Assignment Two: Future Studies
Scott L. Tousignant (4467911)
American Military University (EDMG560)
Dr. Randall Cuthbert
17 May 2015 Assignment Two: Future Studies This is a review of Thinking about the future: Guidelines for strategic foresight utilizing outside materials to provide support. The paper will address the value of strategic forecasting to an organization. Drivers, change trajectories, and turning points will be discussed. The role of theory in emergency management will be outlined. The paper will introduce the importance of strategic vision in relation to a time continuum. Strategies is communicating strategic action plans will be reviewed.
Strategic Forecasting Strategic forecasting provides organizations the ability to prepare for long-term future events (Hines & Bishop, 2006). Businesses utilize forecasting as part of their business plan. It assists in the growth and vision of the organization. A business plan can play an important part in the success or failure of an organization. “Company strategies include influencing the environment to correspond to that used for forecasts. At the same time, companies recognize that changing variables in the environment may influence forecasts” (Markgraf, n.d.). Forecasting is just as important in crisis action planning.
Crisis Action Planning The benefit to strategic forecasting in crisis action planning is to provide a framework upon which planning can occur (Hines & Bishop, 2006). Forecasting
Cambridge Behavioral Hospital currently uses a Change Theory. Strategy for most organizations is about change and focus. A firm strategy starts with knowing the external and internal forces that impact the organization’s ability to achieve its most important goals, and then steadily making the necessary changes to direct those forces. “A validation (or invalidation) of the strategic assumptions reinvigorates strategic thinking and provides a basis for investigating whether to change the strategy” (Swayne, Duncan & Ginter, 2008).
With the global economy developed, organizations have to live in a more complex and changeable environment, making decision according to various factors that could make a difference, such as technology, environment, regulation and policy etc. The ability to adapt changes and deal with future possibility is vital for organizations to survive in a world changes rapidly. However, it seems to be not sufficient to use traditional approaches of strategy in such highly uncertain, intensive and complex competitive environment (Celeste Amorim Varum, 2010). Scenario planning is another tool that has gained much attention during the last decades as an effective tool for sorting future uncertainties and investigating assumptions in organizations (P. Schwartz 1991).
The organization strategic plan consists of addressing clinical quality, growth, and becoming a larger part of the community, and providing long term value. The annual report states the following strategic goals (Bon Secours, 2012):
Planning ties with one of the National Preparedness Goal’s mission area, that is prevention. The 9/11 events made DHS to aggressively change its focus to an “all hazards” approach. Prevention is a core component to accomplish this objective. However, for an effective prevention requires thorough planning. The private sector provides this type of service and DHS may hire a private sector entity to develop a prevention plan for them. In planning, all levels of government and private sector entities must coordinate with one another in developing and executing courses of action to prevent or reduce the impact of natural disasters or terrorist attack (Homeland Security, 2011). According to the National Preparedness Goal, planning is one of the mission are capabilities and preliminary targets of prevention (Homeland Security, 2011, p. 5). The private sector’s impact in planning with the DHS is essential for an effective prevention in support of the National Preparedness
Strategic planning within a company is a tool used in companies that help mature areas in total quality management. This type of planning creates a cohesive management system for lower level employees to better adapt in. “Strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next year or more and how it 's going to get there. Typically, the process is organization-wide, or focused on a major function such as a division, department or other major function”(McNamara, 2008). In order to plan effectively one must first make a clear assessment of the plan and have an analysis on the corporations mission statement and objective.
The strategic objectives for Qantas’ future intent are to mitigate potential risks. This can be
Strategic planning can dictate the success of any organization if properly planned as well as the failure of an organization if not implemented as planned. Strategic planning is all about making choices. It is a process designed to support leaders in being intentional about their goals and methods. Simply stated, strategic planning is a management tool, and like any management tool, it is used for one purpose only—to help an organization do a better job. This portion of the strategic plan will explain why an
The organizations that will be discussed are Century 21 Powerhouse Realty where I am employed at as a real estate agent and the Disney organization, which is an organization that has adopted total quality management. In the following paragraphs I will evaluate my organization’s mission, vision, goals, and objectives as well as discuss the relationship
Strategic Planning is one of the most fundamental factors in the success of an organization. This research project will discuss the importance of strategic planning as well as the different components of strategic planning. Many organizations fail to accomplish their goals and tasks due to the lacking of strategic planning. In order for their businesses to be successful, organizations need to be well informed about how the strategic planning process works.
Abstract: Strategic foresight centers on the idea that leaders at all levels conduct an environmental scan and make an assessment. They identify elements that are not easily observed, difficult to quantify, but are affecting future circumstances (Maccoby, 2001). Leaders initially frame the scan based on the method(s) they use. Based on their evaluation of the organization’s current state, where the organization will be if no changes are made, and vision of the desired state; they analyze the gap and determine what actions are required to close it.
During a crisis, one of the roles of a leader is to create and sustain the organization 's credibility and trust among crisis stakeholders for example like management, employees, customers, suppliers, partners, communities, investors, media, and government. Depending on the crisis situation, a leader 's goal is to assist the organization in returning to productivity. Overall, it is important to protect and sustain the organization 's reputation, brand and value in the marketplace As a HR department, they have a ways to prevent and overcome the impact of crisis management. So one of the HR strategic roles is to focus on leadership qualities such as strategic thinking, communication, empowerment, trust and integrity, considering a succession planning for crisis management and others. For example like human resource functions that will be applied to the crisis management planning. According to the SHRM 2005 (Strategic human resource management) disaster survey report, 65% of HR professionals believe that their organizations are well or very well prepared to face the crisis or disaster. On the perceptions of employees, only 50% of them think that their organizations are well or very well prepared. 85% of HR professionals indicate their organizations have some form of a formal disaster preparedness plan, and 15% do not. Organization must create a plan to make sure
The effective contingency plan should only include the high-priority items and it should be as simple as possible. The purpose for the contingency plans is to response quickly when there are changes of an organization’s current strategy. For example, the predefined strategy is based on some assumptions about the economy but the outcome is not what the organization assumed, the contingency plan can support the organization to react promptly. The effective contingency planning includes a seven step process. First, Identify both beneficial and unfavorable events that could possibly derail the strategy. This step includes the development of the formal contingency planning policy statement in order to provide it to relevant stakeholders the authority and guideline that required developing the effective contingency plan. Policy will be published when executive confirms it. To gather the high-level business requirements, define scope and allocating project resources. Second, Specify trigger points and calculate about when contingent events are likely to occur. It involves the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) to identify threat scenarios, prioritize key business processes and critical systems for business continuity. Executive approval on those choices of the critical business functions and the priority to recover during the disaster. Third, Assess the
Per John M. Bryson, strategic planning, if properly conducted, can help the leaders and managers of public and non-profit organizations think, learn and act tactically. Strategic planning enables organizational leaders and managers to first identify their organization’s mission and/or purpose. Thereafter, the planning process permits these leaders to pinpoint the actions and activities that will enable the organization to achieve its mission. Finally, the planning process requires the organizational leaders to synthesize objectives and activities into a blueprint or concrete plan of action under which the organization will conduct its business.
The objective of this study was to develop a strategic contingency planning model to be used to fully incorporate emergency management and business continuity into organization structures. (For the purpose of this study, Emergency Management and Business Continuity were collectively referred to as “contingency planning.”) Presently, contingency planning is mainly done on an operational or tactical level. Current thinking suggests that contingency planning should be an active part of organizations’ overall strategic planning processes as well. Organizations will ultimately be better prepared for future disasters and crises.
Moreover, strategic planning is long term planning, usually for the next three to five years at the minimum. Therefore it is a continuous process of making present tactical decisions systematically and with the greatest knowledge of their futurity, at the same time organising the efforts needed to carry out these decisions against the expectations through organised systematic feedback (Bryson, 2004). Strategic management must rely on long run forecasts and predications, thus a sizeable amount of uncertainty is always present. For this reason, it is a critical task for planners to recognize and address uncertainties, and to tailor the planning processes to meet particular problem conditions (Halla, 2002). Strategic activities will support government administration in dealing with their political and operational environments by helping them focus on specific goals and objectives that stem from both political mandates as well as operational management geared towards efficiency and effectiveness (Moore 1995). In other words by conducting strategic planning it will help city officials to mitigate the