The strategic plan is important in the development of any business organization. The strategic plan provides basis for the activities in the business, thereby significantly impacting the performance of these activities and the performance of the entire organization. Some of the most important aspects of strategic planning include the vision, mission, values and the strategy used in the organization of interest. In addition, other factors in the strategic planning activity of the organization include the timeliness of the strategies, as well as variables like the business situation, the available courses of action, and the desired outcomes. The aim is to develop a strategic plan that suits the business condition based on an accurate evaluation of the internal factors and external factors influencing the operations of the organization.
The situation of the business organization is also a major factor in the development of business strategic plans. In this regard, strategic planning significantly relates to a variety of activities throughout the business organization. The significant connections between strategic planning and practically every component of the business organization emphasizes the significance of strategic planning in enforcing the overall growth and progress of the organization of interest. The following analysis of the significance of strategic planning in a business organization considers the overall context of strategic planning in order to establish the connection between strategic planning and the development of the organization, the impacts of strategic planning and management performance, the impacts of strategic planning on organizational performance, the efforts of strategic planning and organizational viability and attractiveness to employees and investors, and the overall ability of the organization to ensure sustainable and viable operations in the long-term. It is argued that strategic planning serves as a major foundation on which an organization builds its growth and expansion, such that strategic planning is a critical success factor in the development of organizations.
Strategic Planning Context
The context of strategic planning involves the needs of the business organization, including the need for the organization to ensure that its operations properly match the conditions of the market. For instance, the market situation changes over time, such that the dynamism of the market condition can significantly impact the demand for the products and services of the organization of interest. The context of strategic planning requires consideration for the changes that occur in the market situation in order to optimize the development of the organization.
The development of the organization depends on its ability to address the current preferences, and trends and expectations of the consumers in the market. Such a condition means that strategic planning is usually conducted for the purpose of developing new guidelines, policies, programs, tasks and procedures that the entire organization could follow in order to maximize the capability of the organization in addressing the demand and expectations of consumers in the target market. Such a context of strategic planning emphasizes the ability of managers to maximize the performance of the organization through the strategic planning process. In effect, strategic planning is generally viewed as a managerial process or, sometimes, a managerial tool, for developing policies, programs, rules and regulations that impose requirements and controls the activities within the organization, for the purpose of maximizing the performance of the entire organization given its current context.
Another factor in the context of strategic planning is that it is based on the abilities and limitations of the business organization of interest. For instance, as mentioned earlier, managers engage in the strategic planning process in order to maximize the performance of the organization. However, the reality is that managers need to consider the capabilities of the members of the organization, i.e. the workers of the business, because the characteristics of these organizational members directly influence or even define the capabilities of the organization in fulfilling any strategic plan.
The context of strategic planning involves the skills, knowledge, abilities, limitations, concerns and so on, of the members of the organization. Managers need to consider these characteristics of the workforce in order to ensure that the resulting strategic plan would be able to contribute to the maximization of the performance of the business organization of interest. The context of the strategic planning process requires consideration for the characteristics of the internal environment of the organization, as well as consideration for the characteristics of the external organizational environment in order to optimize the effectiveness and potential for success in the implementation of the resulting strategic plan.
The Strategic Planning Process and Managerial Performance
This significant relationship between the activities of managers and the strategic planning process emphasizes the reality that the strategic planning process impacts managerial performance or management performance in the organization. For instance, the activities of managers in an organization generally involve strategic planning requiring an analysis of the internal organizational environment and the external organizational environment, such that the ability of the managers to address issues identified in the internal organizational environment and issues identified in the external organizational environment depends on the ability of these managers to effectively utilize the strategic planning process and developing appropriate solutions and actions to address such issues.
The effectiveness of the strategic planning process to arrive at such solutions directly impacts the effectiveness of managers in addressing such solutions. As a result, it can be argued that the performance of managers in providing the appropriate solutions for the issues encountered in the organization depend on the specific activities involved in the strategic planning process. Therefore, the strategic planning process influences the capabilities of managers in providing support for the organizational ability to address his issues as the organization develops.
Strategic Planning and Human Resource Management
The strategic planning process involves the characteristics of the human resources of the organization, especially because of the fact that the resulting strategic plan will be implemented through the action of the employees in the organization. It is necessary for the managers to ensure that the resulting strategic plan would be able to support or commitment from the workers in the organization. The inability of the managers to get such commitment and support for the resulting strategic plan could spell disaster in the implementation of the strategic plan. The lack of such commitment and support could lead to the failure of implementation of the strategic plan and the failure of the managers to attain the desired results in the implementation of the plans.
Strategic planning is a significant factor that influences the ability of the managers to drive and affect the specific activities of the individual members of the organization. As mentioned earlier, the commitment and support of the individual workers in the organization depends on how the resulting strategic plan matches the characteristics of the workers. For example, the expectations and preferences of workers significantly influence the probability of success of implementation of the strategic. Strategic planning impacts the management’s performance because it directly influences the ability of the resulting strategic plan in getting the commitment and support of the human resources of the organization in order to maximize the output or consequences of implementation of the plan.
In relation, the performance of individual workers could greatly dependent on the strategic plans developed through the efforts of the managers of the organization. As mentioned earlier, alignment is necessary between the characteristics of the human resources and the characteristics of the strategic plan. The activities of the individual workers would demand on the natural characteristics of the strategic plan implemented in the organization. In effect, the strategic planning process influences the alignment between the characteristics of the strategic plan and the characteristics of the workers in the organization, such that the strategic planning process also influences the performance of individual workers. The natural ability of the workers to satisfy the requirements of their jobs would be significantly influenced through the characteristics of the strategic plan. Strategic planning influences the productivity levels of the workers in the organization.
Strategic Planning and Organizational Performance
Strategic planning directly impacts the organizational performance. The level of organizational performance directly depends on the level of performance of the managers. The effectiveness of the managers to address the specific needs, issues and concerns of the organization influences the ability of the organization to address its own means, especially because of the fact that the managers are the ones who provide direction for the entire organization. The ability of the managers to engage in the strategic planning process to arrive at the best possible strategic plans determines the ability of the organization to perform for the satisfaction of its goals and objectives, and to achieve further improvement or growth in its development.
The level of performance of the individual workers in the organization directly determines the ability of the organization to achieve its goals and objectives. The human resources of the organization define the capabilities and capacities of the organization to change an address his issues, needs, and challenges. As a result, it is necessary for the managers to ensure that the strategic planning process would be able to bring out the best possible productivity levels from the human resources of the organization. The alignment of the strategic planning process of specific characteristics of the human resources of the organization will directly determine the natural ability of the organization to perform according to the desired goals and objectives of the business.
Strategic Planning and Business Viability
Strategic planning directly influences the viability and attractiveness of the business organization for employees. Every business organization needs to maximize its human resources in order for it to maximize its organizational performance and the ability to achieve its goals and objectives. Human resources directly determine the capabilities of the organization to change according to the changes in the market. Human resources also determine the ability of the organization to develop particular products and services and to provide such products and services to the target consumers.
The human resources of the business organization significantly impact his natural ability of the business organization to achieve its goals and objectives. The support that the human resources offer for the achievement of goals and objectives of the organization serves as a critical part in the success of the business. It is necessary for the managers of the business organization to maximize the overall attractiveness of the organization in order to attract the best possible employees for the organization. Managers want to make sure that the human resources of the organization have the best possible skill sets and the best possible background and knowledge so that such human resources would be able to provide the necessary support for the continued growth and development of the business.
One of the most important factors that employees usually look at when it comes to applying for certain jobs in large organizations is the strategic planning process in the organization. For instance, employees want to make sure that the strategic planning process considers the needs and concerns of employees. This is so because of the fact that employees want to feel that they are valued in the organization. Workers want to make sure that they are part of the organization and that they contribute significantly to the positive development of the organization, rather than just simply working for the fulfillment of specific tasks or procedures. Workers want to be able to fulfill the requirements of their jobs. Workers tend to analyze the strategic planning process in the organization and consider it as an indicator of the connection between the managers and the subordinates or the workers throughout the organization.
It is necessary for the managers to align the strategic planning process with the concerns, interests and the abilities of the workers throughout the organization in order to maximize the attractiveness of the business organization to potential applicants. The maximization of the alignment of the characteristics of the strategic planning process to the characteristics of the employees in the organization could help in improving the overall attractiveness of the organization to potential applicants. This also means that the maximization of the alignment of the characteristics of the strategic planning process to the characteristics of the employees could directly influence the ability of the organization to attract the best possible employees that could contribute to the continued growth and development of the business.
Strategic planning is important because it influences the attractiveness of the business to investors. These organizations greatly depend on their ability to attract investors. This is especially true in business organizations that are already large or are already public. For instance, large business organizations like Walmart require support from investors in order for these companies to continue to grow and develop. Basically, the attractiveness of the business organization to investors influences the capability of the organization to access valuable sources of capitalization. For instance, investors provide the bulk of the financial resources that as organizations use, which means that it is necessary for the managers of business organizations to maximize the effectiveness of the business to potential investors.
The attractiveness of the business to potential investors means the ability of the organization to access financial resources that it could use for its continued growth and development. Such attractiveness of the business organization is dependent on the strategic planning process. This is so because of the fact that many investors examine this interdependent process of the organization, as well as the resulting strategic plans as basis for their decisions on whether or not to invest in the organization. When investing in a particular company, investor usually looks at the company portfolio along with the strategic planning process and the strategies of the organization in order to determine the profitability and attractiveness of the organization.
It is crucial to managers of the organization to make sure that the strategic planning process and the resulting strategic plans are as attractive as possible to the potential investors of the business in order to maximize the accessibility of available financial resources that could be used for the support of the growth and development of a business organization. Failure of the managers and leaders of the organization to maximize the effectiveness of the strategic plan and attractiveness of the strategic planning process could result in the inability of the business organization to access such necessary financial resources. The high-level effectiveness of the managers and leaders to optimize the attractiveness of the strategic planning process and the attractiveness of the resulting strategic plans investors means the ability of the organization to get the necessary financial resources for its continued growth and development, especially in the face of competition among organizations to attract investors and competition among companies to gain access to limited financial resources available in the capital market.
Strategic planning influences the ability of the organization to survive in the long term. The viability and survival of the business organization in the long term depends on the capacity of the organization to change according to the changes of its market. Basically, it is necessary for the business organization to change in order for you to effectively address the needs or demands in the target market. For example, it is important for a business organization to change its products and services over time in order to ensure that these products and services continue to match the expectations and needs of the customers. Such changes could occur in the form of variations in the features of products and services. These changes could also occur in the form of the development of entirely new products and services in order to maximize the capability of the organization to get the attention of the potential consumers.
The strategic planning process in the organization determines the ability of the organization to become flexible enough in order to change according to the changes in the market. The specific characteristics of the strategic planning process determines the ability of the organization to change and to effectively address the changes in the market demand, trends, expectations, and so on. As a result, it is of critical importance for the managers and leaders of the organization to ensure that the strategic planning process would be able to provide support for the flexibility of the organization.
Final Note
Strategic planning is a critical factor that influences the success on the organization and the long-term. Strategic planning affects the performance of managers. Strategic planning also influences the performance of individual workers in the organization. Strategic planning also influences the attractiveness of the organization to employees and potential investors. Moreover, strategic planning also affects the flexibility of the organization to address Larry’s changes in the market, such as changes in the preferences of consumers. Therefore, strategic planning determines the long-term success of the business.
References
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- Fogg, C. D. (1999). Implementing Your Strategic Plan: How to Turn “intent” Into Effective Action for Sustainable Change. AMACOM.
- Kantor, M. (2006). The Key to a Successful HR Project. SHRM.
- Karami, A., Analoui, F., & Cusworth, J. (2007). Strategic human resource management and resource-based approach. Management Research News, 27(6), 50-68.