An
important task at the beginning of any formal strategy process [certainly from
a TMG perspective] is to decide which tools are going to be most appropriate to
the:
Intended scope
Culture
Resources
Situation and
Time horizon
For
example:
If growth via
large, long term capital investment is in scope, margin pressures are
related to macro economic forces and there is an awareness of competitors
emerging in new global markets the task is likely to rely on significant
industry understanding. With foresight
based on macro scenarios, analytical tools, positioning alternatives,
decision trees and a resource based assessment might come onto the short
list, applied over several months of progress workshops. Risk management would grow out of
allowing logical incrementalism for implementation where possible, setting
up a learning environment with high levels of local connectivity whilst
maintaining high levels of excitement around the project itself.
If growth
appears to be adversely impacting return on investment, business unit
managers have differing views on the need to restructure and there are
near time pressures to deliver greater shareholder returns. Tools that include managers in cross
branch work groups in a series of action leaning scenarios built on hard
data. Then, cross functional
workgroups preparing a review using Value Chain Analysis, compare and use
decision tool like Kepner Tregoe to analyze and refine, culminating as
inputs to inform an action review conference on a five week end to end
time frame is a probable option. From there, value creation can be better achieved and articulated,
responding to shareholder demands both emotionally and practically.
What
is important is to be comfortably able to work along the continuum without
giving greater importance to any one tool over another. Each is informative in its own right.
Whatever the situation, the TMG view is that the starting point
is to establish what tools, concepts or frameworks are going to address your
present needs best.For a better
explanation, follow this link to “The
ideal Strategy Conference”.
The 20th Century model of management (and all that managers do to develop strategy) was built on the restoration of equilibrium as the preferred state.
Scientific management beginning in the 1920s, with its data rational form, dominated the management education process, including strategy.
By the 21st Century, the pace of change is no longer remarkable and increasingly complexity is assumed.
Concurrently, managers are assimilating this ‘new order’ and management educators increasingly give emphasis to the new science of complexity.
This has liberated the development of strategy from a thirst for control to a quest for superior engagement, foresight and responsiveness.
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Whatever the situation, the TMG view is that the starting point
is to establish what tools, concepts or frameworks are going to address your
present needs best.
