ANSOFF TO WATERMAN – THE EVOLUTION OF STRATEGIC PLANNING
Use to identify which strategic planning approach your organisation favours and how you can contribute.
There have been three distinct stages in the evolution of strategic planning vis:
1960s, Igor Ansoff’s modernist approach: A top-down approach is adopted, with senior managers and a small number of specialist planners responsible for strategic planning. It assumes that planning over a three to ten year period can be accurate and that implementation will be easy and routine. Should there be a change in circumstances, planners are expected to react quickly to the new conditions and amend the plan but such occurrences would be rare.
1980s, Peters and Waterman’s post-modernist approach. As the future is unpredictable, planning is worthless. Management should concentrate on identifying new ideas and trends as they occur and aim to react to the new environment quicker than competitors. As middle and junior managers are nearer to the customer, it is they who should identify changes and it’s senior management’s role to support them. Organisational flexibility, creativity and reacting to customers’ demand are key to success not planning.
Late 1990 onwards, Quinn Hamel and Prahalad’s new modernist approach. Recognises that all plans are based on inadequate information and will need to be updated constantly. Senior management is responsible for the intellectual leadership of the organisation. They collect market information from frontline staff and middle managers and combine it with foresight, customer feedback and small-scale experiments to identify the changes required. Each change is broken down into its constituent parts and management play an active role in monitoring and supporting staff during the change process.
HOW TO USE IT
- Identify which planning paradigm, if any, your organisation uses. Most use a version of the new modernist approach, i.e. they develop a plan which they use as a guide for the year ahead but recognise that it will change as circumstances dictate.
- Ensure that you fully understand the organisation’s long-term objectives and can explain them in clear simple terms to your staff. At the same time keep track of how small incremental changes impact upon those objectives.
- Talk to frontline staff, customers, suppliers and competitors to stay abreast of what is bubbling under in the marketplace. Share this information with colleagues and senior management. Use Management by Walking About (see Theories 7 and 67–69) to collect this information.
- Use your knowledge of possible future changes to plot a route that will make the implementation of the change easier for you and your staff.
- To deal with the 20% of truly unexpected events (see Theories 68–70 and 91) train yourself and your staff to show flexibility, spontaneity and creativity when responding to changing circumstances
- As you work with the organisation’s planning process, identify any weaknesses and try to resolve them – while making sure that you get the credit for your efforts. Similarly identify any good practices and see if it can be applied in other parts of the planning process.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF
- Do my staff feel threatened by change? What can I do to assuage their fears?
- How can I equip myself and my staff to deal with uncertainty, change and the opportunities they throw up more effectively?