5 Configurations of Strategic Management

Strategic management is a set of decisions and actions taken by a manager to determine the outcome of the firm’s performance. The manager must thoroughly understand and analyse the overall and competitive organisational environment to make the best judgments. Strategic management is nothing more than preparing for both predictable and unforeseeable events. It applies to small and large businesses because even the smallest enterprises confront competition and can gain a lasting competitive edge by designing and implementing effective strategies. It is a method by which strategists define goals and work toward achieving them. It has to do with making and implementing decisions concerning an organisation’s future orientation.

Strategic management is a continuous process that evaluates and controls the industries and companies involved in an organisation. It evaluates and controls its rivals and sets plans and goals to meet all actual and future competitors. Reevaluating strategies regularly helps determine how well they have been implemented and whether they need to be replaced. Strategic management provides employees with a broader perspective, allowing them to grasp better how their job fits into the overall organisational plan and how it relates to other business members. It is the primary function of management employees to maximise their ability to achieve business objectives.

Employees become trustworthy, devoted, and satisfied as they become adept at relating to each organisational task. They can use strategic management to understand how environmental changes affect the firm and the organisation’s likely response. Employees can assess the impact of such changes on their jobs and respond appropriately. Managers and staff must conduct themselves.

Characteristics of Strategic Management 

• Because it is impossible to predict the future, strategy is essential. Firms must be prepared to deal with the unpredictable events that make up the business environment, even if they lack perfect foresight.

• Strategy is concerned with long-term developments rather than day-to-day operations, i.e., the likelihood of future innovations, new goods, new manufacturing methods, or new markets.

• Customers’ and competitors’ likely behaviour is considered when developing a strategy. Employee management strategies will forecast employee behaviour.

• An organisation’s strategy is a well-defined road map, and it establishes an organisation’s overall mission, vision, and strategy.

Mintzberg organisational structure

Henry Mintzberg, a well-known management expert, presented a five-configurations approach to strategic management, in which any company may be divided into five fundamental pieces or portions. The organisation’s strategy is determined by how these components interact.

Mintzberg defines the five sections as follows

1. The Operating Core comprises people who do the basic labour and whose output is directly related to the products and services that the company produces and sells. This aspect, according to Mintzberg, is shared by all organisations because the actual work must be completed before the functional element can be implemented.

2. The Strategic Apex, which is made up of senior management and senior leadership, is responsible for the organisation’s vision, mission, and sense of purpose. Indeed, the men and women who form and govern the organisation’s destinies can be said to be part of this group.

3. Middle-Level Managers are the “sandwich” layer between the apex and the operating core. This section is staffed by people who receive higher-up orders and pass them to the active substance as work to be supervised. Put another way, they provide a necessary buffer between senior management and lower-level employees.

4. The Technostructure is the fourth part, and it is made up of planners, analysts, and trainers who do the intellectual labour. This component guides the other sections, and it should be highlighted that they do not perform any work but rather serve as advisors.

5. The Assistance Staff is the final component, supporting other units and serving as specialised duties responsible for the organisation’s peripheral services.

Conclusion

Defining the organisation’s strategy is part of the strategic management process. It is also defined as the process through which managers choose from various techniques for the organisation that will help it perform better. Strategic management is a continual process that evaluates the organisation’s business and industries, assesses its competitors, sets goals to meet all current and future competitors, and evaluates each plan. Strategic planning is a continuous activity. As a result, it’s important to remember that each component interacts with the others and that this interaction frequently occurs in chorus.