strategic planning:

is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. In order to determine the direction of the organization, it is necessary to understand its current position and the possible avenues through which it can pursue a particular course of action. While strategic planning may be used to effectively plot a company's longer-term direction, one cannot use it to reliably forecast how the market will evolve and what issues will surface in the immediate future. Therefore, strategic innovation and tinkering with the "strategic plan" have to be a cornerstone strategy for an organization to survive the turbulent business climate. Strategic planning is the formal consideration of an organization's future course. All strategic planning deals with at least one of three key questions 1. "What do we do?" 2. "For whom do we do it?" 3. "How do we excel?" In business strategic planning, some authors phrase the third question as "How can we beat or avoid competition?" But this approach is more about defeating competitors than about excelling. In many organizations, this is viewed as a process for determining where an organization is going over the next year ormore typically3 to 5 years (long term), although some extend their vision to 20 years.
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1. What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning:
Strategic planning is a management tool for organizing the present on the basis of the projections of the desired future. That is, a strategic plan is a road map to lead an organization from where it is now to where it would like to be in five or ten years. It is necessary to have a strategic plan for your company and/or department. In order to develop a comprehensive plan for your company and/or department which would include both long-range and strategic elements, we suggest the methods and mechanisms outlined on the following pages. The plan must be:

simple written clear based on the real current situation have enough time allowed to give it a time to settle. It should not be rushed. Rushing the plan will cause problems

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18. What is participative management? Participative management:

A process in which subordinates share a significant degree of decision-making power with their immediate superiors.

Type of management in which employees at all levels are encouraged to contribute ideas towards identifying and setting organizational-goals, problem solving, and other decisions that may directly affect them. Also called consultative management.

Participative management is a method, which gives employees responsibility, accountability, and authority over their work. The method provides simple tools for employees to improve their work performance and positively impact the bottom line. The process provides an environment to make employee needs known and creates a vehicle for improved communication between all areas of the organization. What differentiates this work is that people's recommendations are actually implemented and acted upon. People solve their own issues and feel empowered within the process of doing so. Executives and employees learn to redesign their workplace to be participative and self-managing.

A method of increasing employees' job satisfaction by giving them some say in how they do their own jobs and how the company is managed.

Skills Required for Participative Management 1. Interest and concern. Some people prefer to be told what to do. 2. Recognize and enhance talents in others. Some people fear they will lose power if they build others. 3. Recognize and work around weaknesses in others. Some people are so irritated by deficiencies of others that they can.t they can.t recognize and work with their strengths.

4. Communication.particularly listening. We often would rather inform than become informed. ====================================================================

managerial grid model

The managerial grid model (1964) is a behavioral leadership model developed by Robert R. Blake and Jane Mouton. This model originally identified five different leadership styles based on the concern for people and the concern for production. The optimal leadership style in this model is based on Theory Y.

The model is represented as a grid with concern for production as the x-axis and concern for people as the yaxis; each axis ranges from 1 (Low) to 9 (High). The resulting leadership styles are as follows:

The indifferent (previously called impoverished) style (1,1): evade and elude. In this style, managers have low concern for both people and production. Managers use this style to preserve job and job seniority, protecting themselves by avoiding getting into trouble. The main concern for the manager is not to be held responsible for any mistakes, which results in less innovative decisions. The accommodating (previously, country club) style (1,9): yield and comply. This style has a high concern for people and a low concern for production. Managers using this style pay much attention to the security and comfort of the employees, in hopes that this will increase performance. The resulting atmosphere is usually friendly, but not necessarily very productive. The dictatorial (previously, produce or perish) style (9,1): control and dominate. With a high concern for production, and a low concern for people, managers using this style find employee needs unimportant; they provide their employees with money and expect performance in return. Managers using this style also pressure their employees through rules and punishments to achieve the company goals. This dictatorial style is based on Theory X of Douglas McGregor, and is commonly applied by companies on the edge of real or perceived failure. This style is often used in cases of crisis management. The status quo (previously, middle-of-the-road) style (5,5): balance and compromise. Managers using this style try to balance between company goals and workers' needs. By giving some concern to both people and production, managers who use this style hope to achieve suitable performance but doing so gives away a bit of each concern so that neither production nor people needs are met. The sound (previously, team style) (9,9): contribute and commit. In this style, high concern is paid both to people and production. As suggested by the propositions of Theory Y, managers choosing to use this style encourage teamwork and commitment among employees. This method relies heavily on making employees feel themselves to be constructive parts of the company. The opportunistic style: exploit and manipulate. Individuals using this style, which was added to the grid theory before 1999, do not have a fixed location on the grid. They adopt whichever behaviour offers the greatest personal benefit. The paternalistic style: prescribe and guide. This style was added to the grid theory before 1999. In The Power to Change, it was redefined to alternate between the (1,9) and (9,1) locations on the grid. Managers using this style praise and support, but discourage challenges to their thinking.

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Leadership Styles Associated with Managerial Grid

The Indifferent or Impoverished (1,1)
These leaders have minimal concern for people and production. Their priority is to fly under the radar while they content to seek solutions that won't bring any negative focus to themselves or their department. Preserving their employment, position as well as their seniority is what drives their elusive and evading behaviors. In short, the indifferent leaders are ineffective and are sorely lacking in any of the traits that can be attributed to successful and effective leaders. Impact on employees:

Employees have a high degree of dissatisfaction No harmony within the group High turn over

Impact on organization:

Inefficient operation

The Country Club or Accommodating (1, 9)

These leaders will go above and beyond to ensure that the needs and desires of his employees are met. These leaders are making the assumption that their staff will yield maximum results as they are likely to be selfmotivated when they are lead in such environment. These leaders will have behaviours that will yield and comply with the needs of their staff. The productivity of the group however, can suffer from the lack of attention on tasks. Impact on employees:

Employees are Happy Good team harmony

Impact on organization:

Low productivity

The Status Quo or Middle-of-the-Road (5, 5) These leaders balance out the needs of their staff with those of the organization, while not adequately achieving either. These leaders will balance and compromise their decisions, often endorsing the most popular one. They dedicate minimal efforts towards facilitating the achievements of their staff or the production results in average or below average levels. Impact on employees:

Employees are not really discontent nor are they happy

Good harmony within the group

Impact on organization:

Average performance

The Dictatorial or Produce, Perish or Control (9, 1) Similar to autocratic leader

These leaders focus all of their attention to production-related matters and very little towards the needs of their employees. These leaders will direct and dominate while holding the belief that efficiency gains can only be achieved through rigid disciplines especially those that don't require human interaction. Employees are considered expendable resources. Productivity is usually short lived as high employee attrition is unavoidable. The dictatorial style is inspired by the McGregor X theory. Impact on employees:

Employees experience a high level of dissatisfaction High level of conflict within the group

Impact on organization:

High employee turnover Peak performance is short lived

The Sound or Team (9, 9) According to Dr. Robert R. Blake and Dr. Jane Srygley Mouton (and I agree), the sound leader is the most effective leadership style. These leaders will contribute and are committed, can motivate and are motivated while holding the belief that trust, respect, commitment and employee empowerment are essential for fostering a team environment where team members are motivated, thus resulting in maximum employee satisfaction as well as the most efficient productivity. This sound leadership style is also inspired by the McGregor Y theory. Impact on employees:

Employees are forming a highly cohesive team Employees are satisfied Employees are motivated and work as a team

Impact on organization:

Low employee turnover Attracts highly skills employees Efficient organization