ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY AND DESIGN (MANAGEMENT)

Organizational Theory and Design (Management)

Organizational Theory and Design (Management)

Introduction

The purpose of this research paper is to give an analysis most common management issue in the first decade of 21st century. The most common issue faced in 21st century is the strategic management issue (Armstrong 2000). It is considered to be a main issue as compared to other issues because strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next year or more, how it's going to get there and how it'll know if it got there or not. The focus of a strategic plan is usually on the entire organization, while the focus of a business plan is usually on a particular product, service or program.

Discussion

There are a variety of perspectives, models and approaches used in strategic planning. The way that a strategic plan is developed depends on the nature of the organization's leadership, culture of the organization, complexity of the organization's environment, size of the organization, expertise of planners, etc (Byars 2000). For example, there are a variety of strategic planning models, including goals-based, issues-based, organic, scenario (some would assert that scenario planning is more a technique than model), etc. Goals-based planning is probably the most common and starts with focus on the organization's mission (and vision and/or values), goals to work toward the mission, strategies to achieve the goals, and action planning (who will do what and by when). Issues-based strategic planning often starts by examining issues facing the organization, strategies to address those issues, and action plans. Organic strategic planning might start by articulating the organization's vision and values and then action plans to achieve the vision while adhering to those values. Some planners prefer a particular approach to planning, eg, appreciative inquiry (Bohlander 2001). Some plans are scoped to one year, many to three years, and some to five to ten years into the future. Some plans include only top-level information and no action plans. Some plans are five to eight pages long, while others can be considerably longer.

Strategic managers identify long-range targets, scan their operating environments, evaluate their organization's structures and resources, match these to the challenges they face, identify stakeholders and build alliances, prioritize and plan actions, and make adjustments to fulfill performance objectives over time. Brinkerhoff (1991 and 1994) characterizes strategic management as looking out, looking in, and looking ahead. “Looking out” means exploring beyond the boundaries of your organization to set feasible objectives, identify key stakeholders, and build constituencies for change. “Looking in” implies critically assessing and strengthening your systems and structures for managing personnel, finances, and other essential resources (Beer 2004). Finally, “looking ahead” entails melding your strategy with structures and resources to reach your policy goals, while monitoring your progress and adjusting your approach as needed.

Balancing strategic management's outward-, inward-, and forward-looking functions helps you develop a vision and a strategy for where and how to move health sector reform forward. Balancing these different perspectives is the essence of managing strategically (Brinkerhoff ...