The political decision-making model and organizational mission in strategic planning

Strategic Planning in Organizations

The Political Decision-Making Model

The political decision-making model entails a company's relationship with its stakeholders. The aim is political rationality; a consensus that is acceptable to both stakeholders and the company involved. Although the process may initially be "messy," sorting through the issues involved will help the company and its stakeholders arrive at a suitable solution that is ultimately at a high standard of rationality.

Making political decisions is part of the life of an organization; particularly in the case of large organizations with many stakeholders. Communication and compromise are at the heart of this process. These processes then culminate in either broad-based or specific compromises that cover a variety of issues.

In terms of strategic thinking, stakeholders are often the most important part of a company's operations. Because stakeholders are at the heart of a company's survival, political decision making is vital in this regard. Stakeholders might, for example, include investors in the company, customers, regulating agencies, and the like.

Specifically, political decisions might involve issues such as environmentally or socially sound practices. Indeed, social responsibility has become a very important component of corporate decision making. Customers are more likely to trust a company that proves itself to be an entity that cares about preserving the environment and promoting social issues. These involvements are political in nature, as they are positioned in order to create a certain public image for the company. A company that invests a substantial amount of its profit margin into worthy causes has a public image of caring and responsibility.

The sincerity of these decisions is also important, as dishonest companies that use such actions for its own gain are usually exposed in the long run.

Organizational Mission

The organizational mission refers to the purpose of a company; its reason for existing and for doing what it does. The vision works in direct concomitance with the mission, to clarify what the company should look like and how it should behave to fulfill its mission. In order to prevent the confusion of the mission with what an organization does, it is useful to construct a clear mission statement.

The mission statement is an important strategic move when considered both from the internal and external viewpoints of the company. Internally, a mission statement promotes the enthusiasm and commitment of workers. Employees also experience a greater sense of meaning in their work when they know how their specific tasks relate to the mission statement of the company.

In terms of the external environment, most companies consider it a strategically wise move to make their mission statements publicly available. This is popularly done on the Internet, where a company's "about us" page generally also includes the mission statement, among other information. Being presented with the philosophy behind the company's work as summarized in the mission statements, stakeholders can also link to companies whose ethics and values reflect their own. Furthermore, a good mission statement provides external validity for customers.

All companies that I ever researched on the Internet has some form of a mission statement. The most significant are those by non-profits and educational institutions, and care providers. These mission statements generally include information regarding the humanistic values that drive the work of these companies. A primary school, for example, might concern itself with the education of the youth in a manner that is consistent with the state and country standards of education, while also providing a nurturing environment to the youngsters.

Organizational Strategy

Organizational strategy refers to the purposes, policies, programs, actions, decisions, and resources a company uses to define its actions and the reasons for these actions. Strategies can vary on the basis of several elements, including level, function and time frame. The main feature of an organizational strategy is the fact that rhetoric, choices, actions and consequences are linked into a coherent and consistent pattern.

It then follows that strategic planning refers to the production of fundamental decisions and actions towards the determination of the nature of a company, what it does, and the reasons for these actions. It is therefore a fairly complicated process designed to move the company forward towards fulfilling its mission according to its vision and values.

In terms of strategic thinking, the company strategy is perhaps the most important component of the business, as this dictates the way in which the company operates and also its likelihood of success. Strategic planning also includes all the elements mentioned above, with political decision making, organizational mission, and mandates offering a valuable platform for strategic management.

Part of a company's strategy can, for example, be its environmental responsibility. An oil company may, for example, strategically promote itself as an environmentally caring entity by providing oil in as clean and responsible way as possible.

A motor company might strategically plan its next vehicle design to appeal to a certain age group, such as people who are established in their employment and can afford luxury cars. Another strategy for such a company could be transparency in terms of its vehicle's emissions. This closely correlates with the mandate that vehicle companies are obliged to display such information on the vehicles they offer.