Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Strategic Management - Essay Example These initiatives normally revolve around resource allocation, utilization, and performance in the external environment of the business. Additionally, strategic management provides the opportunity for an organization to specify its mental picture, policies, objectives, mission and plans. It allocates the required resources for the execution of its programs, projects and plans (Sachs & Ru?hli 2011 p. 1). Furthermore, strategic management ensures the organization develops a balanced scorecard for the evaluation of its general performance. The scorecard also enables it to determine if it is progressing towards its set objectives and make the necessary changes or adjustments. However, for an organization to perform its strategic management process successfully, it must have the right paradigm. Importance of an organization’s "paradigm" for strategic management Several contemporary organizations today are operating in complex environments where there are frequent and sudden changes of structures. They need to decamp from their traditional management structures to adapt new approaches to management. Incidentally, the operating environment for most organizations faces stiff competition and massive explosion in the field of information technology. This requires that the company update its management paradigm to fit in the new era adequately (Kachru 2009, p. 48). The enhanced utilization of information technology has led to the emergence of knowledge or information based economy. This is partially responsible for the increase in complexities of organizations. Consequently, many organizations have resorted to changing their paradigms to adopt new organizational structures. This includes the changes in leadership and management practices. Additionally, technologies such as the internet, e-mail, voice mail and telecommuting have also contributed in the rebranding of the structures of organizations to encompass virtual offices, companies and teams (Kachru 2009, p. 92 ). The shift to the new organizational paradigms has several uses to the organization. The adoption of new technologies in the field of information science is making both intra-organizational, as well as inter-organizational communications simpler (Kachru, 2009, p. 93). Consequently, this eliminates the previous communication boundaries leading to a global market place that is borderless. The elimination of the market place boundaries can significantly reduce the command chains within organizational structures and paradigm. As a result, the organization will have free control spans by replacing its departments with stronger teams that have been empowered. This paradigm assumes an organizational structure whereby a flatten hierarchy replaces vertical boundaries as cross-functional teams replace functional departments. This is important to the organization because it consolidates the activities of the organization around centralized processes (Kachru 2009, p. 84). The creation of the organizational paradigms without boundaries eliminates geographical barriers to the organization. This places an organization in a suitable position to interact freely with its clients and other business partners in the entire globe. For good strategic management, an organization needs to shift its paradigm to benefit from the following processes a. Reduced dependence on the leadership of command and control b. Hierarchy breakdown that leads to a lean change in the systems of management c. Enhanced commitment to the application and utilization of virtual technologies d. Increased teamwork reliance e. Attain flexibility f. Interactive system of knowledge transfer through electronic and mutual interest instead of authority systems New forms of management