Strategic Direction and the Mission - Assignment Example

Strategic Management Reflective Report Author Note Author note with more information about affiliation, research grants, conflict of interest and how to contact Strategic Management-Reflective Report 1. Strategic Direction and the Mission According to my opinion, strategic management is the skill and knowledge of putting together, applying and assessing “cross-functional” findings that facilitate a business to attain its organisational goals and the course of action that results in this accomplishment is known as strategic direction (Barnes, 2004, p. 127). The actual function of strategic management is to develop and create innovative and diverse opportunities for the future. It is a long-term procedure as it always tries for the optimization of future trends for the present. Comments: I noted that the strategic plan based on the strategic directions 2012-14 published by the National Library of Australia (NLA) is the outcome of hard-hitting executive alternatives amid abundant superior options, and it also highlights the resource sharing activities planned by the NLA. The “NLA’s” (Cochrane, 2001, p. vii) aim is to make sure that all Australians have the opportunity to access, get pleasure from and gain knowledge from a countrywide compilation of literature that reflects the Australian culture and civilization. For this purpose, a strategic decision to start a new digital library to manuscript the Australians’ social life has to be set up for acquiring, preserving and delivering digital collections by amending the Copy Right Act 1968, which would be accessible now and in the future. A strategic plan for managing the storage after the present storing capacity will finish in the year 2017-2018 should also be formulated. A “strategic vision” (Strategic Directions and Priorities, n.d.) offers several advantages to an organization and it gives a largely common sagacity of organizational path and principle. I realized that the mission of libraries is to activate knowledge, trigger the imagination power of human beings and generate opportunities for the public. The NLA’s mission is to put forward rapid, trustworthy and resourceful digital document delivery services National Broad band services for Australians from remote areas, who cannot visit the traditional libraries also highly benefit from access to our non-digital collections. The National Library leader of libraries and data collecting establishments aim to lead and support the Australian library society to accept resource portrayal and access to a new bibliographic standard that will change the customs of navigation of the library resources and replenish the Libraries to reach the strength of 1000 numbers. For example, Kodak, from the fear of losing the traditional business of film developing chemicals took less initiative to produce high quality digital cameras and was far behind their competitors. In my opinion, in the above-mentioned case set back in business was due to the lack of both strategic vision and plan. 2. Strategic Leadership Strategic library management is possible through strategic leadership. The strategic leadership is needed in the areas such as strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation. Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson (2009, p. 340) define strategic leadership as “the ability to anticipate, envision, and maintain flexibility and to empower others” to implement strategic changes as and when “necessary.” Technology changes had led to many challenges for libraries and information agencies. It is known that strategic leadership deals with the effective management of changes. I think the strategic leader must be able to create relations with people and at the same time, be able to strengthen these relationships with proper and effective communication. The democratic style is more suitable for the leader under strategic style of leadership for creating contacts with employees and public. Public relation is very important for the growth of a library as it is basically meant for the public. According to Mullen (1991, p. 43), there are four components of strategic leadership that are concerned with the effectiveness of leadership, and they are concepts, skills, “personal and professional characteristics” (Tornberg, n.d., p. 591). Comments: The features of strategic leadership are the same as that of a strategic leader. They can be discussed as turning strategy into achievement, determination of efficient “strategic rationality” (Finkelstein, Hambrick & Cannella, 2009, p. 38) intervention points, strategic orientation, lining up of organizations and people, development of strategic capabilities and personal skills of strategic leaders. Individual skills of a leader may include determination, adaptiveness, absorptive capability, intelligent and knowledgeable, able to take risks, being a good servant of the public, maintaining a positive approach and knowing how to inspire and motivate people efficiently etc. According to me, the effectiveness of strategic leadership depends up on the ability of the strategic leader of the organization. For the achievement of effective strategic leadership in an organization, a leader has to carry out activities, such as, maintaining a successful organizational environment, drawing attention to moral practices, maintaining and exploiting significant proficiencies, establishing strategic objectives, mounting human resources as well as establishing reasonable “organizational culture” (p. 194). For example, in AC3 - Air Canada, is a good example for an organization that shows how to apply leadership topics discussed in real world example of effective managerial leadership. Robert Milton the Chief executive officer of AC3 - Air Canada had implemented the good managerial leadership policies and restructuring activities that lead to the success of “Air Canada’s loyalty program” (Air Canada and Aeroplan FAQ, 2013). 3. Evidence based Policy Making I recommend that policies developed from the trustworthy evidence collected by those who do not have any individual concerns about the results often provide a solid foundation for development. The evident based policymaking has gained momentum due to its unbiased quality. But, it is to be noted that successful evident based policy and practices are the outcomes of high-level commitment. Libraries often understand the significance of bringing together and using information for scheduling and decision-making, but are not able to do this methodically or efficiently. As a result, the modern libraries are “investing in digitization efforts” (Lakos, 2007, p. 434) in a number of consistent areas, together with digital conservation, resource detection, academic printing, and digital compilation development etc. Comments: I believe that a well-promoted hard work of Google Library Program and “the Open Content Alliance” (p. 435) will add to the accessibility of digital content and permit for free access to the public. The Conservative Canadian government’s ban on grant for research and diminution of research related jobs by making census voluntary can be considered as its stand against evidence based knowledge. So is seen in the case of Australian government's denial to pursue advice of the health department to impose ban on junk food advertising at the time when children watch television. According to the people who support this banning, junk food with high sugar, salt and fat can cause lifestyle diseases like obesity, diabetes and cholesterol. Other Comments: It would be completely “naive and unrealistic” (Lee, p. 71) to anticipate studies to give data to settle issues related to governance policies. The larger world of strategy and program debate consists of several other types of information and know-how that have lawful influence in a democratic society. So in my opinion, government decisions are not always exclusively related to objective evidence. According to B.W Head, the “three lenses” (Head, n.d.) through which policy development can be seen are related to political, professional, the client. Thus, the evidence base may not be the sole factor on which policy is determined, but it should supply a firm grounding as well as a supporting rationale for the decisions that are made. 4-Strategy Development Tools: According to Melanie Allen, the “PEST analysis” (Allen, p. 54) is a study of the external environment in which a company works. I think that these are factors that are beyond the influence or control of a company; however, they are significant for a business to be aware of when doing product development, business or strategy planning. Political Factors: The changing policies and regulations of government will also affect the functioning of the libraries. The reduction of funds for libraries and universities by the government has adversely affects the libraries. Government may impose controls on promotional activities of libraries. Personal bias of ruling political leaders may sometimes affects the operations and may create difficulties for the daily functions. Economic Factors: The reduction in fund of libraries reduces the library related jobs, which will lead to employment crisis. Government budgets and amount of funds allocated to the government also has an impact on operational costs. The income source of libraries is mainly concerned with the government grants. Social Factors: The increase in population often leads for more educational opportunities and the youngsters have an urge for more reading and references. The elderly will require better convenience to collections than the library has presently. The library needs a much better collection of books for “elderly person” (O’Shea, 2002, p. 21), and furthermore, it is also noted that the change to eBooks will be much slower for the elderly. The libraries can make plans programs to attract more youngsters and children. Can also, include library tours and other activities for increasing new admission rates. Technological Factors: Vast amounts of data will be in digital form rather than in print official documents etc and will already be accessible this way. Books are now and will continue to be downloadable to personal computer users. Printed books might become more expensive as digital print takes over for everyday use. So access to libraries through handy devices like mobiles and introducing WiFi in all libraries, making promotions through facebook and other social Medias will help for growth in future ventures. By conducting the SWOT analysis of the library can understand the strength, weakness, opportunities and treat. Porter five forces can helps to understand the entry of barriers, buyer’s power, supplier’s power and treat from other library industries. It decides the attractiveness of the library. And in the case of value chain analysis library industry can make a cost benefit either by decreasing the cost of individual activities of value chain. 5-Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability: According to Bowen CSR defined as the responsibilities of businessmen to follow those rules, to create those decisions, or to pursue those lines of activities, that are required in terms of “objectives and values of society” (Lober, p. 6). Green libraries are an element of the movement of becoming more environments friendly and going green as well as keeping in mind sustainable development. Also recognized as green libraries, sustainable libraries are being developed “all over the world” (Buchanan, Masoodian & Cunningum, 2008, p. 22). In my opinion, librarians require being on the constant cutting edge in terms of researching, technology, web devices and even design and architecture. Reducing the usage of energy and water will be the main way of increasing the use of renewable and natural resources. According to me, in order to make the library greener, we have to keep the library clean and ecological with the usage of fans, good ventilation and windows, and utilize eco-friendly light bulbs as well as power saving products. Strategically placed windows will give normal light and might help with cooling or heating costs. Switching to ecological light bulbs would save electricity and money. Products with the power saving stars have been supported by the US rule as “energy-saving” (Hattis, 2012, p. 196) products. We have considerably decreased the use of paper in managerial work opting to use the computer to track books rather than searching manually through the uncountable books. We also use cleaning products that are safe for the library patrons as well as the environment as a whole. In the case of hardware, selecting the correct computers, utilizing laptops, protecting computers by using ecological old t-shirts and dust cloths and saving money and energy by turning off computers at night are all good methods towards greener libraries. I found that many activities could be conducted for making my library greener. It may include applying for grants, to hold recycling contests, start paper drive, put up a display on reducing carbon content etc. We conducted many awareness programs that can also be included such as going full ahead for earth month, selling eco-friendly drinks and snacks, using eco-friendly cars as book-mobile and starting a related blog etc. Furthermore, there were also some activities conducted based on web and networks. This increase in outdoor programs can thus be encouraged and aimed at getting better results. Conclusion: By this study conclude that the libraries must concentrate on marketing and promotional activities to promote their traditional library concept. Nowadays electronic Media has replaced the traditional concept of library. Reference List Air Canada and Aeroplan FAQ, (2013). MilePoint. Retrieved 18th August, 2014 from http://milepoint.com/forums/wiki/air-canada-and-aeroplan-faq/ Allen, M. (2001). Analysing the Organisational Environment. Select Knowledge Ltd. Barnes, S. J. (ed.). (2004). Becoming a Digital Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data. U.S.A. Buchanan, G., Masoodian, M. & Cunningom, S. J. (eds.). (2008). Digital Libraries: Universal and Ubiquitous Access to Information. Springer. New York. Cochrane, P. (ed.). (2001). Remarkable Occurrences: The National Library of Australia's First 100 Years 1901-2001. National Library of Australia. Australia. Finkelstein, S., Lambrick, D. C. & Cannella Jr, A. A. (2009). Strategic Leadership: Theory and Research on Executives, Top Management Teams, and Boards. OXFORD University Press. New York. Hattis, S. H. (2012). The United States Government: Internet Directory. Bernan Press. U.S.A. Head, B. (n.d.). Evidence-Based Policy: Principles and Requirements. University of Queensland. Retrieved 15th August, 2014 from http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/96208/03-chapter2.pdf Lakos, A. (2007). Evidence-Based Library Management: The Leadership Challenge. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Vol. 7. No. 4. pp. 431-450. Lee, S. H. (2013). Impact of Digital Technology on Library Collections and Resource Sharing. Haworth Information Press. U.S.A. Lober, H. (2011). Corporate Social Responsibility and Customer Integration -: An Empirical Investigation of Different CSR- Activities and their Effects on Customers. Diplomica Verlag GmbH. O’Shea, E. (2002). Improving the Quality of Life of Elderly Persons in Situations of Dependency. Council of Europe Publishing. Strategic Directions and Priorities. (n.d.). National Prevention Strategy. Retrieved 15th August, 2014 from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/initiatives/prevention/strategy/intro-strategic-directions-priorities.pdf Tornberg, R. E. (ed.) (n.d.). The Jewish Educational Leader’s Handbook. AN Publication. Read More