MBA Modular 2007/08

STRATEGY Group Assignment: Group 1

Group 1 Members

Ncunyana, Zuki                                  ncnzuk001                              

Mobwano, Mapi                                 mbwmap001               

Mamatt, Abduraghmaan                   mmtabd001    

Salman, Thembisile                            slmthe002                  

Kenneth Gomado                               gmnken002

Declaration

1.      I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is to use another’s work and pretend that it is one’s own.

2.      I have used a recognised convention for citation and referencing. Each significant contribution and quotation from the works of other people has been attributed, cited and referenced.

3.      I certify that this submission is all my own work.

4.      I have not allowed and will not allow anyone to copy this essay with the intention of passing it off as his or her own work.

What is Strategy?

This is an intriguing question that seems far more so after having started this course. Our group’s strategy to find our solution to this question started with us writing down and collating a list of insights into what we thought strategy was all about. We then brainstormed what these insights meant to us. The result was a list of more “granular”, user friendly and applicable captions which were then used to create our strategy model.

We found it very challenging to determine the methods from the insight, especially for a vague topic, like “what is strategy?”.

Insight                                                  Method                       

So, our frame-work of methods is made up of:

1. Alignment
2. Passion
3. Networking
4. Agility
5. Involvement
6. Competitiveness
7. Implementation
8. Challenge the paradigm
9. Communication

The first model in the main causal loop diagram indicates that through proper, detailed and regular communication, involvement will be achieved by those to whom the communication is directed. This communication will ensure that everyone is aware of what the strategy and goal is and how we are planning to achieve this. It is however essential that communication is in both directions. Those who are communicating the strategy must also be willing to listen for feedback from the people to whom the communication is directed.

Involvement by everyone will ensure that when there is a need to change the paradigm everybody will be on the same page and will also want to be involved in the paradigm shift. This will ensure that when a paradigm shift is required to change the existing strategy the shift can happen quickly and smoothly as everybody has the willingness to be involved and making a success of the paradigm shift.

The quick reaction to paradigm shift will mean that the strategy process will be very agile as any external or internal factors necessitating the paradigm shift will be implemented quickly due to everyone’s willingness to participate. Consequently the strategy can be changed or adapted quickly when the need arrives.

The ability to alter/modify the strategy will also mean that communication will improve due to the requirement that information needs to be shared quickly and accurately with everyone involved, this ultimately close the loop of the first model of the main causal loop diagram.

The second loop is about the interrelatedness of people involvement and successful strategy implementation. The reasoning behind is that when an organisation allows and drives its people to be highly involved in all processes they will quickly buy-in to the strategy of the organisation hence there will be stronger alignment of both people and processes within the organisation. The stronger the alignment of people with what the organisation wants to achieve then the better the implementation of strategy. Generally there tends to be an enormous gap between strategy development and implementation within most organizations and in this model lack of involvement early on in the process is attributed to be one of the challenges. The left side of the loop is about the interrelatedness of high involvement with high levels of passion which will lead to better implementation. It is said that in any organization there are various types of people; a group who are highly passionate about the organisation but lack knowledge and those are the people whose energy requires to be appropriately directed as it tends to be misdirected and there also people who lack both knowledge and passion…these are people you don’t really want in your organisation, there are those who would also have only knowledge and no passion who will not deliver anything because they just sit on the knowledge and lastly there are those with both knowledge and passion who will steer the organisation in the right direction. This loop relates to the latter group who will ensure the organisation implements its strategy. The driver in this loop is involvement which will ultimately link to the outcome ‘Implementation’. Therefore if an organisation has challenges with implementation of strategy an initiative around getting people involved would have a strong positive effect on strategy implementation.

In loop 3, it is established that communication increases the networking ability. It is also established that an increased network will improve the agile nature of an organization. It can therefore be concluded that communication has a direct influence on agility.

Communication can be considered very crucial in the definition of strategy. It is through communication that the process of developing a strategy or perhaps a strategic framework can be enhanced to the level of considering other perspectives, articulating and clarifying a certain vision. Being able to have a picture of the vision, will stimulate individual or group of individuals in trying to contribute on the way forward. Tapping from other sources will therefore improve the networking internally as well as externally. Networking in many instances can be a source of competitive advantage as it puts an organization in a better position to adapt to change. A strategy cannot be rigid in an ever changing world. The ability to adapt and modify a course of action thereof is very critical. Although communication never reaches a point where one can say that there is enough communication, organizations with better and all inclusive communication tend to perform well under different circumstances, as a result of being more agile.

The implementation of strategy involves changing the way the company does its business in order to achieve the desired level of competitiveness. However this is not easy to achieve and would require changing the culture in the company. If this change in culture is successful then a paradigm shift occurs. Culture in itself cannot be changed overnight but a company needs to understand that culture is manageable and can be changed overtime by creating the environment necessary for that change to happen.

An agile company therefore is a responsive company that acts swiftly to respond to change. Agility therefore in this case comes from a company’s ability or willingness to embrace change. An agile company that adapts to change swiftly in response to changes in the market becomes a competitive company.   A competitive company that embraces change gives rise to a progressive company where the culture in the company is proactive and reinforces behaviours that support company strategy.

And finally being able to implement our strategies is what will keep us competitive in the market hence ensuring we are able to survive in the long run. But as has been made clear from the above discussion, ability to implement is an outcome and not something that can be achieved when the all the drivers of good strategy are not addressed.

Being able to deliver a good strategy will need the organisation to have an effective communication system which drives involvement and passion from its staff who bring the strategy to live.