Question: Seminar on strategic management

Public and not-for profit sectors

This is a course in strategic planning for the public and not-for-profit sectors. Listed below are six questions. You must respond to any three. You need to write enough so that anyone reading your response will understand it, but the total exam should not exceed four pages in length double spaced.

1. We have discussed different types of plans in class. Many plans developed by organizations and classified as strategic plans are really not strategic plans. How would you define a strategic plan for your organization? What components should be included in the planning efforts and the final plan? How are operational plans defined, and what do they contain?

2. As part of the strategic planning process, the organization needs to conduct different assessments. The initial assessment generally looks at whether the organization is ready to engage in strategic planning. How would an organizational assessment be completed to ensure its readiness to develop a strategic process and plan? What would be included in the process? What factors would indicate a lack of readiness of an organization?

3. In the public and not-for-profit sectors, there are many more individuals and groups who impact on the functions or the organization than in the private sector. In the public and not-for-profit sectors, these are called stakeholders. These stakeholders also impact any planning process that the organization undertakes. What role should they play in the process? What does the organization need to do to engage them in the process? How will success be determined?

4. Vision and mission statements provide information about the organization. They appear in strategic and operational plans. How do you define vision and mission statements? How should they be developed and used?

5. One type of environmental scanning process involves both internal and external factors. These factors are frequently categorized as a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. Why do we need to know how the environmental factors can be categorized? How are they used in strategic planning?

6. There are a number of steps necessary in developing a strategic plan. They can be divided into the planning or formulation stage, the implementation stage, and the evaluation stage. Name three steps in the strategic planning process. Explain: in which stage they fall; why they are important; and how they can be accomplished.