The authors of the book Strategic management: issues and cases Dobson, Starkey & Richards (2004) have a diverse thinking about the organization. Their major concerns are with the organization’s strategy that is how the firm has defined its strategic goals and the nature of the business environment. The organization is designed and ran in a way to enhance responsiveness. The authors also determined that although organizations may be determined to move forward with new strategies it should be noted that existing structures have important implications for strategy.
The book review shows that the organization is excellent because of its quick action, service to customers and its practical innovation. The book shows that the organization is focused on the customer who is the key element in the organizations environment. The organization focuses on strategic thinking which aims at getting and keeping customers and culture building. This in turn has motivated and unified the employees. The goal has always been having an organization of many hands but of one mind devoted to building the best product that best suits the customers. According to the authors the book presents an apparent, coherent and concise approach to strategy which is useful for both practicing managers and students. The book Strategic management: issues and cases therefore provide a clear framework for understanding the key issues in corporate strategies.
Strategic Planning Lens Structure
Strategic planning lens is composed of other types of lens which include ideas, experience and design lenses. These types of lens are very important when it comes to strategic planning within an organization. Ideas lens will help the strategic managers to get ideas from the other members of the organization. This means that the strategic plans will not be based on their ideas alone but instead it will be composed of other people’s views and contributions. Also because every one within the organization has a certain perspective concerning the way to run the organization in order to achieve strategic goals, consolidating these ideas will have a great contribution in the success of the organization.
In addition to using strategic planning lens as design helps the management to perform a detailed evaluation of the company’s current and future resources in terms of finances, human’s resources and all the other key elements that are considered when designing the strategic plan of the company. The responsibility of top management in the strategy development should be driven by their capability to choose the most favorable strategy of the organization. The view of strategic planning lens from the design lens perspective entails making choices between the available possibilities and then afterwards creating confidence for the choice taken. Using this view it determines the success of the company in terms of innovation.
In conclusion, it important for members of the organization to understand that the process of using the strategic planning lens is weighty in a way that individuals or groups in the organization may end up not contributing to a part of the planning process. This can cause inconveniences in large organizations. Using the strategic planning lens approach planning at some times may become over detailed and end up missing the major strategic issues facing the organization. Using the strategic planning lens, planners should be very careful to avoid overlooking the importance of those with experience in the organization. This is because the individual and collective experience will in one way or the other influence the organizations strategy. It is therefore vital for members of the organizations to assume collective responsibility to ensure success of the planning process.