Strategic Thinking and Problem Solving in the Workplace Benefits of Strategic Thinking What It Is Strategic thinking is a strategy that most, if not all, people should familiarize themselves with. This skill involves the ability to view, analyze, and conceptualize situations (beyond immediate goals) with the objective creating a better future for themselves and others (Ebersole 1). Strategic thinkers work diligently to maximize their potential and opportunities in all aspects. People with this ability are considered problem solvers. In a broader concept, strategic thinking can promote better decision-making. Additionally, this skill can help ensure that organizations are working at their optimal level. Many companies and corporations today are looking for people to be strategic and analytical thinkers. This is a necessary tool to further advance companies and organizations. In addition, it offers a more competitive advantage in the work place. Who Should Use It …show more content…
It offers a competitive edge in an ever-changing environment, especially within the workplace. Strategic thinking is a skill that can be modified or refined by simply changing certain habits. Additionally, this skill will improve the more someone practices using the various approaches for strategic thinking. According to the Harvard Business Review, the ability to think and lead strategically was twice as important as just communication. In their studies, strategic thinkers proved to be among the most highly powerful leaders, frequently tackling new ways to solve problems, planning for the future, and making crucial decisions. Strategic thinking not only helps life within the business realm, it helps personal life as well. People who can think strategically are at an advantage because they can predict future outcomes and improve their own everyday
Background Information In implementing a strategic plan for Coastal Medical Center, our consulting team has conducted many analyses and formed numerous strategies in order for Coastal Medical Center to be successful. Such assessments include an internal analysis, external analysis, gap analysis, and SWOT analysis. In conducting these analyses, our consulting team was able to better understand the internal environment, external environment, where the organization currently stands in terms of performance, and the major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that oppose the Coastal Medical Center. From our inquiry, we will be able to establish a strategic plan that best fits the organization’s needs.
After analyzing the Coastal Medical Center, it is apparent that the employees and staff have no conception of the mission, vision, and values of this health care facility. In addition to this lack of structure, CMC has many projects in the midst of production that lack support of a common goal, employees are unsatisfied with their jobs, the two boards lack ability to agree on strategic decisions for the organization,, and the medical center has a dismal reputation when it comes to quality care.
In today’s organization, strategic leadership is required for the drive to the top, the leaders believe in innovation and change. Therefore, they set forth by investing their strength to achieve success. Strengths Based Leadership by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie discussed the three keys to becoming a more effective leader through strengths, working with the right people of equal strength, seeking the right people on the team and achieving the basic need of a leadership. The strength of a leader is in his communication, a great communicator is one who thinks ahead of time in making sure things are done thoroughly. However, a leader’s strength can be categorized as a visionary thinker. The strength of a visionary thinker is one that understands the purpose of a project and work effectively to accomplish the project in a timely manner. According to (Rath & Conchie 2009, p.13), “Leaders can learn to develop certain skills which can help them become more effective, efficient,...
Management is the act or skill of controlling and making decisions about a business, department or big organization. According to Kinicki Williams’ “The Exceptional Manager”, a good example of someone with the skills star qualities of a manager includes conceptual skills. According to the same source, Conceptual skill is the ability to visualize organization as a whole and it includes analytical, creative and initiative skills. It helps managers to fix goals for the whole organization and to plan for every situation. This skill is mostly required by the higher level management because they spend more time in planning and solving problems. According to Kinicki, the main goal of the use of conceptual tools is to improve the quality of decision or sense making process. Managers will have to rely more and more on their interpretation, analysis and questioning skills than on their prior knowledge and experience, as their environment becomes increasingly turbulent. The goal of conceptual management tool is not to present a definitive road map towards a pre given solution. It merely offers a systematic framework for orientation and progress. It provides steps, structures and formats that synchronize actions and allow groups and individuals to proceed in a coordinated manner. The goal of conceptual management is to improve the quality of the decision making or problem solving process. This should be achieved by improving communicative and cognitive process.
applied to everyday duties and long-range planning. Critical thinking adds an extra edge to the
Most of the common activities in our daily life present an opportunity to negotiate, whether or not we realise it. Meta-reflecting upon my negotiation experiences during the class and other activities have led me to identify few common themes. In this assignment, the two themes I will be discussing are (1) the importance of being clear on the strategic intent and big picture thinking, and (2) the importance of managing the negotiation process through understanding the various phases and visualising negotiation as a train journey.
Every day, living creatures are making decisions. Whether the decisions are big or small, they have to be made. As the decisions are performed, there is a process that one goes through. Different types of thinking styles and thought processes are available. The way one feels, believes, attitudes, and relating ideas can play a big part in their thinking styles. Various methods of thinking and thinking styles are used. In this paper the subject is to discuss is three different types of thinking styles. The three different styles discussed will be creative, pessimistic, and optimistic thinking. Creative, pessimistic, and optimistic thinking are three different ways a person can critically analyze any situation. This paper will compare and contrast the three different styles and discuss how each affects the critical thinking process. It will also include critical thinking in the decision- making process by incorporating the discussion on workplace examples that entails the three different types of thinking styles examined. After reading this paper, one will have a full understanding of these thinking styles and the decision making process. Lastly how one may think and how that contributes to their decision process will also be evident.
In order to master critical thinking, the ability to question information and solve problems must be present. The crucial steps that lead to successful decision-making is not based solely on our skills and abilities, but on the strategies that help us get there. All these steps combined allow us to make solid and intelligent decisions. Research on understanding how the mind works is a continuing project at best, but the progress we have made is substantial in the areas of understanding problem-solving and decision-making. This paper will discuss the method(s) used, where they are applied, what role critical thinking plays, and the impact these decisions make.
Thinking critically and making decisions are important parts of today’s business environment. It is important to understand how the decision making process works and the steps involved. The nine steps of the decision making process are: identifying the problem, defining criteria, setting goals and objectives, evaluating the effect of the problem, identifying the causes of the problem, framing alternatives, evaluating impacts of the alternatives, making the decision, implementing the decision, and measuring the impacts. (Decision, 2007.) By using various methods and tools to assist in making important business decisions an individual can ensure the decisions they make will be as successful as possible. In this paper it will be examined how the decision making process can be followed using various tools and techniques to make successful business decisions by using these same tools and techniques during a thinking critically business scenario. The paper will also discuss how different tools and techniques could have been used to make different, yet still successful decisions.
Self-learning is also valuable, especially reading. All strategic Leaders are voracious readers and they read outside their normal area. of expertise, again, to expand their perspective and increase their conceptual ability to be able to communicate. In fact, many of them are experts in a number of areas. unrelated fields of the.
If asked what strategic planning is one could interpret it as simply a road map that can guide the organization in the right direction. It is very unlikely that an organization would know which direction to take without a sense of direction. Managers are faced every day with decisions that have a major impact on the direction the organization must take, therefore, strategic planning can play an important role in guiding managers in the right direction. In other words strategic planning is a tool that management can use to give them a sense of direction that will guide them in doing a better job and to ensure that all the members of the organization are working toward the same goals
Critical thinking is skillful, deep thought that involves all aspects of your knowledge to better understand something. In today’s world, just about everything is a competition for success. In school, we are competing against each other for the best GPA, or top spot. Then after school we are competing for jobs. Once we get a job, there are competitions within our companies and then against outside companies. Critical thinking is a valuable tool in each of these examples and is something that successful people do a lot.
Critical thinking is a process of applying various skills to analyze information. Critical thinking uses rationality to distinguish between emotion and fact. This paper will discuss the definition of critical thinking, and the skills it takes to think critically. It will also provide an example of critical thinking applied to my current working environment. Finally this paper will discuss the importance and benefits of critical thinking in the decision-making processes.
Strategic thinking processes will then be assessed, with a comparison of strategic thinking and strategic planning, looking at the similarities and differences between the two. The positive and negative effects that strategic thinking can have on organisational performance will also be described.
Strategic Planning is looking at where you are now, knowing where you want to be in the future and planning the steps to get you there.