opportunities should always be exploited.
DIFFICULTIES
OF STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
·
Long lag-time between action and outcome
·
Uncertainty about the future
·
Dynamic shifts that require changing plans
rapidly.
TYPES OF
MANAGERIAL PERSONALITIES FOR STRATEGIC TRANSITIONS:
·
Pioneer (Intuitive Thinking, Explosive Growth)
·
Conqueror (Rational Thinking, Expansive Growth)
·
Level-Headed (Rational Thinking, Continuous
Growth)
·
Administrator
(Conformer In Thinking, Consolidation Of Growth)
·
Economizer (Legal Thinking, Cautious Growth)
·
Diplomat (Open-Minded, Retreat And Repositions)
OLD AND NEW MANAGEMENT
TEAMS
·
Advantages of using new as opposed to old
management teams in implementation of new strategies.
·
Disadvantages of using new as opposed to old
management teams in implementation of new strategies.