The Strategic Management Process - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1961 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Strategic management is a continuous process of formulating, implementing and controlling broad plans that facilitate an organization in achieving the set objectives. It can also refer as the art and science of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that enable an organization to achieve its objective. (Bratton, n.d). Strategic management is an ongoing activity and requires an invariable modification among the three traditional poles of a strategic plan including: values of senior management, environment and the resources available. It can also be defined as the set of decisions and actions that determines the long-term performance of an organization. The strategic management process has five steps; mission and goals, environmental analysis, strategic formulation, strategy implementation and strategy evaluation. The strategic management model starts with top management evaluation of organizations current position with respect to its set current mission and goals. The Mission reveal what an organization wants to be and whom it wants to serve and how? Mission Statements are essential for effectively establishing objectives and formulating strategies. Goals are the desired ends sought through the actual operating procedures of the organization and typically describe short-term measurable outcome. Strategic management second step is the environmental analysis which consists of two parts internal assessment and external assessment. Strategic formulation is the third step in the strategic management model which involves making strategic choices and making strategies at three different levels corporate, business and functional. Strategy Implementation the fourth step which means involving employees and managers in order to execute the formulated strategies. It is referred as the most difficult stage of strategic management process. It requires personal discipline and commitment. The final stage in strategic managemen t process is strategy evaluation in which management analyzes the consequences of implemented strategies and controls it by adopting corrective measures. (Bratton, n.d) In diversified business organization, strategic management is applied on different levels of hierarchy based on their strategic needs. The hierarchy of strategy can be classified into three levels as: corporate, business and functional. Corporate-level strategy explains what business we are in? It provides the overall strategic direction in diverse areas of an organization that facilitates in smooth running of its different business units. Business-level strategy focuses on effectiveness and efficiency of a business unit. The basic purpose of this strategy is to take decisions that would make a business unit more competitive in the market place and therefore, it is primarily concern with the process of how do we compete?(Bratton, n.d). Porter (1985) (as cited in Bratton, n.d) had introduced a framework for busines s strategy which is based on three competitive strategies; cost leadership, differentiation and focus. These strategies are worldwide known as Michael Porters Generic strategies. Cost leadership strategy emphasize on producing standardized products at a very low per-unit cost for consumers who are price sensitive. Two alternative cost leadership strategies are classified as Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 can be defined as a low cost strategy that offers products or services to a wide range of customers at a lowest price available in the market. Type 2 can be described as a best value strategy that offers of products and services to a wide range of customer at the best price value on the market. It aims to offer customers a range of products and services at the lowest price available compared to rivals products with similar attributes. Differentiation is a strategy focused at producing products and services considered unique industry wide and intended for consumers who are relatively pric e insensitive. Focus strategy emphasize on producing products and services that fulfill the needs of a small group of consumers. The two alternative of Focus strategies are categorized as Type3 and Type 4. Type 4 is a low cost focus strategy that offers products or services to a small range (niche group) of customers at the lowest price available on the market. Type 5 is a best value focus strategy that offers products or services to a small range of customers at the best price value available on the market. (David, n.d). Miles and Snow (1984) (as cited in Bratton, n.d), identified four levels of business strategies that are called four modes of strategic orientation: defenders, prospectors, analysers and reactors. Defenders are companies with limited product line and management focus on improving the efficiency of their existing operations. Prospectors are companies having broad product lines that focus on product innovation, creativity and market opportunities. Analysers are compa nies that operate in at least two different product areas, one stable and one variable. Reactors are companies that lack a consistent strategy structure culture. Rather than defining a strategy that suit to specific environment, they respond to environmental threats and opportunities in ad hoc fashion. Functional level strategy emphasizes on continue improvement of functions within a business units including: research development, marketing, manufacturing, finance and HR. It has been highlighted with strong emphasize in the several strategic management literature that the synergy among different levels should be present. Therefore, when the strategies at different levels are fully integrated, organization would effectively able to achieve its sets targets. The term strategic human resource management is coined as a result of significant contribution made by management gurus in the field of HRM. Strategic human resource management has some presence in manpower planning literature . Ouchi (1981) and Peter Waterman (1982) (as cited in Bratton n.d) have identified one of the important sources of competitive advantage that an organization can achieve by managing its people effectively. This new direction in search of competitive advantage has open new dimensions for scholars and finally the research work emphasized heavily on the significance of strategic role of human resource management. Since then the prefix strategic has been attached to human resource management (Michael E. Poter, 1996) Competitive strategy is about being different it means consciously choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value. Competitive advantage occurs when firm have resource heterogeneity and resources immobility. Firm resource heterogeneity this concept suggests that firms all have the different amount and kind of physical, human and organizational resources and they vary across firms. Firms resource immobility refers that competing firms are enable o btain resources from others. (Jay Barney, 1991) Sustainable Competitive advantage is a value creating strategy not simultaneously being implemented by any current or potential competitors as well as competitors are unable to duplicate the benefits of these strategies. According to Porter, 1985 (as cited in Ulrich, n.d) competitive advantage can be defined as firms ability to generate unique products or services which are valued by users of those products. In search of its sources, executives have come across three traditional means of gaining competitive advantage (economic, strategic technology capabilities). (Jay Barney 1991) Four attributes that gives potential to firm recourses to achieve sustained competitive advantage are: valuable, rareness, imitability and substitutability. Strategies are valuable when they facilitate an organization to envision of or implement strategies that improve efficiencies and effectiveness and recourses are rare when a value creating strategy no t simultaneously implements by large number of other firms, the resources must be imperfectly imitable and it is possible when any firm has one or a combination of three reasons (a) unique historical condition (b) causal ambiguity (c) social complexity, the resources cannot be substituted with another resources by competing firms. (Pankaj Ghemawat, 1986) Sustainable competitive advantage has three categories: size in target market, superior access to resources and restrictions on competitors options. Organizational survival in highly turbulent environment has become the major concern of organizations today. Since last decades, due to the extreme globalization and increased technological influences the business environment has gone through major changes and become the focus of attention. Such changes have emphasized executives to focus on means that help to create and achieve competitive advantage. (Ulrich, n.d). In order to remain competitive and perform effectively in rapidly ch anging environment, decision-makers need to seek out factors that provide organizations sustainable competitive advantage. (Hussain, n.d). According to Porter, 1985 (as cited in Ulrich, n.d) competitive advantage can be defined as firms ability to generate unique products or services which are valued by users of those products. In search of its sources, executives have come across three traditional means of gaining competitive advantage (economic, strategic technology capabilities) (Ulrich Lake 1991; Ulrich 1997). Reviews on traditional means of gaining competitive advantage highlighted that these traditional means may be necessary but not sufficient. Executives have realized that additional sustained competitive advantage lies in recognizing and creating organizational capabilities through better deployment of human resources. (Schuler MacMilan, 1984; Ulrich 1986; Ulrich, n.d). Organizational capability can be defined as firms ability to manage people to gain competitiv e advantage. (Ulrich and Lake, 1991). It focuses on employee commitment and competence. (Ulrich and Lake, 1991). Organizations human resources is prove to be the key differentiating factor in developing future competiveness when traditional sources of competitive advantage are easily imitated. (Hussain, n.d). It is something that is difficult to imitate and hence it creates uniqueness. (Ulrich and Lake, 1991). There are several models to measure organizational capability that include (cited in organizational capability- what does it mean, n.d): Hase and colleagues (2000), Dill and Delahaye (2003).But one the widely used model is EFQM. The model is based on nine criteria: five enablers (leadership, people, policy strategy, resources and processes) and four results (people result, customer result and society result). When organizational capability has become the source of competitive advantage and HR professionals are the driving force behind it, than there is a need to develop new a genda for both HR practices and HR professionals. (Ulrich, 1997). Ulrich emphasized that HR professional who contribute to CA must become strategic business partner and acquired new set of personal and professional competencies. (Ulrich, n.d). The concept of strategic business partnering was introduced by Dave Ulrich in his famous book Human Resource Champions in the mid 1990s. (CIPD, n.d). Human resource business partner is a new emerging role in organizations today. In this capacity HR professionals are the human resource specialists, involved in strategic planning of organization to improve business performance and develop organizational culture. (Dash et al, n.d) Lawler and Boardreu shared their views on HR as strategic business partner and highlighted that in this new role HR is a member of senior management team and is directly involved in the major business decisions of the organization, including the formation of strategy, the design of the organization and the implementa tion of the business model.( Lawler and Boardreu, n.d). It has been observed that, during the past decades HR was solely viewed as administrative support function, involved in processing employee paper work, benefits, maintaining personal files. (Dash et al, n.d). Ulrich (as cited in Lawler and Morhman, 2003) has also highlighted the fact that HR function has been viewed an administrative function led by individuals who was primarily responsible to control cost and look after the administrative affairs. As highlighted by Ulrich, HR is the key to success.( Ulrich, 1997). Several studies have highlighted that HR function has the essence to become a strategic partner and by doing so it would then be a more value-added function. Research by Becker and Huselid (1998) (as cited in Lawler and Morhman, 2003) also identified a relation between HR practices and the performance of an organization. Other studies also highlighted the need and emphasized the fact that due to the increased c ompetition for HR talent, HR must mould itself in strategic business partner role. (Lawler and Morhman, 2003). Ulrich discussed that HR needs to become a strategic business partner. (as cited in Lawler and Morhman, 2003) He has emphasized that the HR function should become strategically proactive, that it needs to go beyond administrative expertise and try to be an expert in three important roles that are strategic business partnership, change management, and employee advocacy. (Ulrich, 1997). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Strategic Management Process" essay for you Create order

Why These History-Making Native Americans Are Heroes

Health Assessment, Module Two- Self Actualization

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Gershwin Porgy and Bess Essay Example For Students

Gershwin: Porgy and Bess Essay American culture has in its short history amassed a modest crop of canonical chestnuts. These enduring achievements may dull the senses or tax the spirit, but nevertheless attention must be paid, usually in a classroom. Death of a Salesman is of course one such necessary acculturator, as are other learning tools for teens like The Bell Jar, The Red Badge of Courage, Appalachian Spring and American Gothic. Mark Twain fortunately killed off Cooper and his Leatherstocking Tales for all time in his delightful essay James Fenimore Coopers Literary Offenses, but I think that The Scarlet Letter and Walden still get assigned to prove that Americans were thinking and writing and reading as far back as 1850, and that Uncle Toms Cabin remains in print because the country is still reeling from the slavery question. I consider myself fortunate to have given Leaves of Grass a second try last summer after disdainfully speed-reading it in college, and I hope to be similarly staggered someday by the inescapable Moby Dick, which I hated at 19. Yet I fear, after numerous attempts, that Ill never appreciate Porgy and Bess. I respect it, I suppose I am glad its there, but the truth is it doesnt move me either as a work of musical theatre or as Americana. On the plus side, its ambitious but not, thank God, pretentious; its musical textures and orchestrations are thrilling throughout. But I much prefer listening to Diahann Carroll sing Summertime or Barbra Streisand sing I Loves You, Porgy out of context than I do hearing the entire score or sitting through a performance, whether it be at Radio City Music Hall or at the Met. Despite its status as an American classic, Porgy and Bess has not gone without detractors since its premiere in 1935. Genre critics have at last given up attempts at classification, letting Gershwins own ruling, a folk opera, stand, but some music critics still find it crudely written, inauthentic and just plain long. Theatre people dont always like the recitatives and would like to hear more consonants from the singers. Over the years, in varying degrees of intensity, critics and performers alike have found the piece racist, offensively stereotypical and demeaning to African Americans. The dicey fact of the matter is that Gershwin and his co-librettists, brother Ira and DuBose Heyward, were white and who were they to dramatize and perhaps pass judgment on the doings in Charlestons Catfish Row, a southern locale now as mythically redolent as Belle Reve or Yoknapatawpha? FOR STARTERS, AND ONE COULD go on, consider the pieces four principal roles: Porgy is a cripple and a beggar. Bess and her red dress are an unreconstructed advertisement for the sins of the flesh, and although she does reform with Porgy, she is booby-trapped by her appetites and a libretto that announces from the start that a woman is a sometime thing. The hulking stevedore Crown, clearly drawn as a menace II society, kills Robbins with a baling hook in a crap game and sexually brutalizes Bess. Sportin Life is a gambler, a drug dealer, a blasphemer and, one may infer from the conclusion, will pimp Bess once they reach New York. While its facile to take potshots at operatic characters writ large, Porgy and Bess has from its inception been praised for its realistic depiction of black life. Does all of that brilliant music offset the libretto? European audiences can rhapsodize about local color and folk naivete, but that is their luxury. Americans cannot squint the problems away, and th ey cannot shut their ears to the white approximation of black American English that the characters are singing. .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec , .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec .postImageUrl , .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec , .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec:hover , .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec:visited , .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec:active { border:0!important; } .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec:active , .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u43fde6b8cdc96e234ef980c59fc158ec:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Does Richard the third deserve his reputation? EssaySo what is one to do with Porgy and Bess? On it rolls, launching great careers and breaking house records all over the world. The Breen-Davis tour of Porgy and Bess in the 50s, which counted Leontyne Price, William Warfield and Maya Angelou among its roster of performers, was practically an arm of the state department, the first American cultural offering to penetrate the Iron Curtain and play Leningrad and Moscow (with stops in Poland and Yugoslavia). It was the first American opera to play La Scala in 1954, and in 1986, assumed similar status at the hallowed Glyndebourne Festival in England. (Can Bayreuth be far off?) Directed by Trevor Nunn and conducted by Simon Rattle with the London Philharmonic, the Glyndebourne production threw off a full-length recording, was restaged at the Royal Opera House in 1992 and has just been filmed for public television by Nunn for American Playhouse and Great Performances, a joint venture that aptly bridges, as does the work itself, the worlds of theatre and classical music. DIFFERENT PRODUCTIONS over the years have been lauded or criticized for being too grand or too modest, too opera or too Broadway. No stranger to musical spectacle when thats what the occasion warrants, Nunn retains all of the score except The Buzzard Song and the top of Act 3, scene iii, and sort of goes on studio location in John Gunters Catfish Row, shifting scenes indoors and cutting to the ocean when the fishermen sail out. Unfortunately, there is no shot that firmly establishes Catfish Row the way the shows monolithic sets usually do, so the viewer is spatially dislocated about how the community is set up and where people are headed. In the enormous crowd scenes, theres enough stage business for three Renaissance fairs or eight productions of Oliver! and therein lies a frustrating contradiction in filmed opera. A film ideally allows viewers to see what they cannot see from a loge seat; zooming in on intimate details, however, negates the essential prerogative of opera to be gra nd, and Porgy and Bess is not an intimate opera. The drama rests in the music, not in our ability to see the box-cars that the doomed Robbins throws in the crap game. What Im trying to say is that opera thrives in the long-shot, with cuts to full-body on the arias staying in close subordinates the music. Theres also the problem of opera singing on film. The actors appear to be lip-synching to their pre-recorded voices, and some are better at it than others. Cynthia Haymons Bess is truly disorienting; while her incredible voice is blowing the roof off of Porgys hut on the soundtrack, her masklike face remains impassive, unexpressive. Theres no wrinkle on her brow, no how, and the film consequently lacks a dramatic center. The only character to benefit from Nunns predeliction for closeups is Sportin Life. Nunn is careful to let us watch Sportin Life watch the action. He has never seemed so less a minstrel clown and more a sick, evil destroyer who clearly outpaces Crown in menace. In his interpretation, Nunn has taken Porgys cart and goat away from him and given him crutches, explaining that he wanted to deemphasize Porgys infirmities and make him more of a believable alternative for Bess. This makes some sense when you consider the seductiveness of Gregg Bakers Crown (for once the actor isnt built like a polar bear, and the What you want wid Bess? scene is a highlight of the film). On the other hand, why rob Bess of her ability to fall in love with a cripple? I DIDNT MISS PORGYS GOAT until the ending. Usually, when Porgy heads off after Bess in the conclusion, it does feel like the saddest story ever told. Nunns choice to have Porgy throw off his crutches and attempt a step as a whole man through the portals of Catfish Row replaces pathos with unearned, yes-I-can positivism. On his cart (with or without the goat) you knew Porgy would never get there, and Bess feels like the Holy Grail, worth wanting, making Porgy the noblest, the most tragic of questing fools. If Porgy seems strong enough or whole enough to reach New York and find her, then you also fear he should be smart enough to realize Bess is not worth the trip. And if hes not smart enough to figure that out, then hes tragically dumb. .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d , .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d .postImageUrl , .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d , .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d:hover , .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d:visited , .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d:active { border:0!important; } .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d:active , .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uc0f66aedfa10ff0d28acc42dd9b7b36d:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Framing the fantasy: Amsterdam's Dogtroep brings street theater to new heights EssayAs I mentioned, its easier for me to admire Porgy and Bess as a songbook: great dramatic songs lifted from their problematic context for great voices in recital. Maybe my racial squeamishness is knee-jerk liberalism masking something else; maybe Id be less troubled overall if George Gershwin had lived long enough to fall in love with Their Eyes Were Watching God and collaborated with Zora Neale Hurston on that opera. I might be less troubled if Porgy, Bess, Crown and Sportin Life were enacting their tragic melodrama as disadvantaged whites, or were in Seville singing in French. I might rela x a bit if Anthony Daviss X had received the critical attention and commercial bookings that Nixon in China and The Ghosts of Versailles have in recent seasons. If only George Gershwin could have hung on to write more operas and field questions about his first one. GIVEN OUR LONG HISTORY of feeling culturally inferior to Europe, small wonder that the first accomplished American opera to come along the pike would be culturally overdetermined by necessity, and that we as a Second World nation would stake ourselves to its status as such. I just wish that the first, last and foremost American opera were not Porgy and Bess. When all is said and done when my critical stance is stripped away and my politically correct hackles are lowered and I come before the opera as might a child or a foreigner I think Porgy and Bess is boring. We all know its racist thats easy but I also think its boring. Its too long, duly moving but, oh, so slow, the recitatives seem beside the point, there are too many choral numbers, and even when it sounds great and how can it not? I never get all the words.