Free Essay on Strategic Planning and Project Comparison: Navigating Organizational Success

Introduction

Strategic planning has been in use over the past 20 years in different public sectors, but not much effectiveness is known (Ugboro et al., 2010). In 1996, Vinzant and Vinzant reviewed the literature extant, which concluded that public firms are poor candidates when it comes to strategic planning matters because of the difficulties encountered in designing and implementing such environments (Ugboro et al., 2010). However, strategic planning has received attention in the private sector, which has increased the public sector's engagement. In 1993, the federal government implemented the Government Performance and Resulted Act (GPRA), which required all federal agencies to outline strategic plans tied to organizational measures such as budgets (Ugboro et al., 2010). After the federal government's past, many states implemented legislation, and today, many public agencies are increasingly facing complex challenges in their operating environment. Among the challenges is the requirement to generate an attractive industry that should meet the demands of service mix the aging workforce. Moreover, rapid technological changes and requests for a more responsive and safer transportation system need effective strategic planning. The question of how managers should outline and effective strategic planning is answered in this discussion; also, project comparison is covered in this discussion.

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Strategic Planning Process

The strategic planning process is the technique used by firms in developing plans to achieve the overall long-term objectives (Strategic Communications Planning Process 2012). It helps the organizations create a roadmap for the strategic goals to attain and make less helpful business initiatives. The strategic plan comprises a valuable guide to employees and the organization's leadership, and it also enables the stakeholders to frame the organizational position and direction of performance. The strategic plan document does not have value by itself; it is the information it entails, which is valuable. The strategic planning process follows the following order of priorities; determining your strategic position, prioritizing your goals, developing a plan, executing and managing the project, and reviewing and revising the plan.

To start with process one, determining the strategic position is the preparation phase, which stages all work in the forward direction (Strategic Communications Planning Process 2012). Al the stakeholders are involved from the start, both internal and external. They are identifying key issues, including an executive summary, customer insights, collecting market and industry data to gettings a clear picture of your position in customers' minds and the market (Strategic Communications Planning Process 2012). The company's vision, mission, and core values are created or reviewed as per the objectives. A framework analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is designed to analyze inputs from executives, customers, and external market data. Finally, political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological analysis clarifies the firm's threats and opportunities. These inputs provide ingredients for the success of the strategic plan. The right information generated will result to correct decision making, hence a careful gathering and assessment of these ingredients. Once the organization can identify its position and what's going outside its performance, it will figure out its understanding direction.

Prioritizing your goals helps you identify the current position of the business in the market. This is the time to determine which plan will enable you to achieve your objectives (Chow & Bucknall 2012). Many questions are created at this point, which include; the type of initiative that will have a more significant impact, the kind of influence that is more significant, the reaction of completion, the most urgent industry, how to accomplish goals, and which measure will be used to determine the progress of the business. Distinct and measurable objectives should enable your business to achieve its long-term goals together with smart goals, which will identify and resolve the timeline of resources needed to achieve goals. The third process is developing a plan, which is the time of creating a successful method of reaching your goals. It requires the necessary tactics, designs, and clear communication of responsibilities. Useful mapping should visualize the entire plan from top to down with the help of a real strategic choice that involves opportunity cost from trade-off. The organization uses its values, mission statement, and established priorities in saying no to initiatives that do not enhance the strategic position of long-term impacts.

Executing and managing the plan communicates and shares the relevant documentation with the organization and starts the actual work (Chow & Bucknall 2012). This is the time to turn broader strategies into the concentrated mapping of the plan. Regular reviews should be set up to collect individual contributions in check whether the program is on track. Finally, reviewing and revising the project as the last process gives an organization the opportunity of evaluating the priorities and course-correcting past failures. The project should be adjusted every quarter to determine which department has met and how it can continue to meet its goals. It is recommended to perform a re-evaluation of the business's absolute priorities and strategic position to ensure success in the long run of the business (Chow & Bucknall 2012). Finally, the company will be provided with truck progress with balanced scorecards to offer a comprehensive understanding of its performance and execute the strategic objectives. In the long-run, the business's mission and vision may need to change; therefore, an annual evaluation will provide a reasonable time to consider those changes, prepare a new plan, and implement it again.

Project Comparison

Project comparison aim at assessing and determining which type of project or purchase order is approved/denied. The proposed order purchase or change or project plan is either rejected or approved, considering its impact. Project comparison takes three steps; a request for the project, the project's influence, and finally, the project's approval/denial (Everything you need to know about benchmarking 2019). The team project suggests the project's request as the first step either from inside or outside, where a justification section has to be completed on a change-request form. The project team then determines whether the change makes sense, and if it is approved to make sense, they proceed to the next step, but if it does not make sense, it will be recorded on the issues list and reviewed with the sponsoring committee the requesting person for the change. The justification section for change answers questions such as; what the requester wants to change, the reason the requester wants it, how the requester suggests, and how the urgent is the request (Everything you need to know about benchmarking 2019. The next step is impact, which gives the team project to analyze and assess the effects of the change request on the project. This analysis is discussed with the originator, sponsor, and customer. If the change is good, the project team will have to analyze the requested change and develop a proposed plan to handle the transition. This will involve going back to the planning steps to assess the change impact on the project's scope, risk, and resources.

The final step is approval/denial, which involves the customer and sponsor supporting the change request or denying the same license (Everything you need to know about benchmarking 2019. On the occasion of the claim being rejected, the originator will be notified of the request's denial. In the incidences of approval of the requested change, the originator and the team will be notified, and the project plan will be amended. The project team will go into more detail to assess each step and generate questions to the team and customers to document the change and decide to change requests. The generic change management can be further broken down into; the offer, the impact analysis, and the approval process for a detailed discussion and assessment. Finally, at the end of the impact analysis, the request must be approved if it has to be amended. The team of personnel who need to support the change varies from one firm to another. Still, under normal circumstances, the sponsor, the customer, the project leader, and the originator must approve a change (Everything you need to know about benchmarking 2019. If other approvals are required, they must be included in the change request form. A change request form comprises the completed instructions that have been included in the project plan.

Conclusion

Strategic planning and project comparison provide the dimensions of communicating and coordinating the planning efforts, formulation of goals, and achievement of the project plan's objectives. Strategic planning plays a vital role in dedicating planning staff and providing general guidance and management direction toward the project plan's vision, mission, and values. The strategic planning process, which starts with; determining the strategic position, prioritizing objectives, developing a plan, executing and managing the project, and reviewing and revising the project, has been credited to provide a clear sense of vision, mission, and values for organizations which is rapidly changing the operating environments of many organizations. Strategic planning has provided answers to questions such as the organization's position, the organization's direction, and the organization's practical and appropriate responses to both internal and external environmental changes. Project comparison has enabled the organization to amend and implement project plan request changes, which has directed the organization toward achieving its long-ranging objectives. Quarterly and annual re-evaluation of the project plan has given team projects, customers, and individuals to make their request changes for the project plan. Its impact on the organization is assessed and reviewed before being approved.

References

Chow, A. S., & Bucknall, T. (2012). Strategic planning, organizational goals, and technology: What and for whom? Library Technology and User Services, 15-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-1-84334-638-8.50002-3

Everything you need to know about benchmarking. (2019). Effective Operations and Performance Management. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472920362.0031

Ugboro, I. O., Obeng, K., & Spann, O. (2010). Strategic planning as an effective tool for strategic management in public sector organizations. Administration & Society, 43(1), 87-123. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399710386315

Strategic communications planning process. (2012). Strategic Communications for Nonprofit Organizations, 7-24. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118386804.ch2