Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL

action by its hypothesis that a certain future position offers an advantage for acquiring some
designated gain. Strategic management is the process of specifying an organization's objectives,
developing policies and plans to achieve these objectives, and allocating resources so as to
implement the plans. One objective of an overall corporate strategy is to put the organization into a
position to carry out its mission effectively and efficiently. Strategic management can be seen as a
combination of strategy formulation and strategy implementation.’ (www.en.wikipedia.org)
We will now clarify what kind of actions can be referred to as strategic course of actions, where
and how a certain future position can be seen and what kind of advantage it may offer, and which
kinds of designated gain may be acquired through this advantage.
Everybody agrees that strategic actions can be distinguished from routine operational activity.
From our point of view, this should be done not on the basis of the timeframe, not on the basis of
the hierarchical position of the ‘strategist’, not on the basis of the importance of issue, but
exclusively on the basis of the object of the change. If a manager has nothing to change – there is
nothing to do from any management perspective, even a strategic one. If there is something to
change – then what is it?
Let’s see. An organization is going along its way. Some things are taking place occasionally or
happening all the time - clients come and leave; the computer is broken; Nelly wants to meet with
her boyfriend; the weather is wet today; etc. Some other things demonstrate certain trends or
tendencies - anxiety is rising; client complaints are shifting from time of delivery to packaging;
competitors have created a coalition; energy resources are getting more expensive; etc. Where is
an object for strategic management?
Definitely it is not Brownian motion of each particle at each given moment – it is uncontrollable.
The only controllable thing here is the space occupied - because it depends on the structure and
temperature. Structure is controllable; it may give more or less room for chaotic moves.
Temperature is also controllable. What determines the temperature in organization? The elements
it is build from, such as people, equipment, procedures, technologies, quality of materials, rules,
relations, timing, pressure, and so on. Are these things controllable? Most of them - yes. This
means that a manager can to a certain extent control how much chaos of any specific kind can
reside in the organization.
Being in a position to control some factors that frame chaos, he or she should be also in a position
to influence the speed and direction of the drift. Therefore, a manager can control the form of creod
by altering the landscape. Yes, landscape depends on many factors; some of them are
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