Content area
Full Text
Keywords
Strategy, Strategic planning, Scenario planning, Thinking styles, Leadership
Abstract
In an environment characterised by flux and uncertainty, a capacity for innovative, divergent strategic thinking rather than conservative, convergent strategic planning is seen as central to creating and sustaining competitive advantage. As the case study of Communications Co. illustrates, scenario planning is one tool that many organisations, committed to redesigning their strategic planning processes, are using with some success. However, scenario planning requires both left- and right-brain thinking styles. The elements of left-brain thinking reflect the planning side of strategy making, while right-brain thinking mirrors the thinking component of strategy making. The relationship between the factors that enable strategic thinking and the level of "emotional intelligence" of business leaders is also considered. The Communications Co. case findings appear to support the view that while strategic thinking capabilities can be nurtured and diffused through an organisation, it will need business leaders with a high degree of emotional intelligence to lead the way.
Introduction
Mintzberg (1987a) puts forward five formal definitions of strategy: plan; ploy; pattern; position; and perspective. For most people, strategy is generally perceived as a plan, a consciously intended course of action that is premeditated and deliberate. Planned strategies can be general or specific. Strategy can also be viewed as a pattern "in a stream of actions" taken by members of an organisation. If strategy as plan refers to deliberate, intended strategy that may or may not be realised, then strategy as pattern suggests unplanned, emergent strategy-patterns or consistencies that are realised despite, or in the absence, of intentions (Mintzberg and Waters, 1985).
The key concepts of deliberate, intended strategy (as plan and position) and emergent, unplanned strategy (as a pattern in a stream of decisions) lie at each end of the continuum of strategy formation. The rational, planning approach views strategic decision making as a precise, step-by-step process. The problem is that although the rational model offers a clear, understandable, systematic approach to strategic planning, it contains many assumptions that in reality are unsustainable (Johnson, 1987, p. 17). It implies that the strategic management process is always "deliberate," that strategies are realised as intended (Mintzberg, 1987b, p. 14). The reality is that while an organisation may begin with a rational...