Contemporary Strategic Planning Issues - Essay on Strategic Management

Strategic planning is a process and a vital tool which an organization uses in order to move to another level of doing the business. It determines the direction of the organization, the details to follow in achieving the targets and parameters to ascertain whether the goals have been achieved or not. Strategic planning involves three models namely goals-based, issues-based and organic. Strategic planning process is usually done at the inception of the organization especially during the preparation for a main project. Furthermore, the plans should be carried out periodically. However, organizations usually has issues with the strategic plans they enforce or there are usually hindrances that prevent the organizations from aligning to the strategic plans. This paper will focus on highlighting the contemporary issues in strategic planning.

To begin with, inadequate resources are among the issues that affect the realization of strategic plans. This is the key issue for organizations not to achieve their strategic plans since plans cannot be implement with inadequate or ineffective resources (Indovina, 2010). These resources include human resource, natural and man-made resources. The success of an organization is determined by the knowledge and experience by which its people have hence the need of proper recruitment and training of staff. Staff engagement can generally generate additional input and also encourages them to be committed and stay focused to the end plan. Involvement of staff can provide insights to issues and concerns which may not have been identified if they were not involved.

The resources in a given organization depend on the organizational structure, governance and constitution. The attitudes of staff and volunteers can determine if the organization will go forward or not. Negative attitudes can adversely impact the organizations ability to implement the set strategies. For example if the structure has many levels of management, the decision making process can be very slow because of the various discussions done at each level. An organization that has financial constraints can be difficult to implement strategies within the plan.

Moreover, the socio-political and environmental factors are issues in strategic planning. These include climate change, economic conditions, political and legal factors. Increases in interest rates and high taxation will interfere with the way a business operates and how it achieves its goals (Katsioloudes, 2006). Furthermore, market competition also changes the marketing strategies, price and the products produced become dynamic. Managers therefore need to be alert and diverse in order to keep up with the trend.

The politics of a nation can interfere with an organization from achieving its strategies if the government will change the laws governing business operations, funding and how prices are controlled. Political stability can offer assurance to a company that it will be able to achieve its strategic plans overtime. Climate change can be part of the contemporary issues in that companies relying on natural resources such as water, wind, sun etc. to run its operations may be affected if it changes such as reduced rainfall can affect industries that rely on agriculture.

In conclusion, strategic plans should provide a basis at which the organization is guided in its daily routine. Organizations need to meet challenges mentioned above in order to come out with the best results from their strategic plan. Establishing a clear and meaningful strategic planning process should be key and should engage all levels of management in order to ensure successful implementation. Finally, the organizations should strive to include contingency plans for the eventualities that can hamper the implementation of the strategic plans.

References

Indovina, F. (2010). On Strategic Planning and Associated Issues. Making Strategies in Spatial Planning, 67-78. doi:10.1007/978-90-481-3106-8_4

Katsioloudes, M. (2006). Contemporary Issues in the Strategic Planning Process. Strategic Management, 37-66. doi:10.1016/b978-0-7506-7966-4.50007-x