Strategic Planning in Public Service - Essay Example

Strategic Planning in Public Service Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Introduction Strategic planning is becoming a crucial tool for change in public, private, and volunteer sector organizations. This is mostly because strategic plans provide organizations with a guideline as well as an effective means of making major developmental decisions. It enables the organization to evaluate its current position and hence, be able to determine its next possible step. Taking into consideration the rising concerns brought about by issues pertaining to ethics of public officials, there is need to address these issues in organizations to prevent major problems from arising (Sakr Ashour, 2004). Essentially, re-evaluating the organizational strategic plans provides a basic way of addressing such issues. Primarily, it is essential to consider the basic aspects of the organization’s strategic plan to identify the basic areas of focus required to enhance the organizational performance and accountability with regard to ethical considerations. Overly, strategic planning encompasses the vision as well as mission statement of the organization, the organizational values along with the stratagem identified to guide the organization to achieve its objectives. Whereas the vision statement denotes a long-term perception of the organization, the mission statement in its part provides the essential principle for achieving these long-term goals. The organizational values, which form part of the strategic plan, provide a basis for making decisions. This is mainly because of the commonality usually identified in beliefs among the members of the organization. Additionally, the strategies being implemented in an organization form the basic guidelines through which the organization functions. The vision and mission assertions of an organization help to shape its values and strategies. In this regard, it is vital to assess the different strategic models proposed by various scholars and relating them to the ethical concerns being raised to identify which model is more effective for the organization (Corboy, 2007). Strategic planning usually follows different approaches. Among the most commonly used approaches is the situation-target approach. In this approach, the organization mainly considers its present situation. This is mostly achieved through assessing the major steps the organization took that led to its current situation. Essentially, this step normally calls for a re-evaluation of the prior set strategies. Subsequent to this, is the identification of the preferred position that the organization wants to be in. Concerning the ethical considerations that call for professionalism and accountability of public officials, as a public organization, this would majorly mean that, the organization sets up new strategies that would enable it to enhance its professional ethics. On overall, seeing that most public officials perceive the performance based indicators as well as accountability to the public as a way of undercutting professional ethics, it is thus essential for the organization to identify and design new ways of changing this general perception by the public officials (Corboy, 2007). For instance, by encouraging the public officials that such measures are vital for their work performance and not an underpinning of their ethical considerations will seemingly help the organization to design a new and effective strategy of ensuring that the officials ascribe to the new perception and hence, enhance the overall organizational ethical performance. After defining and identifying the new objectives and strategies to be implemented, it is also vital for the organization’s management to formulate a road map on how the organization will achieve its new objectives. In this stage of strategic planning, the concerned organizational officials are mainly required to design a pathway for which the members of the organization can effectively follow to ensure that they are at par with the new regulations. Identifying new strategies is not enough for directing the organization into reaching the new desired position. It is vital for the organization to make certain that there is a clearly cut out road map, which will guide the organization and its officials to achieving the same. This formulated road map will also act as a reference point for the organization in case the new strategies fail to deliver or there is need for re-evaluation and re-strategizing in future (Mintzberg et al., 1999). Depending on the chosen strategic approach, it is also vital to identify the most effective tool that would facilitate the process as a whole. More often than not, strategic planners embrace the SWOT analysis as a main tool in designing appropriate strategic plans. This is mainly because; this mode of analysis often focuses on the whole scenario of the organization’s positions. First is the consideration of the organizational strength as well as weaknesses. Before making major strategic changes, it is important to assess the position of the organization with regard to its strengths as well as weaknesses (Mintzberg et al., 1999). More often than not, these essential aspects of the SWOT analysis help an organization in determining if it is ready and capable to alter its strategic plans. This is so in that, in seeking to change the previously established plans, an organization stands the challenge of funding the new strategies as well as getting the workforce to embrace the new changes. In addition to this, is the aspect of the opportunities and threats that the organization stands to face when implementing a new strategic plan. The market opportunities are usually considered essential aspects of the organization (Hellriegel et al., 2001). This is because; they provide the organization with the desired push to stay in the market and perform. On the other hand, the threat aspect of the SWOT analysis mainly highlights the market challenges that exist and those that are foreseen. Strategic plans mainly help an organization to identify such challenges and opportunities and hence, prepare the organization for them. In this regard, seeking to enhance the ethical concerns about public officials within the organization will thus require a detailed assessment of the internal along with the external environment of the organization. Assessing the organization’s strengths in essence will offer the officials with a basis of determining the effective strategies to implement in the organization. For instance, evaluating the internal environment of the organization helps in identifying the vital areas that need to be changed as well as provides an overview of how the new strategies will be implemented and received. On the other hand, focusing on the external factors of the organization provides the organization with an opportunity to assess the market performance and competition and thus, enabling the organization to identify a more suitable position for itself that it can strive to achieve to ensure that it stays at par with other organizations as well as maintaining a competitive advantage (Hellriegel et al., 2001). The Organization’s Current Strategic Plan Presently, the organization implements a basic strategic plan. In this current model, the executive officials in the organization mainly perform the major decisions and planning activities. In this, the executive is more often than not, charged with the responsibility of establishing the organization’s mission and vision statements. In addition, they are responsible for formulating the strategic plans to be implemented in the organization through highlighting the basic objectives that will direct the organization into achieving its mission. The major areas of concern for this model of strategic planning include the recognition of the main purpose of establishing the organization. This mainly centers on the mission statement of the organization and zeroes in to the key goals set aside for the organization. Essentially, this model normally requires the organization’s officials to pinpoint as well as direct the workforce on how to effectively accomplish the organizational goals. Overly, this mode of strategic planning tends to be more directive than involving. This is in that, the workforce is mainly left out in the organization’s major decision making processes and thus, they feel sidelined. This normally influences the employee performance in that, they feel pushed to do as they are told and thus, might not effectively observe all the required regulations. For example, the workforce might choose to forego fulfilling their ethical considerations because they feel pressured and hence might end up underperforming their respective duties in the organization (Goodstein et al., 1993). For an organization to perform effectively, there is need for the workforce as well as the management to function together as a unit. Thus, the current basic model of strategic planning appears to be withholding the organization’s progress in this regard. Besides the decision making structure, the current model also advocates for managerial responsibility of evaluating as well as revising the plan (Goodstein et al., 1993). This can essentially be challenging in that, considering the elimination of employee contributions in the major decision making processes, it is challenging the officials to obtain relevant information about the plans being implemented presently. By eliminating the workforce from the major decisions about the organization, the officials risk obtaining fundamental information about the performance of the strategic plan being instigated, as they do not feel obliged or part of the organization. In most cases, the evaluation process may fail because; the information being given may not be relevant (Drucker, 1990). In this regard, it is essential to involve the workforce in organizational decisions to ensure that the evaluation process of the plans being put into operation is effective and that it will raise relevant feedback that will enable the strategic planners to identify the fundamental steps to be taken. The Model That Fits Best in the Organization The most effective strategic plan for the organization will be the issue-based strategic planning model. The issue-based model of strategic planning mainly builds on the basic model of strategic planning. However, this model tends to be more inclusive and hence effective in its implementation. Unlike the basic model of strategic planning, this model mainly focuses on the major issue that needs to be addressed at that specific point in time. Essentially, this model can be considered a systematic model of planning. This is whereby, the strategic plans made are designed to focus on a single issue and often reviewed after a specific period. This timely evaluation is usually meant to analyze if the identified plans have achieved what they were meant to or not. If the plans seem to bare the results being sought at the start, then the strategic plans are further enhanced. In case the plans established fail to give the desired results, then new plans can be made and implemented to help in improving the situation. The issue-based framework of strategic planning normally assesses the internal as well as external factors affecting the organization. This thus helps in ensuring that all the strategic plans that are going to be identified will have factored in all the basic considerations and forces that influence the overall functioning of the organization (Goodstein et al., 1993). The issue-based framework of strategic planning appears to be more effective and efficient for a public service organization. This is mainly because of the of the goal centeredness of the plan. Essentially, an issue-based strategic plan provides a clear guideline for strategic planners by highlighting the essential areas of focus in planning. This framework of planning usually revolves around the identification and analysis of goals as well as the tactics to be implemented in facilitating the strategic plans. According to the basic synopsis of strategic planning, this model advocates for an annual focused plan, which majorly guides the organization to attaining its objectives by following a sequential process. For instance, by making annual goals, the organization through the issue-based strategic plan is able to integrate its systems. This mainly helps in ensuring that all the organizational efforts are directed towards the same goal and hence, minimizing operational challenges. When the organizational systems as well as the workforce are focused on one main goal and function, it helps the organization in strengthening its resolve as well as internal capabilities. This therefore facilitates the attainment of the set objectives (Drucker, 1990). Additionally, the issue-based strategic framework of planning provides an opportunity for system updates. Considering the timely focus of this mode of strategic plan, the issue-based strategic plan mainly leaves room for the improvement of and the enhancement of the new plans being implemented. That is, it allows for the adjustment of the strategies being implemented when they seem to be out of line with the already established target objective. For example, in implementing workforce accountability and professionalism using the issue-based framework plan, an organization can make changes where need be as the new plans are underway. This can be achieved through a continued assessment of employee performance and progress. In addition to this, the model also provides an all-inclusive participation from the organization’s officials to the workforce. As compared to the basic framework of strategic planning, the issue-based framework seems to be more effective because of its incorporation of the workforce contributions. Considering that this model mainly provides the organization’s officials with an opportunity to assess and make required amendments to the plan as it is being implemented, the workforce participation cannot thus be eliminated from the plans. This model allows for employee contributions whereby, the workforce is allowed to participate in the overall implementation of the new plans by putting in their efforts and focus. While the original basic model seemed to be autocratic, this issue-based model appears to be more involving as it encompasses the integration of all of the organization’s systems (Gómez-Mejía et al., 2001). Retrospective Commentary In retrospect, subsequent to the study of strategic planning, it is evident that there are a number of models that have been proposed that could effectively be implemented to improve the performance of an organization. Depending on the market performance, an organization can freely change its strategic plans to be able to enhance its market advantage. In addition to this, the model of strategic planning being implemented seems to influence greatly on the existence of the organization in general as well as the perception of the clients along with the workforce. In this regard, organizations especially those operating in the public service have a major responsibility to the organization as well as to the public in ensuring that they effectively deliver what they set out to deliver (Olsen, 2012). Taking the educational system for instance, the officials operating in this business have a major responsibility to the public as they are considered public officials. The way that they conduct themselves greatly affects the way that the respective clients relate with the organization. With the recent concerns being raised about the ethical and professional considerations of these public officials, it is evident that there is dire need to evaluate the strategic plans relating to service delivery. Essentially, strategic plans offer a guideline for the steps to be taken to ensure an efficient way of work performance. This has overly been claimed to be achieved through the identification and establishment of goals that focus on the organization’s vision and mission statements (Basic overview of various strategic planning models, n.d). Originally, I perceived that strategic plans could not be merged to enhance an organization’s performance in the market. However, from this research, it is evident that there are some strategic plans that can effectively be merged to enable the organization to enhance its opportunities. Drawing form the different models of strategic planning, the issue-based model appears to be the most favorable as it has integrated different aspects of others strategic models into its model. Considering the issue-based model of strategic planning, it is apparent that this model is an all-inclusive design for planning. This is mainly market by the incorporation of the basic model of strategic planning whereby, the issue-based model incorporates the identification of the goals to be achieved as well as the tactics needed to be used to facilitate the plans. In addition to this, the issue-based strategy also borrows from other models of strategic planning. Among this is the alignment model where the issue-based model incorporates a mission and vision focused plan. Similar to the alignment strategic plan, the issue-based strategic model centers its attention on the organizational vision and mission statements and thus ensures that all the systems within the organization are directed towards achieving a common goal. The scenario model of strategic planning is another mode from which the issue-based model draws its considerations. According to the scenario model, the consideration of the external factors appears to be vital when designing a strategic plan for the organization. This is probably because of the essential role these factors play in determining the attainment of the organizational goals and objectives (Argent, 1968). Overly, it is obvious that strategic planning majorly revolves around the need to plan effectively. This aspect of the strategic planning of an organization is drawn from the basic steps that have been identified for carrying out the specific plans, for instance, assessing the organization’s current situation, and then identifying the desired position. Prior to taking any notable steps into changing the organizational strategic plan, it is vital to evaluate the present situation of the organization. In doing this, the strategic planners are able to identify the relevant areas that need to be improved as well as enables them to gather the necessary information they require for the desired changes to be made. Subsequent to this, the planners then identify the organization’s desired position from the present situation. In this step of strategic planning, the planners as well as the organization’s officials are able to identify the major goals they intend to achieve in the change of the strategies previously implemented. This also provides an avenue for formulating the necessary steps and tactics to be used. These planning steps provide a guideline for the organization and its planners and thus, ensure that all the relevant measures are taken to help in attaining the overall goal. References Argent, J. (1968). Corporate planning- a practical guide. Allen & Unwin Basic overview of various strategic planning models. Retrieved from http://www.ecdcus.org/What_We_Do/Strategic_Planning_Models.pdf Corboy, M. (2007). Strategic Planning Models. Retrieved from http://www.agreeonacca.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDFstudents/2012s/Strategic%20planning%20models.pdf Drucker, P. (1990). 'Winning Strategies'. In: Managing the Non-Profit Organization. Harper Collins, New York: pp. 59-71. Gómez-Mejía, R., & Balkin, D., & Cardy, R. (2001). 'Planning and Implementing Strategic HR Policies'. In: Managing Human Resources. 3rd ed. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: pp. 20-29. 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