The Fundamentals Of Strategic Thinking

When working with companies, an employee has to wonder from time to time what makes management tick. What is the source of their decision-making practices? Why should people strategize in business or in war? Well first let’s define what is strategy? “It is a plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result: a strategy for getting ahead in the world.” (dictionary.com, 2012) The main purpose of this article is to enhance our ability to think strategically. In addition, identifying how as managers and leaders of all organizational levels can

The first individual to conceptualize the idea of strategic decision making by upper management and senior officials was Igor Ansoff in the 1960’s. Although Ansoff did not invent the idea of strategy, he did bring the idea of using strategic decision making for large corporations to succeed. In his book, Corporate Strategy, Ansoff identified 4 major decision types every organization must make. Decisions on strategy, policy, standard operating procedures, and programs were the 4 decisions Ansoff believed every organization needed to make (Strategic management, 2005).

First, being a strategic Airmen means executing daily mission goals within acceptable levels of risk and safety that supports Air Force doctrines and National Security policies as developed by senior leaders with the fewest resources possible. Airmen at all levels of leadership (e.g. tactical, operational, and strategic) must continuously be afforded the right to design and plan strategies about how operations will

Carpenter, M. A., & Sanders, W. G. (2009). Strategic management: A dynamic perspective concepts and cases. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Strategic Management is the theory and practice of making decisions that shape the future of the firm. This course looks at the content and process of strategic decision making from the perspective of managers who are responsible for an entire business unit. These may be individuals who are acting in the capacity of a Chief Executive of a company, divisional General Managers, or departmental heads. It is also the perspective most

Of all the Athenian leaders during the time of the Sicily invasion, Nicias possessed the clearest vision and a demonstrated ability to think

Students who go far in school often do so in order to prepare themselves for the "real world" of business and industry. That preparation requires a high degree of knowledge and insight, but it also requires communication and strategy skills such as a clear writing style, a global perspective, ethics, critical thinking skills, and problem solving abilities. In order to be prepared for the business

Since the beginning of time, we are wired to plan, prepared and act on a particular goal we are set to achieve. There are simplicities and complexities in the matters of strategic planning. The simple concept is we already plan strategically on a daily basis (i.e. getting to work every day); however, the complicated portion comes when others come to play, and resources are scarce. However, we cannot deny that daily we strategize in our personal lives. We reflect concerning what to cook, how to lose weight, or who will pick up the kids on Friday. If a person does not plan they may conclude at work with two different color shoes or with no food, or a babysitter for Friday. Now, let's consider this concept of planning strategies to a superior

Strategic thinking involves using ethical and moral reasoning to think about the future of an organization. This type of thinking usually starts about changes that you have noticed in the organizational climate, which are usually called mental models. Mental models are simplified understandings or representations of the phenomena that the organization encounters. These type of models can tell a strategic leader what is and is not important to the organization, what they do and do not like, what they should and should not notice. By knowing this, they include understandings of how things work and what are expected

Strategic planning involves making decisions about the organization’s long-term goals and strategies and how the organization decides to implement their goals (Bateman, Snell, Konopaske, pg. 113). Strategies help organizations to have a clear perspective on how to go about accomplishing the goals they have in place. All organizations have a clear vision of what their mission and purpose as a company is, they know how to fulfill the mission, vision, and purpose and they know how to ensure that they accomplish all their goals. However, the route the organization takes to define these things determines how effective they will be.

Strategy is about the creation and allocation of right resources, to the right place, in the right way over time.

Thru the course I have learned that Strategic Management builds on many processes and that various companies and organizations with diverse backgrounds can teach us valuable lessons. To be on the lookout for what can be considered a beneficial development in an organization or perhaps what can be a bad plan plausibly implemented at the wrong time.

* Strategy exists in the mind of the leader in the form of a vision of the organization’s future.

‘Strategic Management’ is a very complex term as many eminent researchers and scholars have had different views and conclusions on strategy. According to White (2004), “Strategic Management involves both systematically developing an idea together with its implications and testing the empirical validity & usefulness of that idea against the real world.” Thus strategy is not only about planning for future but also about confirming the validity of the hypothesis considered and implementing it successfully. Strategy formation may take various forms such as implicit, explicit or emergent. Implicit strategy is a strategy formed by intuitions of an individual. As per implicit strategists, strategic management is about reading the environment

The following are some successful techniques which help to kick-start the analysis in strategic thinking.