The major theme that emerges in the article revolves around the complex nature of strategic management. According to the article, strategic management entails distinct considerations whose comparative focus by consultants, strategists, as well as academic researchers has improved over time with the evolution of ideas concerning ways of applying competitive thinking to create value. It is not possible to perceive strategic management as just operational effectiveness since it requires applying both strategic planning and theorizing to be effective. In addition, the sophisticated state of strategic management revolves around planning and action as well as content and process. Furthermore, it entails constraints and considerations that are both internal and external to an organization. The strategic management process is also integrative in that it combines distinct fields including accounting, marketing, finance, human resources, and operations, which add to its complicated nature. Furthermore, strategic management becomes sophisticated in areas whereby it needs to add value to the distinct organizational stakeholders, while challenges emerge when it comes to increasing shareholders’ returns without affecting the value that other stakeholders derive from an organization. Thus, strategic management serves as a complicated process that demands deep considerations in order to perform it effectively.
In the area of strategic management, certain challenges prevail when trying to ensure that it matches with the overall requirements of an organization. For instance, the major issue revolves around the idea of how managers can handle the considerations as well as constraints that influence a firm both internally and externally. Another area that presents challenges entails ways in which the area of strategic management can cope with the diverse external forces, including economic, technological, and competitive based on the speed through which they are advancing in today’s world to an extent that managers are having a hard time trying to cope with them. Furthermore, strategic management presents issues related to integrating different operational areas of accounting, finance, operations, marketing, and human resources to address the different problems facing their businesses. Moreover, issues are emerging on ways of adding value to distinct organizational stakeholders, including employees, financiers, suppliers, customers, and communities while balancing with the need for maximizing shareholder returns. Organizations might emphasize on adding value to shareholders while the initiative might not relate to generating value to employees, customers, or communities, which might hinder organizational effectiveness.
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On the solutions to challenges influencing the area of strategic management, one of the proposed strategies revolves around the need for managers to be clear about the distinguishing features of their organizations to allow them identify ways of handling the conflicts that characterize the organization. In addition, on matters related to the challenges presented by external factors, such as economic, technological, and competitive, managers should emphasize on establishing clear thinking regarding the technological, economic, and social environments through which their companies operate. They should assess the capabilities and activities of their rivals to allow them to determine the ideal ways of approaching the market. Furthermore, to integrate the different functional areas of marketing, accounting, finance, human resources, and operations, they should consider merging the different disciplines to allow them come up with cross-disciplinary means of handling the strategic management issues. For the issue related to creating value of the different organizational stakeholders, the managers should ensure to align their different interests together to allow them create value sustainably and in an integrative manner. In this sense, it is evident that strategic management serves as a challenging endeavor that needs critical emphasis to ensure that organizations are capable of coping with the different challenges that the environment presents.
For the solutions proposed, they address the strategic leadership issue explored in the course. The solutions reveal the need for identifying the intricacies attributed to a certain situation and coming up with the best probable solution. Taking calculated risks is essential to facilitate in furthering an organization’s goals in line with the need for having the capacity for adapting to changes in the market place. Strategic leadership also requires leveraging on new opportunities once they emerge in order to cope with any future hindrances once they emerge. It is also crucial to emphasize on scanning the environment in order to identify any patterns or clues regarding the forces that might present threats or new opportunities to drive an organization towards success. In dealing with these issues, strategic leaders need to have the stamina and drive in the event that change becomes difficult and painful. They should have the physical and mental strength of producing results since strategy is not a simple task. Strategic leadership also needs individuals to be hungry and curious for new ideas while showing the willingness for encountering uncomfortable things from distinct stakeholders. In this manner, it would be possible to reflect on the ideas that contradict with one’s understanding and beliefs while refraining from accepting every idea offered. Rather, it would be crucial to assess non-confirming and new ideas in an objective manner to determine whether they are capable of solving organizational issues. These insights contribute to effective strategic leadership.
As a professional, I will integrate the learning to my own role as a leader and manager in certain ways. I will ensure to have passion and a future for driving me maintaining clarity and purpose in my leadership roles. I will exercise calmness when situations become tough while at the same time ensuring to make difficult choices to ensure that I excel in my strategic leadership role. Furthermore, I will exercise open-mindedness and courage to institute new ideas for dealing with any challenging situations that come my way. In doing so, I will have the ability of making strategic management decisions that will contribute toward ongoing success of my organization.
