Hi Arthur and fellow LOites:
Re. Arthur's statement in LO26096:
"There is no such thing as 'strategic management'. SM is a term invented
by business schools to claim that it is possible, still, to command and
control [CnC], to predict, if things are done basically the same but
slightly differently."
(I am not picking on you, Arthur! I am just using your statement as a
platform to introduce my next thought.)
I have read similar themes on this listserv. People seem to be a bit
adverse to the idea of strategic management. Maybe there are existing
mental models here that might be worth exploring?
If so ...
I see strategies as simply recommendations on how a success or failure can
be repeated or avoided based on analysis of previous courses of action
that were successful or unsuccessful. Strategy is a way of simplifying the
complex, of communicating best practices. As such, I see strategies as a
form of language, of learning.
I see strategic management as simply the structure with which people try
to manage the complexities that we produce as we seek to explain the
unexplainable, repeat the unrepeatable. As such, I see strategic
management as a learning process.
As such, I think effective strategic management and learning organizations
can and do exist side-by-side. I would also venture a guess that they are
quite interdependent.
I see the flaw behind strategy is not necessarily the concept - look,
listen, do, and evaluate -- but the people who are more comfortable
relying on the "experts," their own education, qualifications, etc. Those
who think that they alone have the skills and experience needed to drive
the organization's mission, etc. Those that lump their people with other
resources but separate from cash. Those whose risk-aversion plan is to
position their actions so that they can always claim that their analysis
and methodologies are sound and in line with accepted practices. "Blame
Porter, not me!"
I see the flaw behind strategic management is, again, not the concept, but
the people who don't want to trust their own judgment and their own people
anymore. There are so many different strategies floating around that
people want explicitly communicated and tailored solutions endorsed by
experts.
Things have become so complex. Yet it could be simple, if only people
would realize that strategies are recommendations, not recipes.
Thanks!
Peg
--Peggy Stuart <pstuart@c2t2.ca>
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