Contemporary organizations are faced with the challenges of changing economic and market conditions, productive labor, competition, and the struggle for survival. Traditionally, organizations have focused on material assets, cost cutting, and reduced employee expenses as a means of increasing competitiveness and profits (CSU-Global, 2013). However, this approach is becoming a less viable tactic in today’s complex and dynamic environment. Instead, an organization must recognize the value and importance of its people in implementing the strategies which lead to business success (CSU-Global, 2013). This places an organization’s human resources (HR) in a prominent role when developing strategic plans for the future.
The Strategic Planning Process
Setting goals and developing plans to attain those goals are critical components of organizational success. According to Reed and Bogardus (2012), “strategic planning is a systematic way of setting the direction for an organization and developing tactics and operational plans to ensure its success” (p. 109). The strategic plan outlines specifically where the organization wants to go and what it will do to move the organization towards that desired outcome. However, it is important to note that strategic planning is an ongoing process, not a one-time plan (Reed & Bogardus, 2012). Strategic planning evolves as organizations cope with changing conditions, problems, and demands.
The strategic planning process generally includes a pre-planning stage followed by four main components. This process is described in detail by Reed and Bogardus (2012). During pre-planning, business leaders must commit to the strategic planning process and make decisions regarding the participants, time fr...
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...ss, organizations will be better able to establish a productive workforce with the qualities needed to carry out the strategy and accomplish long-term goals.
References
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Colorado State University-Global Campus. (2013). Module 2 – Strategic management [Blackboard ecourse]. In MGT 570 – Managing Human Resources (pp. 1-6). Greenwood Village, CO: Author.
Kimberly, J. (2009). The Pitfalls of Strategic Planning. Business NH Magazine, 26(5), 38.
Reed, S. M., & Bogardus, A. M. (2012). PHR/SPHR: Professional in human resources certification study guide (4th ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc. ISBN-13: 9781118289174
Mathis, R. L., & Jackson, J. H. (2010). Human resource management (13th ed.). Mason, OH: Thomas/South-western
Noe, Raymond A., et al. Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2010. Print.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2014). Fundamentals of human resource management (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Lengnick-Hall M.L.; Lengnick-Hall, C.A.; Andrade, L.S.; Drake, B. 2009. “Strategic human resource management: The evolution of the field.” Human Resource Management Review, 19, pp. 64-85.
Torrington, D., Hall, L., Stephen, T., and Atkinson, C., 2011. Human resource management. 8ed. Essex: Pearson.
Reed, S. M., & Bogardus, A. M. (2012). PHR/SPHR: Professional in human resources certification study guide (4th ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc. ISBN-13: 9781118289174
Strategic planning is defined as "an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resour...
Strategic planning is an organizational management action that is utilized to set needs, focus energy and resources, reinforce operations, guarantee that employees and stakeholders are moving in the direction of common objectives by setting up a full understanding around intended results, and evaluating and conforming the organization 's direction in response to a changing environment. It is a disciplined effort that produces key decisions and activities that shape and guide what an organization is, who it serves, what it does, and why it does it, with an attention on what 's to come. Effective strategic planning explains not just where an organization is going and the activities expected to operate, but also how it will know whether it achieves success. Having said that, many of the strategic plans cannot accomplish their goal, and there are many reasons; however, in this paper I will discuss three major issues that lead any strategic plan to failure, which are the lack of consensus, having too ambitious plan and the failure to integrate the plan into the culture, operations, and budget.
From the abovementioned it becomes clear that the strategic planning model shares various characteristics with other models, for instance the making of decisions, the solving of problems and process consultation (Fuqua & Kurpius, 1993). The strategic planning model does, however, have a number of distinctive features, including its emphasis on the future and its focus on cultivating a vision that view the organization in its futuristic, rather than present, state. The process of strategic planning leads to organizations that are more adaptive and that are more prepared for the future (Fuqua & Kurpius, 1993).
Strategic Planning results in a written document that serves as a blueprint to guide the organization towards its future goals, but far more important than the strategic plan document, is the strategic planning process itself.
Strategic planning is an organizational process in which it looks towards developing and sustaining success or balance in its ever changing environment.
Wei, L 2006, ‘Strategic human resource management: determinants of fit’, Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, vol. 14. no. 2, pp. 49-60.
Strategic Human Resources is a management approach that assist in accomplishing a organizations long term goal by putting strategies into place that helps build a culture and strong foundation that will assist the organization to adapt and sustain through changes within the economy (Schuler and Jackson1987). There are several that prevent organizations from taking a more strategic approach to Human Resources. The barriers are short term mentality and focus on current performance, inability of Human Resources to think strategically, lack of appreciation of General Manager’s role as a Human Resource Manager, difficulty in quantifying many Human Resource outcomes, as perception of human assets higher-risk
Strategic planning has a focus on stabilizing the current environment, and it also support the organization's business plans and goals. Strategic planning helps to implement new projects, new technology, consolidation of data centers, data warehouses, exponential data growth, cost of ownership, and resources available in an organization to assess the future requirements. Strategic planning analyzes the business plan, potential blockage or other issues in the current architecture, processes and their implementation in new initiatives, and processes. Strategic planning helps to formulate the ideas about the key factors that are affecting the present and future development of the organization and the opportunities offered by the environment and the competence of the organization.
Noe, Raymond A., John R. Hollenbeck, Barry Gerhart, and Patrick M. Wright. Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage. 7th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2010. Print.