Unit 10.1        Essay Preview

Look at this examination question about strategic management. The student has structured their answer well, but several of the words here don’t fit in with the academic style of the rest. First of all, think for yourself of a more academic way of saying it - then, you can double-click on the words to find a more academic word from the generator. 

Describe either a three or four step approach to strategic planning within organisations

Strategic planning is typically done by senior management since it involves defining the basic identity, goals and methods of a company. The overall purpose of strategic planning is to enable the organisation to influence the environment or adapt itself to the environment in order to achieve its potential. It’s commonly seen as comprising three distinct bits. This is sometimes described as finding out where you are, where you want to go and deciding how to get there. However, a more technical description is the STP model:

Situation: Before planning any changes, it’s necessary to check out the current situation and try to understand how it has developed.

Target: At this point, new goals need to be worked out. This frequently needs management to ask around widely within the organisation to make sure that the goals are seen as appropriate and achievable by everyone who has an interest in the proposed changes – in other words, the stakeholders.

Path: This is where planning meets action. Resources need to be carefully put in the right place and staff need to be given appropriate roles within the project if the change is to be successful. It’s important to make sure that all results are measurable so that the overall success of the plan can be reliably checked.