Free «Intended Strategy Development and Emergent Strategy Development» Essay Sample

Introduction

Business firms desire to beat their competitors and achieve their set goals and objectives in any way possible. It is, therefore, important for a company to develop and have the right strategies in place. Strategy development and establishment, in most cases, is expensive and time consuming. However, the management has to devise effective methods to develop new strategies without necessarily compromising the financial status and objectives of an organization. The action plan must be friendly to minimize employees’ chances of strategic drift, as a result of an emergent strategy. Incremental pattern of strategy development is a case whereby the culture and action plans of a firm are developed through experimentation. It allows managers to assess and build on the already existing strategy to avoid introduction of a new one, which might take long time to materialize. Emergent strategy is the development of trends and issues that were not planned for within an organization. The changing times, which have witnessed technological changes and globalization, play a major role in emergent strategy development. Most managers prefer the application of incremental patterns of strategy establishment, with a view that it enables employees to adapt easily. This paper defines intended strategy development and emergent strategy development in various ways and critically discusses how drift may be avoided in organizations.

According to Hammer, Edwards and Tapinos (2012), businesses aim at satisfying customers’ needs and competing favorably in the market. Success or failure of a business depends on the strategies within a certain firm. Strategies are never permanent and require regular review for a business to move in the right direction. To put a new strategy in place, a firm risks the emergence of a different action plan. To avoid strategy drift, managers have to take in consideration several factors, while trying to establish the intended strategy. In most situations, emergent strategies are products of the junior staff that is entitled to implement the intended action plan. Maritz, Pretorius and Plant (2011) argue that managers do not normally consider their employees when discussing matters concerning the company. To avoid chances of emergent strategy development, it is wise for the administration to seek the opinion of workers and use it as a basis on which decisions are laid. Maritz, Pretorius and Plant (2011) insist that the management should establish good interpersonal relationships within an organization. Managers need to keep workers close, get their views concerning the administration and how to improve on the current state. Involvement in the process gives them a better understanding of the strategy and makes them own it. In such circumstances, it is easy for an intended strategy to be developed. When everybody within a firm is involved, it creates a sense of belonging and recognition. Everybody feels a part of a firm, hence finds it easy to implement their own decisions.

Objectives are a driving force in a business organization and lead a firm in the intended direction. They act as a measure that determines the success of an enterprise. However, to minimize on unintended forces in a company, strategies have to be open and wide. Latest innovations boost growth of an industry (Clarke & Fuller 2010). Fixed objectives tend to lock out innovations by tying workers to limited practices. Those within an enterprise need to be free to carry-out their activities and try new things. The preferred strategy has to be open, rather than specific to avoid strategic actions. According to Clarke and Fuller (2010), most employees find it hard to work with closed objectives and strategies, as it kills their creativity and development. In such circumstances, workers develop their own strategy, which they find easy to work with, leading to a drift. Business people desire to establish themselves, they are risk takers, hence they prefer an environment that does not limit their capabilities. Strategies, therefore, have to be accorded a wide approach to provide an enabling environment for those within to dedicate and commit themselves to a firm’s activities. Open strategies and objectives give room for adjustment, just in-case one finds the intended strategy challenging. A wide approach caters for reactions concerning the strategy and considerations that are made where necessary, hence development of the intended strategy (Hill, Jones & Schilling 2014).

Development of an action plan that steers an organization to success is challenging to most managers. Therefore, a firm needs to be under able and dedicated administration with the interests of an enterprise at heart. To minimize on action drift, leaders need to know and understand the culture, organization and intentions of a firm before deciding on the strategy to adopt (Luthans & Doh 2011). Thorough investigations have to be done to identify the firms’ current position financially, socially, and politically. It also helps to determine an organizations’ market command, future expectations and probable difficulties. All these factors, when considered, lead to establishment of a strategy that is cost effective and favors growth and development of an enterprise. Priority has to be granted to the issues and affect the business directly. To make the process easy, managers are advised to benchmark with other performing businesses within the industry to emulate how strategic development is achieved.

Emergent strategy is a communication of what is expected by the lower management and mostly carries concrete information about what a business is facing (Hill, Jones & Schilling 2014). Management has to be willing to absorb an emergent plan and consider it in the work plan. Ignoring issues that arise in an industry is risky and threatens the existence of an enterprise. Employees in their attempts to implement an intended strategy, may discover that it is not effective, hence responds by coming up with a different plan to help the organization realize its goals and objectives. It is important that the administration scouts on the cause of the strategy drift and consider re-adjusting the planned strategy. By doing so, a firm saves time and operational costs that could have been wasted on a plan that is in-effective. It also helps a company to maintain its market command and compete favorably in the industry. As a result, objectives are achieved (Luthans & Doh 2011).

The mode of operation within an organization depends on the level of motivation. Motivation enhances productivity among employees. When determining a strategy to establish, managers must consider the welfare of the staff; it should be well catered for employees to always work with passion and dedication. Workers are always the majority in an organization, hence their actions dictate the pace of a firm. The level of motivation determines how the employees perceive and take their duties. Motivation is one of the factors to be considered, while creating a friendly environment within an enterprise. People in a business organization need to be rewarded for their outstanding performance (Kolk & Pinkse 2005). Rewards are also used to encourage individuals to produce their best and as recognition of their efforts. Motivation fosters unity and togetherness in an organization, as people work towards development of an intended strategy. It can, hence, be used as a strategy to avoid a drift.

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Development of a new strategy may have adverse effects on the operations in an enterprise, since the management is not always certain if the plan is effective. It, hence, exposes a company to the development of an emergent action plan. Employees might have gotten used to a given working procedure and a sudden change of strategy might prove costly to the firm (Kolk & Pinkse 2005). Occasionally, most employees fear trying out new things mostly when the strategy at hand has been successful. In essence, regular review of strategies kills staff morale and lowers the efficiency of systems within an organization. Such a state can easily witness another culture crop up. To eliminate this state, managers have to establish strategies through try and error. The method allows the top management to learn and build on past experiences during policy formulation process. It involves an intended strategy being incorporated into an already existing one in the business and monitoring its effect to the organization. All the people within a firm have to take part in the experimentation process, in order to develop a work plan that is cost effective and goes in line with the goals and objectives of a business. Trying out first enables managers to gather the required information that is needed for effective decision making. Therefore, it becomes easy to determine whether the strategy works or not. Through try and error, a right plan can be established and developed faster, as workers are familiar with it.

Employees in an organization usually carry out daily activities at grass-root level. They receive first hand information concerning the business and get to know the current trends in the industry. Customers feed them with information concerning an organization and their expectations (Harrison & St. John 2009). Managers need to be flexible and in position to listen to the ideas and issues put across by their juniors. Good interpersonal relationships should be developed to encourage freedom of expression. People should be encouraged to communicate whenever they sense issues that seem to affect their working environment. Trust should be developed and managers must be reliable at all times. Administrators are supposed to pay frequent visits to different working places within a firm to share with employees the challenges they encounter. Regular briefs and meetings are also important, since they are forums in which workers pass over information. The information gathered from such sessions should form basis of decision making. Through that, correct strategies can be established and developed without any opposition.

Kolk and Pinkse (2005) note that the success of a business depends on how managers formulate and implement their decisions. They should be able to guide and lead their juniors toward their objectives. When policies have been arrived at, elaborate procedures should also be laid down to over-see the implementation process. Administration should closely monitor activities of their employees to ensure they are doing what they are supposed to. In most cases, workers do things the way they think not in the intention of the business. Management has a task of sensitizing staff of the intended action plan and follow up to ensure that what is being done is actually needed. Monitoring saves a firm from an emergent strategy that might pull down the intended strategy. It also enhances an organizations’ performance, as employees are performing their duties.

Technological advancement has led to globalization and rapid changes in business trends. They are some of the factors that lead to strategy drift. Company management has to keep a keen eye to the any advances in technology, infrastructure and new trends in business. They have to consider them in their strategy, in that it is flexible (Clarke & Fuller 2010). It should be able to accommodate changes without necessarily affecting operations within a firm. Future changes in the business and both internal and external forces have to be factored in, while establishing an intended strategy to avoid emergent strategy development. It is also important that the action plan is elaborate and easy to work with. Complicated plans might appear to be time wasting, as it takes a while to understand them.

Nature sometimes controls the direction and actions to be taken within an enterprise. Any strategy to be developed has to allow for shifts in the business environment. New recruits in the business might lead to development of unplanned activities in an organization. It is, therefore, recommended that before new entrants are let into a firm, they have to be taken through a training (Harrison & St. John 2009). While in the training, they are guided through a firms’ culture, objectives and the code of conductof the firm. This has to be done to avoid negative influence within an enterprise.

Conclusion

Good strategies in business organizations enable them to grow and expand faster. They enhance objective achievement of a firm. An organization requires able leader who can scan and combine a firms’ assets, objectives and future prospects to come up with a valid action plan that can steer a company to success. Managers must develop a strategy that does not take long to bear fruits and that is cost effective and user friendly. Employees must be willing to try out new ideas. They are required to understand an organization’s culture and objectives for them to perform their duties effectively. A good communication line should be established within an enterprise to ensure smooth exchange of ideas to avoid emergent strategies and strategy drift. The success of a firm depends on both the management and employees. Each person within a company has to perform their duties effectively and be responsible. Decision making in a firm should be a collective responsibility to avoid drift. Managers and their juniors need to be flexible in their reasoning, actions, and duty to enable them adapt to new ideas. Most managers have embraced the implementation of incremental patterns of strategy development because of their massive advantages. In addition, the above discussed factors offer solutions to the probable challenges that firms might face, while implementing the strategies.