part 2

Tactical MBA thinking: how to organise resources

Tactic, n. a method used or a course of action followed in order to achieve an immediate or short-term aim

The conventional view of tactics is that they are what you use to deliver strategy. Tactical thinking includes the day-to-day implementation of agreed goals and describes the kind of decision making that adjusts to the problems, dilemmas and choices every manager meets as they do their job. What you do in those moments to keep your head above water is tactical and this thinking occupies the majority of a middle manager’s day. It involves:

• organising the resources in a business to create value (remember, this is every manager’s aim)
• using multiple methods for observation and measurement and repeated cycles of trial and error
• making incremental improvements (not re-inventing the wheel)
• communication
• short- to medium-term planning and making relatively reversible decisions.

Tactical thinking uses a sequential or lineal approach. If tactics are not aligned to the strategy of the organisation then the strategy can quickly come unstuck, and when this happens lower levels of management can find themselves trapped in office or corporate politics. There are three types of resource essential to creating value in a company:

1. processes and operations, and how they are planned and improved
2. people, and what they do
3. money, and the microeconomics behind financial decisions.

Tactical thinking is a bit like navigating towards a destination on a sailing ship. You are clear about where you are heading, but your course is affected by changing winds and by the movements of currents in the sea around you. You keep on course by constantly adjusting sails to get the most out of the conditions. The people, the processes and the cash in your business are a bit like the sails on a ship. In this part we will see in turn how each of these resources is organised as a function.