Strategic Management as a Critical Success Factor in the Work Environment - Essay Example

Question Strategic management is an important element that has become a critical success factor in the work environment of the 21st century. The executive management team led by the chief executive officer (CEO) is responsible for developing strategic plans. The strategic decisions of a company must consider the short and long term interests of the firm. Most strategic decisions are based on the long term outcome. Strategic decisions can involve capital projects, human resource needs, and investment alternatives to raise money such as the sale of common stocks or commercial paper such as bonds. The chief executive officer of a firm should gain input of the board of directors when making important strategic decisions. It is imperative for managers to perform good research prior to making decisions. The input of the employees and customers can help in the decision making process. Feedback systems can help obtain valuable information. A simple feedback system that can be used to gain input from employees is placing a suggestion box in the lunch room. Such a system provides anonymous data. Often employees prefer to provide anonymous tips due to fear of repercussions if they speak against management. The corporate website should be redesign to include interactive features such as a forum in order to obtain valuable input from its customers. Question #2 Companies that have a strong leadership often have good organizational cultures. Organizational culture can be defined as the values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization (Businessdictionary, 2014). Using diversity and integrating the cultures of a diverse group of people can help enhance the character and leadership of a person. Working in groups is also an excellent strategy to foster leadership as well as teamwork. Companies that take advantage of diversity have greater creativity which can enhance innovation. Training and development is another tool that can be used to improve the leadership capabilities of the staff. Leadership is not limited to the managers only; it can be exerted by any employee in the organization. Question #3 Corporations have to be able to adapt to change because not doing so can result in running out of business. The customer taste in every industry changes over time. Doing primary and secondary research is necessary to keep up with the latest trends in the market. Databases such as Plunkett Research provide excellent information regarding a broad variety of industries. Managers must be educated in how to implement change management. Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with change, both from the perspective of an organization and on the individual level (Techtarget, 2010). For change to manifest itself in an organization the lines of communication between management and the employees must be open. The manager must communicate to the workers how the change in the company is going to impact them. A technique that can be used to train employees to better deal with change is working in teams to solve problems. Business risks exist when change is not handled well. Some of those risks include reduction in productivity, lower employee morale, missing project deadlines, and lower employee retention (Prosci, 2014). Organizational change can also bring conflict to the workplace. If conflict arises it is important to deal with it immediately using conflict resolution techniques. Question #4 A few years ago I worked in a start up company that was led by a very unethical leader. I was recruited in the first round of hiring. The organization when they hired us offered a base hourly pay of minimum wage and an hourly production incentive of six dollars. They also offered a competition in which the most productive worker after the first trimester would win a new car. The employees at the firm were very excited about this work opportunity. During the first few months everyone was motivated and happy. Months passed and the performance bonuses were not being paid. The company made up one excuse after the other. The employees were getting mad and productivity decreased. Eventually the firm admitted it was not going to pay bonuses. This led to a chaotic environment at work. Absenteeism increased the firm. Information got leaked that the owner who was also the manager had received a $10 million contract when the firm started. There was plenty of money to pay the bonuses, but our leader decided to keep the money himself. Things got worse at the firm. Acts of vandalism occurred as well as theft of equipment. Some employees would leave work to go drink beers to then come back drunk to their work stations. The supervisors could not control the workers behavior. Other employees colluded to cheat the time cards to collect hours not worked. The lack of leadership of the owner destroyed the corporate culture of this firm. Question #5 A downsizing initiative is always a difficult move to implement because it hurts the company’s most important stakeholder group, its employees. Strong leadership from management is needed to effectively implement a downsizing strategy. Prior to implementing a downsizing move a company should perform a skill assessment of its staff to determine which employees to keep. The company has to ensure it does not lose key employees that are difficult to replace. During the entire downsizing process management has to keep the employees informed. It is better to be honest than to hide the truth from them. If employees know they are going to lose their jobs in a short time period they can start to make arrangements to land their next job. Older companies are more susceptible to downsizing because its products have reached the maturity stage of the product life cycle (Kotler, 2003). As sales decrease companies cannot afford to keep so many employees on payroll. Bad economic times can also cause the demand for a product to go down which can cause a downsizing strategy. The employees that survive a downsizing strategy have the opportunity to move up the corporate ladder due to the need of new leaders to guide the future of the business. References Businessdictionary.com (2014). Organizational Culture. Retrieved April 8, 2014 from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/organizational-culture.html Kotler, P. (2003) Marketing Management (11th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Prosci.com (2014). Change Management. Retrieved April 8, 2014 from http://www.prosci.com/change-management/why-change-management/ Techtarget.com (2010). Change Management. 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