Strategic planning & Management Assignment Article writing help analysis online:: Innovation article writing on good planning & learning
Q?? Write an analysis of the article for good planning & learning in organization??
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Introduction
Twenty first century is the era of globalization and competition among corporations to gain maximum profit and get a significant market share in the industry. Today, the corporate world is dynamic and it is difficult to thrive in such dynamic environment if organizations do not put in efforts for addressing the challenges they face in continuously changing global market environment, culture and technology. It involves focusing on innovation and transforming the organization into a learning organization. It requires good planning and strategic management to focus on innovation and learning (Farrell 2000).
More strategic planning and more innovation lead to better performance of the firm in the market. As mature organizations are finding themselves in new competitive field, they need to emphasize on action learning and strategic innovation so as to develop a set of cognitive capabilities, strategic and divergent thinking, conceptual capacity and sense making. Innovation is considered as an important and crucial source for growth and most of the time, it is a key determinant of the competitive advantage of many companies in the corporate world (Payne 2005).
In order to successfully utilize new technologies and resources, it is imperative for organizations to build on a very good planning for action learning, and managing knowledge and innovation. The essay discusses concepts of innovation, learning and change management for transforming the organization into a suitably competitive organization of the modern world.
Significance of innovation and learning in organizations
Competitive environment of 21st century presents various challenges for managers of modern and mature organizations, such as global competition, new entrants in the industry, evolving needs of customers and so on. Facing these challenges, senior level management of organizations is continuously asking for increase in action learning programs and to think differently so as to conceptualize new sources of value for customers.
Today, there is need of strategic innovation which is the fusion of strategy and innovation. The traditional model of business growth i.e. development of innovative product, expansion of global market, and harvesting profit as long as possible, can only get incremental revenue. However, it does not lead to sustainable development and growth of the company (Reid and Hinkley 2007).
Whenever there is introduction of new technology out of innovation, it presents complex challenges as well as opportunities for organizations. It leads to significant and required changes in managerial practices and emergence of new and unique organizational forms. An innovative enterprise has an essence that the skill base of the organization is integrated and it can well engage in cumulative and collective learning (Kuhn and Marsick 2005).
Good planning leads to translation of individual insights and knowledge base of the organization into collective knowledge and adding on to organizational capability. Collective knowledge of the organization is present in the form of routines, rules, procedures, and shared norms, which provides guidance to the problem solving activities and interaction patterns among the members of the organization. Organizational knowledge creation is the outcome of shared cognition and collective learning among members of the organization. It is desirable to plan an effective knowledge management strategy so as to create a pool of knowledge which is unique to the organization (Kuhn and Marsick 2005).
Communities of practice is a new organizational model which enables the organizations to take care of existing structures and enhance knowledge sharing, change and learning. There is sharing of experience and knowledge in a free flowing way that creates ways for fostering new and innovative approaches to problem solving. The model is significant to the company in terms of helping in driving the strategy, starting of new lines of business, transfer of best practices, retaining of top talent, development of professional skills, and so on(Morgan and Spicer 2009).
Strategic planning is significant in terms of identification of future opportunities and setting the business resources by growth or acquisitions so that the business can be positioned in such a way so as to take advantage of the strengths that the organization possesses in the light of changing market situations. Effective and good planning enables the organizations to thrive and sustain in global competition of 21st century.
Innovation and strategic planning in organizations
Globalization and fierce competition has led to increasing emphasis on NPD (New Product Development). Projects related to NPD can increase the performance of the firm. For NPD projects to succeed, it is required by the organization to make the use of strategic planning in such a way so as to attain competitive advantage in the market. Strategic planning is important for innovation and strategies for the new product (Reid and Hinkley 2007).
When an organization does formal strategic planning, it not only enables the company to set the level and direction of resources for the which are required to be devoted for acquisition and integration of new product development knowledge from both outside and inside of the organization, but also enhances the positive synergy effect between the skills and the resources that are expended for activities of new product development (Kuhn and Marsick 2005).
Moreover, strategic planning helps in reduction of uncertainty and risk associated with decision making of NPD projects because it compels the organization to review the decision alternatives in light of various business environments. In strategic planning, there are well organized routines and frameworks under which NPD projects have to carry on their work. It leads to reduction of time consuming as well as wasteful activities in NPD projects. Thus, the firm can initiate more NPD projects with enhanced cooperation (Song et al 2011).
However, there are certain factors in strategic planning that may reduce the number of NPD projects. Firstly, planned strategies cannot handle unexpected jolts and shocks that happen during the process of NPD. Secondly, it prevents employees from being innovative as there are rigidities and less flexibility in the structure and routines set under strategic planning. Thirdly, there can be no precise planning in advance entrepreneurial and innovative initiatives in the NPD projects.
However, strategic planning can be positive for large sized firms which have abundant research and development resources. When a firm has abundant R&D resources, and they are deployed for NPD projects, it acts as a motivating factor for employees for acquiring, collecting and gathering data and information related to technical knowledge and customer knowledge. Therefore, despite the fact that there is adverse relationship between the strategic planning and number of NPD projects, management of strategic planning for generating NPD ideas is beneficial to the organization in terms of ultimate outcome of increased performance of the firm (Song et al 2011).
Organizations do effective strategic planning for innovation out of two models for innovation. First model is the conservative model which states that innovation occurs only out of necessity. When there are serious challenges and stabilities in the market environment, and the resources and capability of the organization are adequate for innovation, then only the firm goes for innovation projects. The second model is the entrepreneurial model which states that entrepreneurship is the natural state of affairs. In this model, goals and strategies are considered as key impetus to innovation by the firm rather than the business and market environment, and structure (Miller and Friesen 1982).
It is necessary that stagnating firms should bring upon remedial efforts for speeding up the efforts of innovation, but under strategic planning it must also be ensured that innovation does not become an end or final destination in itself. Innovation momentum should be such that it does not outstrip the ability of the organization to pay (Miller and Friesen 1982).
Driving Change: Critical Approaches
Organizations are operating in a constantly changing and dynamic environment. There is presence of certain discontinuities in the market environment often coming up with financial crisis and political unrest. Change is a ubiquitous phenomenon that has no boundaries. The sites of change in an organization include identities, processes of the organization, inter-organizational fields, and societal processes. The identity of employees becomes a site of struggle in change management. Employees actively oppose the initiatives taken at the managerial level and the identities which come with them (Josserand et al 2006).
In organizational processes, there is shift from simple control to technical control to later bureaucratic control and then to normative control. Inter-organizational fields show that social movements play a critical role in the changing organizations (Morgan and Spicer 2009). In regards to transition from bureaucratic to post-bureaucratic change in organizations, there are some difficulties in change of role identities in the changing organization. They occur because of the following reasons: difficulties in role invention, differences in role perception, philosophy of organization towards strategic HRM, difficulty in development of new networks, and role conflicts and sticky identities (Josserand et al 2006).
In order to cope with change in an effective manner, good planning is a prerequisite for learning organizations. Planning should be done on how to disperse power in the organization in an orderly manner so that the bureaucracy can be replaced by visions, values and aspirations. Systematic understanding is another key attribute for coping with change in an effective manner (Josserand et AL 2006). Conversation is the third attribute which is required by bureaucratic organizations to face contentious issues, such as, conflict between two worthwhile principles. Voluntary followership is another attribute that is required to be planned for the successful transition of the bureaucratic organization into post bureaucratic one. It is necessary because most of the leaders of the bureaucratic organization don’t give importance to voluntary followership. They usually think in terms of control. Therefore, it is necessary to have strategic planning and strategic conversations in place to facilitate change management in the organization (Payne 2005).
If the organization has to move decisively towards its vision of change, it has to develop a unique consciousness which is specifically designed for the purpose of attaining the vision of the organization. But, this unique consciousness of the organization is dependent on the consciousness of its people, which makes collective consciousness necessary for effective change management. There will be confusion in the organization if there is no shared understanding (The Learning Organziation 2011).
Good planning in the change management is the response to proactive approach for change management. Proactive approach minimizes the impact of change on the productivity of the employees, minimize the impact on the morale of the employees, and avoid turnover and adverse effect on customers, building personal coping skills and facilitation of change management.
Requirement of change leaders
Change leaders are required as they can do effective planning and can manage change with their leadership skills and proactive approach. Successful change leaders understand why the change is happening and adopt a change mind-set.
Communities of practice for knowledge management
Communities of practice are a group of people joined informally for an enterprise for sharing their passion and experience in the organization. Communities of practice keep on renewing themselves and generate knowledge which is vital for effective planning of change management in the organization. Although these communities are informal and self-organizing, they get benefitted from cultivation. For sustained communities of practice and their growth, managers should ensure that they are able to identify potential communities of practice which will enhance the strategic capabilities of the company. Managers must also ensure that there is adequate infrastructure for support of these communities and people in these communities can express their expertise in a free way. For instance, at Shell Inc., any person who wants to develop and form a new community consults a consultant and meets prospective members. They keep on looking at challenges and problems that people across teams and units can meet in accomplishing tasks assigned to them and then, start meetings and discussions for arriving at solutions (Josserand 2004).
Feeling of personal connection is necessary in these communities of practice. For nourishing these communities of practice in organizations, executives and managers at strategic level should invest time and money in order to help communities reach their potential at the fullest level. Whenever they run up against obstacles, managers should intervene so that information flow is not obstructed. Provision of official sponsors and support team can strengthen communities of practice. These sponsors and support team work with community leaders for providing resources and coordination (Wenger and Snyder 2000).
` AMS (American Management Association) and World Bank have successfully implemented the communities of practice approach for effective knowledge management. AMS has a formal approach while World Bank applies a combination of formal and informal approach for communities of practice. Successful launch and administration of communities of practice in these two organizations is an example of effective planning.
When AMS was going through an intense period of globalization and growth, it found itself unable to leverage knowledge throughout the organization. At this time, the company initiated the communities of practice structure in strategic areas of the company. This made knowledge management easy and free-flowing in the company. At the World Bank, communities of practice were launched with the aim of making the organization a knowledge bank that provides high quality information sources on economic development. The common factor in both the organizations in relation to communities of practice is that the senior management level of both the organizations support and sponsor these communities of practice. Conducting knowledge fairs, providing technical support and organizing annual community conferences are some of the major roles of sponsors and support teams for these communities (Wenger and Snyder 2000).
Effective planning in managing these communities of practice has led these organizations to manage their knowledge pool in an effective way. Communities of practice are continuously emerging in these companies that thrive on knowledge. Key planning for this new and emerging frontier in knowledge organizations includes understanding of managers in regards to working of these communities. Next step is to realize that these communities are keys to the management for addressing the challenge of maintaining knowledge economy. The third step is to provide appropriate and adequate managerial support for developing and nourishing them so as to integrate them in the organization with their full power and potential (Wenger and Snyder 2000).
Cultivation of communities of practice in learning organizations is dependent on intervention of management and internal organizational context. Managers must be able to adopt complex as well as contradictory behaviors so as to handle the task of cultivating the communities of practice in an effective manner. Five steps in planning for cultivation of communities in knowledge management by managers include the following:
Stimulation: Establishment of connection between members of the organization is the first step. The capacity of the management to establish a connection should not include any kind of force by the management on individuals. The process of stimulating must be based on willingness.
Facilitation: The second role is the role of facilitation. It is important to facilitate the flow of ideas. The manager should not be bossy. Meetings and seminars of the communities of practice must be taken care of by the management but it should not come in between the free and self-organized working of these communities (Josserand 2004).
Support: It includes giving support to communities in form of providing infrastructure and resources necessary for the conduction of activities of such communities.
Control: Control is necessary to be practiced by the management so as to prevent communities of practice to just become a way of social encounter without any productive outcome or achievement. The control should be informal. For instance, rather than asking for a formal report from the community leader, the manager should enquire about the meetings and developments taking place in the community, and ask the participants in the community to keep him informed about the meetings and developments (Josserand 2004).
Recognition: It is the fifth role to be played by the management. Rewarding and appreciation of members of communities of practice for their achievements keeps the community motivated and working (Josserand 2004).
Building ambidexterity in organizations
Ambidexterity can be referred to as mastering of both alignment and adaptability. For instance, Nokia Inc. is continuously working on development of hi-tech mobile technology offerings and at the same time continuing to invest in its dominant area of handsets franchise. Creating a right balance between the adaptability and alignment is necessary for innovation and learning organizations. Too much attention and focus on alignment will bring short term profits but changes in the industry will bring them down sooner or later. On the same side, focusing too much on adaptability can lead to building of effective business for tomorrow, but at the expense of business that can bring profit today.
Creation of high performance organizational context shapes the behavior of the organization both at the individual and collective level. Emphasis on performance management and social support will make the employees of the organization ambidextrous (Birkinshaw 2004)
Ambidexterity can arise not just from the formal structure of the company or the vision statement of the leader of the company, but it is achieved from the creation of a unique and supportive organizational context wherein employees can make their own choices in regards to how, where and when to focus their skills and energies in order to create synergies between the organizational goals and competencies of individuals (Mohram and Lawler 2012).
Effective planning for building ambidexterity in the organization includes diagnosis of organizational context which can be done through responses from all kinds of people in the organization; focusing on some of the important levers and employing them in a consistent way, for instance focusing on levers that can speed up social support side of the organization including professional development and knowledge management; and building understanding at all organizational levels by clear dissemination of the message of ambidexterity at all the levels (Birkinshaw 2004).
Conclusion
Effective planning is the key to innovation and learning organizations. Today, organizations operate in a highly competitive environment and there is need to develop competitive advantage in the industry. Good planning is the key to attain competitive advantage. Innovation and learning are desirable in modern organizations. Strategic planning and management can make the company effective in implementing change management, knowledge management and ambidexterity. In order to thrive in the competitive environment, communities of practice are a key source for managing knowledge pool of the organizations. It can help in maintaining free flow of information required for attaining innovation and learning in the organization. Ambidexterity can be attained by proper planning by managers so that high performance organizational context can be created.
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