Strategic Planning, Facilitation and Sony Corp.

Running head: ARTICLE & DISCUSSION

Johns Hopkins University

Master in Organizational Development

Facilitating Strategic Planning, Problems Solving and Decision Making

By Carolina Goicochea Castro

January 8, 2007

ARTICLE & DISCUSSION

Overview Introduction of Strategic Planning and Facilitation

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is the continuous and systematic process of guiding members of an organization to make decisions about its future, develop the necessary procedures and operations to achieve that future, and determine how success will be achieved.

Oppenheim (2006) defines Strategic Planning as the methodical process by which an organization anticipates and plans for its future by undertaking an examination of the organization and its environment by those who have a stake in its future success.

Strategic Planning is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, as differentiated from tactics or immediate actions. It may employ methods like SWOT analysis to help clarify objectives and strategies. Strategic planning uses "the big picture" to pursue large scale, long term objectives. (Wikipedia - Strategic Planning, 2006).

The primary motive for organizations to do strategic planning is to learn and to make decisions about the future of the organization based on that learning.

The basic strategic planning process includes: 1. Identify your purpose (articulate mission and vision); 2. Assess the Situation; 3. Develop Strategies, Goals, and Objectives; 4. Identify specific approaches or strategies that must be implemented to reach each goal; 5. Identify specific action plans to implement each strategy, and 6. Monitor and update the plan.

A challenge in strategic planning is to decide what bits and where bits of information will be used to support business decisions. In general, strategic plans can fail for two types of reasons: inappropriate strategy and poor implementation.

Good strategic planning is typically based on a rich mix of conceptual, qualitative and quantitative information about what works for whom.

The amount of time it takes an organization to complete a strategic plan varies greatly depending on a number of factors, including; the size and complexity of the organization, past experience with strategic planning, accessibility of planning data, and time and availability of board and staff.

Strategic Planning results in a written document that serves as a blueprint to guide the organization towards its future goals, but far more important than the strategic plan document, is the strategic planning process itself.

Facilitation

Wikipedia - Facilitation (2006) defines facilitation