Strategic Process

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Figure 1 is an illustration of what constitutes the strategic process with each of the stages thoroughly investigated against internal and external factors of the organization. The formulation stage is critical in identifying a roadmap for an organization. At this stage, there are usually senior executives or policy makers. Once their work is complete the strategy is cascaded down for implementation usually to line managers and public officials in the case of policy decisions who implement according their understanding and interpretation of the main aims and objectives of the strategy. This second stage of the strategic process forms the basis for this study.

The last stage of the strategic process is evaluation; an assessment of the design and the implementation of the strategic process. It is further indication on the interconnectedness of the two preceding stages and therefore the failure of one affects the other. This part is normally done once the programmes are implemented and this stage seeks to evaluate whether or not the aims of the strategy were followed and to also document lessons learnt in the process. In order for a policy or strategy to be effectively evaluated and ensure that stated goals and objectives are achieved, the formulation and implementation stages must be periodically evaluated and corrective measures made to them. The focus of this research will not be on the evaluation stage of the strategic process not only because there are extensive tools and frameworks which exist for evaluation, but also that evaluation should be a continuous process within all the stages. Evaluation should therefore be done throughout the process in order to achieve agreed results.

3.2 Strategic Challenges

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...ly because they do not want to be involved but also that they “lack the knowledge and skill to translate strategy into action” (Freedman: 26). This shortcoming results to their lack of coordination and supervision and they do not “adequately oversee the on-going actioning of the plan’s recommendations.” When it comes to implementation, top management not only fails to be involved but also does not provide the needed supporting structures such as “communication, resources and managerial support” (Simkin: 121-122). Alashloo, Castka and Sharp (2005) revealed that there are four impeders which play a critical role in the success or failure of the strategy. They grouped impeders by previous researcher and found that all the factors can be grouped as: Planning, organizational and managerial and individual issues. The following diagram details the implementation impeders.

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