HU Organizational Strategy and Organizational Policy Memorandum

SCENARIO

As part of your responsibilities on the board of a regional strategic committee for your local Chamber of Commerce, you have been asked to prepare a memo that can be used for prospective businesses that are new to your local Chamber.

INSTRUCTIONS

The memo should contain information on how organizations can use their organizational capabilities for strategic planning purposes.

Your memo should include the following:

• An overview of organizational capabilities and how they relate to strategic planning.
• A discussion of the different types of infrastructure elements that can be found in an organizational strategic plan.
• An explanation of how organizational strategy is different than policy.
• Attribution for credible sources for the memo. 

When organizations develop strategic plans, leaders must think about ways to use the organization’s infrastructure efficiently. Organizational infrastructure can be both tangible and intangible, which is used to support the strategic planning initiatives for the entire organization. Some elements of corporate infrastructure that are important to the strategic planning process are as follows.

Elements of Organizational Infrastructure

Technology

The foundation of any organization is technology because the current business environment is dependent upon real-time, in the moment data and results. Strategic planning has evolved from pen and paper to sophisticated software programs that allow organizations to document every process in the strategic planning process. Without some form of technology, large organizations that operate in a global environment would be impacted and hindered from sharing strategic plans with their worldwide subsidiaries or foreign offices. Organizations now have dedicated Chief Technology Partners or Operating Committee members that focus on the technology portions of the strategic plan. As organizations are impacted by technological advances, such as cloud deployments, virtual environments, and significant data/analytics infrastructure, having an internal committee comprised of experts in technology make analyzing strategic priorities easier.

Production Processes

Operating in a global, regional, or domestic market requires that an organization thinks strategically about planning for production. Inefficient production processes can have a direct impact on items in the strategic plan. For instance, if a manufacturing organization has created a strategic goal to increase production by 50%, they would need to modernize their production processes. The increase in production could also have another impact on the strategic plan because of the increased costs to modernize operations. A downside is while the modernization is occurring, there might be a decline in demand and production, which will directly impact the revenue goals for the organization. From a different perspective, having an efficient production process can have a positive impact on the strategic plan because an organization could capitalize on the efficiency and exceed the revenue or growth targets.

Reporting Dashboards

Tracking strategic plans is imperative to measure any success or failure in an organization. Reporting is an integral part of an organization’s infrastructure used in strategic planning. At the core of performance measurement is a reporting package to keep key stakeholders informed and engaged with dashboards, interactive visuals, and reports. Leaders can log into a system or software no matter what part of the world they reside and see real-time data, which keeps the entire organization involved in the strategic planning process.

Customer Service Process

Another area that is important to an organization is the customer service process. In many organizations, customer service is a “hidden gem” in the strategic planning process. Identifying the “bottlenecks” in your process can prove to be beneficial to the strategic outcomes of an organization. For instance, a hospital has created a strategic goal to lower ER wait times by 25%. The hospital must first look at the customer service process and identify the area of opportunity and fix the problem. Otherwise, the broken process will impede the goal of a shorter wait time. As mentioned earlier, the customer service process can be seen as intangible or a culmination of relationship building, which has a direct impact on the strategic plan.

Change Management

Another intangible infrastructure element is change management, which shifts the culture and strategic thinking of an organization. Change management is the driving force behind any strategic plan because it requires moving into the unknown, changes in processes, reorganization, and critical thinking to meet the goals that the organization sets. Organizations continually assess strategic priorities against their current state to plan strategies to achieve its goals for acquisition, expansion, growth, and innovation. To foster change, organizations might use outcome planning and road mapping to facilitate a change initiative effectively. Outcome planning is a process where an organization defines the deliverables that are needed to meet the goal of the strategic plan. By understanding these strategic planning outcomes, organizations can efficiently use the expertise across the organization.

Human Capital

The most prized asset in an organization’s infrastructure is human capital. Without human capital, organizations would not be able to operate in any capacity. Organizations are using human capital much differently than before by creating cross-functional, enterprise focus groups, collaborative workgroups, and integrated programs to foster innovation in strategic thinking and planning. Using human capital in this way helps to brainstorm, create and evaluate alternatives, and prioritize initiatives for proposed strategic decisions.

All of the infrastructure elements listed above have a direct impact on the strategic planning process for an organization, whether it is tangible or intangible. The best complement to the strategic plan of an organization is its infrastructure, which cannot be duplicated by a competitor.

3 hours ago

Regardless of the size of the organization, strategic planning has a set of common elements that must be used when building a plan. In the media interaction below are the most common steps that are used in the process to develop strategic goals.

COMMON STEPS THAT ARE USED IN THE PROCESS TO DEVELOP STRATEGIC GOALS

Step 1: Determine the strategic organizational capabilities for planning purposes.

When organizations begin strategic planning, there must be a survey of the existing infrastructure and capabilities that the organization already has. Examples of capabilities include organizational and business processes, systems, and human capital talent. Organizations have to decide which infrastructure and capabilities best align with their strategic plans to ensure that they achieve the desired outcome. An exercise like this would entail that every functional area, process, and technological system be examined to ensure that it’s used for meeting strategic plans. As an example, many large corporations were faced with still meeting organizational objectives when COVID-19 spread globally. Positions that were once in office only, quickly became remote due to the technological capabilities that the organization possessed. Strategic priorities and goals still needed to be achieved; therefore, organizations swiftly pivoted and enacted plans that they agreed upon in a prior strategic contingency plan. The contingency plan is just an example of an organizational capability used to meeting strategic goals in any given situation.

Step 2: Leveraging strategic organizational capabilities as a competitive advantage.

It is one thing to leverage your strategic capabilities for operational efficiency, but it can be a game-changer to use them against your competition. Organizations that are aware and use their capabilities for a competitive advantage capitalize on these made opportunities. For instance, Amazon uses its economies of scale, operational efficiency, customer reach, and customer relationships to monopolize the e-commerce space. They have capitalized on a shipping network that allows them to send goods in 2 days for members without an additional cost. The vast network of warehouses, drop-ship vendors, and factory direct resellers allows Amazon to focus on what they do best, logistics. By using their strength of logistics, Amazon has distinguished themselves as the standard for shopping without leaving home. For this to work effectively, Amazon decided who they wanted to be, what market niche they wanted to serve, and designed a process to fill a consumer need.

Step 3: Using Change management as a change agent.

Strategic planning is always forward-looking, and, in many cases, organizational capabilities are looking at the past. The capabilities that an organization has are built on demand, process, or need to be met at a different time. As organizations evolve, different priorities are placed on human capital, technology, processes, and business practices, which can create undue stress on an organization. An effective change management initiative can give a new perspective on old processes and how they might fit into the strategic plan. An organization needs to remain focused on the capabilities that will garner the most significant impact on the strategic priorities for the business.

Step 4: Analyze the capacity of capabilities as it relates to your strategy.

Changing and competing priorities often require that an organization disperse resources or reorganize a process. Organizations should continually examine processes and the overall ability of their workforce to ensure alignment to the overall strategic plan. Priority should be given to the capabilities that align with the strategic goals and the core capabilities of the organization.

Aligning the capabilities of an organization to its strategic plan should be an exercise that is constantly improving and evolving to meet the needs of a changing market. Strategic planning is a continuous process, and your organizational capabilities should always align with the overall goals. 

STRATEGY AND POLICY

When drafting a strategic plan, organizations have to carefully distinguish between policy and strategy to ensure that every stakeholder understands the difference. If we examine policy and strategy from a hierarchical perspective, a policy is an outcome of the strategy created during the planning process.

STRATEGY

The strategy attributes are listed below:

1. A strategy is best described as the combination of plans used to achieve an organizational goal. For example, a home builder has to have multiple blueprints to build a house, which includes plans for the foundation, framing, electrical, plumbing, heating and air, and exterior attributes. All of these plans create the end product of a home.
2. A strategy can also be considered a plan of action with tactics to complete the tasks at hand. Imagine that you are planning to move into a new house and you hire movers. The first thing that the moving company does is inventory the items that you have and develop a set of tasks, or strategy, that need to be completed to orchestrate your move smoothly.
3. Strategies are flexible by nature because they can be changed or modified to fit any situation. Think of a time that you have worked on a project and you planned to accomplish it one way but had to change course because of restrictions or issues. Instead of abandoning the project, you changed the approach and strategy to achieve your goal.
4. Strategies tend to focus on the actions required to accomplish a goal. When -organizations do strategic planning, there are usually sub workgroups that work offline and report back to a larger group on the progress of action items.
5. From a hierarchical perspective, organizations formulate a strategy from a top-down approach versus bottoms up. Senior leaders create a comprehensive strategy and cascade smaller deliverables that are then translated by middle managers into departmental goals and objectives.
6. Strategies typically focus on both external and internal environmental forces, which enables an organization to shape the way the public perceives them. For instance, a company may have the vision to be the most admired consulting firm in the world. How they achieve this vision is divided into what they have to do internally, who their competition is externally, and how they can achieve their goal.

POLICY

Listed below are the attributes of a policy:

1. A policy is typically seen as a principle of an action, which means that it is more of a guideline or rule that resulted from something. For instance, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was a policy/regulation that resulted from corrupt companies engaging in unfair accounting practices and not being transparent with organizational finances. Before this policy/regulation, organizations did not have to attest that the financials they reported were accurate and thoroughly checked.
2. Policies can be seen as a set of universal rules, standards, regulations, or principles that should be used regularly. For instance, if you have ever gone to a community pool, there is always a pool guideline or policy, which dictates the actions that are or are not permissible while using the facility.
3. Policies are seen as rigid and inflexible, which makes them uniform when enforced. In rare cases, there may be some flexibility for specific situations. For instance, the speed limit on the road is a policy that tells you the maximum speed for the area.
4. Policies are often developed out of a strategy or decision-making process. A decision was made and the resulting action was the policy with clear guidelines.
5. From a hierarchical perspective, organizations create a policy from the top without little input from management. Senior leaders of organizations create policies based on violations or infractions that have occurred in the organization.
6. Unlike strategy, policies only focus on the internal environmental forces, which are things that can be controlled by an organization. For instance, years ago when Exxon had the oil spill off the coast of Alaska, the company tightened its internal policies and protocols to ensure that this did not happen again.

CONCLUSION

Both strategy and policy are critical elements to a strategic plan for an organization, but one cannot exist without the other. Policies are seen as a support mechanism to aid a strategy in accomplishing a goal for an organization and are set by senior leadership.