Management Thinking Should Be Disciplined - Term Paper Example

Strategic Management Based on My Organization Fayez M. Almuhaysini T00261396 Strategic Thinking: A procedure that characterizes the way in which individuals consider perspectives and gather what has to come is called strategic thinking. In strategic administration, disciplined thinking is a powerful and significant tool and gift acquired over time. Best choice that is identified with your work is utilizing strategic intuition, which is the mental deduction process connected by individual in connection with making progress in the business. Applying the strategic administration procedure is to include the use of one of a kind business and the era of the business to utilize the open doors and additionally to make the game changer for a firm (Howland, Schoemaker, & Krupp, 2013). The Disciplined Thinking The disciplined thinking is often the results of experience, dedication, and focus aiming towards a vision, at both, personal and organizational levels. Disciplined thinking also requires realizing the true facts of the organizational current situation, even if the organization is facing high level of challenges associated with sustainability and development, as described by Jim Collins, “confronting the brutal facts” (Jim Collins, 2015). In addition, according to Jim Collins, disciplined thinking leaders must have the following qualities implemented in the process of strategic planning: The leader must lead by asking questions rather than answers Use dialog and debate in the process of searching for the best answers “Conduct autopsies, without blame” for the truth to be heard, and For changing information into valuable information that cannot be ignored, red flag mechanism is devised. (Collins, 2001) Setting objectives and strategic goals draws the roadmap to achieving the vision of the organization. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that TRU, as an exemplary educational institution, strives towards accomplishment of its future vision of providing students with access to excellence that is propelled by life-long learning, flexible learning options and intercultural understanding. To narrow the focus of the organization, disciplined thinking is required set measurable goals. Jim Collins say’s “Great leaders focus their firms on a single, organizing idea that unifies and guides all decisions. It is the leader’s job to ask these questions, even if others produce the answers.” Disciplined thinking requires disciplined people to execute disciplined actions, resulting in superior outcomes that make distinctive impact on the communities in reaches. (Jim Collins, 2009). Since I am unemployed, I will consider TRU as my organization for the purpose of this paper. In such difficult economy with many difficulties, the funding for education is increasingly being reduced as the cost of education continues to rise. Even at the most difficult economic condition, TRU has continued to grow and demonstrated disciplined thinking. Looking at the history of TRU can give us a clear idea of the disciplined thinking it has been demonstrating. TRU was founded in 1970 as Cariboo College and was able to grow the number of faculty up to 100 by 1975. In 1978, TRU launched the Open Learning institute and continued to expand its campus by opening new buildings until it was named University College in 1989 offering bachelor’s degrees. Throughout the 90s, TRU continued to expand its infrastructure by opening new buildings on campus, and a centre in the nearby city of Merritt. It also launched a number of bachelor programs such as the Bachelor of Tourism and Bachelor of Computing Science. Not long after, TRU opened the International Building and offered its first Master’s Degree in 2002. In 2005, “TRU was incorporated under the Thompson Rivers University Act, and amalgamated with Open Learning Agency”, which made TRU’s education available to a wider audience. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that Thompson Rivers University was founded in the same year and Open College was assimilated with the University College of the Cariboo. The timeline displaying the progressive stages in the development of TRU and Open Learning (OL) have been diagrammatized below for a coherent understanding: (Source: Thompson Rivers University, 2010) Even during the difficult times of the economic downturn, TRU continued to expand its offerings by awarding $2 million to students through TRU foundation. In 2010, TRU reached overseas by signing an agreement with the Open University of China to establish a centre in Beijing (Thompson Rivers University, 2015). Considering the above-mentioned achievements that occurred over decades of TRU’s history, it has involved a large number of leaders who contributed their efforts for developing the existing framework. The above-mentioned achievements were once designed as strategic plans that became today’s reality because of dedication and continuous process of implementation. The disciplined thinking mind-set of TRU’s continuous strategic goals is demonstrated by involving students’ elected representatives of all demographic groups in the school board as well as the students union. Activities and religious events are recognized by the University for ensuring progressive development. Of course, TRU had to make constant adjustments to reform the management system in a way that it is fair to everyone. TRU also implemented an open admission strategy in order to boost the economy of the University by making the admission process easy. The service process also enhanced integration of technology in the learning process by providing the Open Learning Services. The positive thinking is important not only at a personal level, but also within the university level as well. The management of TRU have been implementing and revising the positive means to help the students achieve their individual goals. Through the various departments of TRU, students are positively encouraged to do their best. Starting from the easy admission process to the final examinations, TRU has been treating the situations by setting the goals and clearly outlining the requirements to achieve the same. In this regard, it must be noted that the concept of disciplined thinking is well situated amongst the professors and management associated with deploying quality knowledge and development of skills amongst students. A number of leadership qualities are highlighted in this regard, which would enable a comprehensive understanding of the leadership qualities possessed by TRU. One of the leadership qualities was provision of encouragement amongst the students. Moreover, TRU engaged itself in inspiring and motivating the students to perform better, apart from encouraging them to seek higher accomplishments. Additionally, TRU ensured that it is able to provide the best possible and quality education to students through deploying learning from a strategic perspective. TRU provided its students with a specific sense of direction, thereby enhancing their abilities to attain higher success. Furthermore, collaboration was another vital leadership behaviour showcased by TRU while interacting with the students, which further enables TRU to achieve success. TRU was able to ensure that it is able to imbibe strong competencies and group skills through focusing on development of collaboration and synergy amongst students (Jim Collins, 2015). Positive Deviant The positive deviant is naturally driven from the different challenges faced by students in our day-to-day events. A common saying in my country say’s “The necessity is the mother of inventions”, and I could not agree more. Student’s life is highly competitive and gaining above average grades in most of the cases contingent on a one’s positive deviant. In my Business Ethics and Society class, we were assigned groups and were asked to present our pre-assigned case studies. We studied the case and concluded our recommendations just every other group, but I asked my teammates, what if we interview another instructor to add to our presentation. We asked the instructor a relevant question to our case study and incorporated her comments, which gave us the highest grade of all teams. Positive deviant is the person who asks the contrary question on the team – who invites us as a team to think about unintended consequences. They are often scorned in a low performing team but are essential in a high performing team. Moreover, positive deviants always strive towards attainment of higher objectives in their personal as well as professional lives, despite of the fact that they are always surrounded by wrong people possessing negative attributes. Contrary thinking Contrary thinking is very important to enhance an organization’s planning, as ordinary thinking would only make an ordinary plan. Stable and profitable core competencies of an organization require an out of the box thinking, which can be encouraged by motivation, innovation and experimentation. I once attended a CFA dinner in Kelowna by invitation from Dr. Randal Kimmel, the Portfolio Management instructor at TRU. During the CFA dinner, a number of speakers were presented a comparison between their forecasts from the dinner last year, and the actual results of their predictions. They were followed by a number of guest speakers forecasting which stocks or commodities would fall or increase in value this year. One of the guest speakers asked the audience, “what do you think will increase or decrease, by the show of hand, oil? Gold?...etc”. He recorded the majority of the audience votes and he then started his own forecasting by predicting the opposites of every prediction the audience made. He said “whatever people say is true in this economy, just go for the opposite, this economy is unpredictable with thousands of variables.” The lesson learned from this experience is to never ignore the dark side and go with the flow, but also examine the opposite side too. Strategic Planning Organizational scanning The decision-making in an organization is heavily influenced by external factors that can be identified through organizational scanning. It is the management’s duty to scan for external factors, such as economic and demographic change. Organizational scanning is vital to the organizational success in world that is heavily dependent on money and diversification. Some of the external factors effecting TRU include economic uncertainty in terms of liquidity as well as social change. In case of an economic downturn, the number of international students may drop dramatically and may negatively affect TRU’s bottom line, and visa-versa. In addition, the demographical and geographical factors are both important external factors effecting TRU. The size of community is factor that influences the number of students attending TRU every year. However, TRU had taken necessary measures to address this issue. For instance, TRU had recognized the importance of actively seeking international students from all over the globe in order to boost its economy, especially during the economic downfall in 2008 and the years following. TRU had created connections with a large number of agents and agencies and made it attractive for them to redirect students into applying to TRU. During the recession, and the years after, TRU had been in the process of expanding and filling classes with the amount of students needed. TRU also recognized the community of Kamloops, which is small, by creating international events every winter where students highlight their culture. The international day’s events at TRU helped the community of TRU to recognize and understand the cultures of the many nationalities living among them (Thompson Rivers University, 2015). A number of external variables can be highlighted in relation to the aforementioned scenario, such as threat of competition and market forces, an example of which is the competition received from McGill University. In order to restrict the threats associated with competition, TRU needs to concentrate on the development of several elements of reputation that would enable TRU to challenge its competitors. In this regard, it must be noted that TRU must prioritize use of elements such as higher number of publication and sending ambassadors to foreign universities. Furthermore, readings from the ‘Amgens Culture of Discipline’ and ‘The Wrong People Cant Be Motivated to Do the Right Thing’ by Jin Collins, suggest the fact that strategic thinking can be fostered via way of leadership qualities such as motivation, strategic planning and collaboration with others. In this regard, it must be noted that TRU, as a premier learning organization, was successful since it was able to incorporate strategic thinking abilities in its working structure and was further able to achieve organizational competency through focusing on development of leadership skills and carving future professional out of the students in terms of nurturing their leadership abilities. A similar evidence can be noted from the lessons learnt as part of the readings from “Becoming a Strategic Leader: Your Role in Your Organizations Enduring Success” authored by Hughes, Beatty & Dinwoodie. The book provided a great deal of understanding regarding the role of leadership as showcased by TRU in development of strategic thinking. Similar to the lessons learnt from the aforementioned book, TRU deployed strategic thinking through focusing on development of a collective learning process, focusing on present capabilities rather than just concentrating on future and development of several dimensions incorporating artful, rigorous and analytical thinking abilities. Trend of Significance The level of education varies from an institution from another, but it is not the only factor contributing to the success of the attendees. The reputation of the school is as equally important as future employers tend to base their employment decisions upon the applicants qualifications including which school they attended. TRU must work on improving the school’s reputation by involving more in the work place. Another way to build the school’s reputation is through its research and publications. Another way to improve the reputation of the school is by sending student ambassadors to display their educational contribution to the major relevant events. If TRU does not work on improving its reputation, students may face difficulties finding high pay jobs. In addition, the best young minds would not choose TRU for their post-secondary education, but rather would choose the same as a more prestigious School such as the UBC, or McGill. Early this year, McGill University acquired the Okanagan College, and as of September 2015, the Okanagan College will be named McGill University. TRU will have to face a giant competitor in central BC. More students from the surrounding areas would prefer going to McGill for its reputation and quality of Education. The economic implications could be tense if TRU does not position itself in the front line of the schools of North America. TRU ought to differentiate itself from its competition using its own core competencies such as its top ranked Respiratory Therapy program. TRU also must focus on improving its ranking by taking the necessary measures, as well as taking the lead in providing innovative and interdisciplinary programs. Considering the aforementioned scenario, a number of factors can be noted that leads to the development of a strong conclusion. Some of the factors associated with trend of significance that determined the level of success of TRU. Level of education, reputation of school and level of competition can be considered as some of the factors associated with determination of success. In order to face challenges associated with providing high level of education to students and building reputation TRU must develop an action item that incorporates both leadership as well as strategic thinking abilities, such as higher involvement in workplace activity and stressing on the need to publish research papers. Correspondingly, the articles would play an important role in enhancing the reputation of the school. Moreover, sending ambassadors can be considered as another potential action plan that supports displaying leadership skills from a strategic viewpoint and which supports the expansion underlying the stated goal of embracing reputation of the school. Additionally, an action plan supporting Respiratory Therapy program as part of leadership from a strategic perspective can be incorporated by TRU in order to challenge competitors and ensure sustainability. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that the findings are supported by readings retrieved from the book “Strategic management: Concepts and cases (12th ed.)” by David (2009), which provides a logical understanding of the fact that the strategic management and leadership skills. These understandings are identified to be enabling an organization to ensure that it is capable of developing its core competencies through prioritizing the development of a strategic management model, as diagrammatized below: (Source: David, 2009) Strategic Initiative TRU expanded its student’s base by offering the Open Learning service, which serves a large number of students in Canada, and around the world. TRU was able to provide the same quality of education while ensuring the quality of learning experience. In addition, TRU also recently opened TRU law department, for which the decision to expand TRU buildings is made. Just as recently as summer 2014, the Old Main building had undergone renovations, which included adding to additional floors and modernizing the existing building facilities. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that the book “Game-changing strategies: How to create new market space in established industries by breaking the rules” authored by Markides, 2008, provides a great deal of understanding of the fact that establishment of a business model supported by leadership qualities from a strategic initiative can enable TRU to ensure future success. The book provides significant examples of several organizations that have gained market leadership, owing to their abilities to ensure development of business models (Markides, 2008). Of course, the process to expand included the worthiness assessment of implementing Open Learning, as well as the law department. It also had to undergo economic and physical assessments, which included the assessment of the external and internal environments. I assume the process started by recognizing the current offerings of TRU and the market needs as well as the limitations of space and capacity to offer more. Then these limitations were addressed by proposed solutions via providing extensive research on available alternatives. Lastly, the proposals were assessed and discussed by the members of the University management before they were put to vote. The following recommendations are to outline potential future initiatives: Recommendations Make the Co-operative education a requirement to graduate in certain programs UVIC’s programs are attractive because they offer mandatory Co-operative participation as it engages the students in the workforce in the early stages of their career. In this regard, it must be noted that TRU can facilitate higher learning through focusing on the development of Open Learning (OL), which would enable TRU to challenge competition and sustain through providing a larger platform that supports learning. Create simulation learning centres such as trade centre simulation To engage the learning of the classroom with reality, the students must experience the real-life feeling of their chosen career path. Especially in the world of business, reality could not be clearly described by the textbooks. Prior to creation of simulation learning centres, focus must be laid on assessment of OL platform that would enable TRU to evaluate the costs and benefits associated with establishment of the same. Implement students’ leadership initiative to allow students more leadership roles in the process of decision-making. Involving the students in the planning, and implementation process adds an outside opinion that is ambitious and young. Moreover, as part of the internal as external assessment, incorporated with lessons learnt from the book “Strategic management: Concepts and cases (12th ed.)” by David (2009), TRU must prioritize the development of a successive understanding of the development of leadership qualities amongst students and improvising the quality of decision-making skills. Focus more on science majors as well as arts. Yes, science is important, but also arts are as equally important. Most universities do not provide as much funding to Arts, which leaves an open window for TRU to differentiate itself among its competitors. Additionally, is it evident from the learning derived from the book “Future savvy: Identifying trends to make better decisions, manage uncertainty, and profit from change” authored by Gordon (2009) that focusing on recognition of future forecasts, present market needs and assessment of the core competencies. This could be effectively done through highlighting the future trends can enable TRU to face challenges and accomplish objectives (Gordon, 2009). Strategic Leadership My Mount Everest Experience My insight as TRU student has been positive so far. After spending four years as a TRU student, TRU has provided me with the means to succeed throughout this journey. During the time I spent in TRU I had numerous challenges, which the layout of TRU side services helped me overcome. For instance, my university writing once was worst, and because of free writing centre at TRU, I was able to improve it dramatically. I also had pleasure of enrolling my son in the day-care program so that my wife and I could attend our classes conveniently. The other supporting services of TRU had further helped me achieve the sense of stability by taking advantage of the Students Aid. In 2012, my wife and I lost a child, which was a devastating experience, and we both attended the Students Counselling for free to help us overcome this experience without greatly compromising our school performance. Indeed, all of the side student’s services were designed strategically to the advantage of the students and the University. My leadership experience was to lead a team of five students into achieving the ultimate goal, or the top of Mount Everest. In the Strategic Management course, I was the team leader and we had to finish a large number of group tasks within a six-week compressed course. I helped my teammates with selecting the roles that best fit their abilities, such as the assigning the team coordinator, the editor, the researcher and communicator. In most cases, I personally had to carry out my teammates downfalls and take the responsibility to finish their parts beside my own. Overall, the team functioned smoothly and we achieved exceptional outcomes in both experience and grades. Perhaps in the future I could apply my gained leadership experience at TRU to my workplace. I shall involve more in the social events and do more volunteering to help my peers further. I would also organize my own sports and reading clubs to encourage my co-workers to be more productive at the job level as well as a personal level. Proposal: Expand the campus of TRU geographically which will impose more pressure on competing Universities gives strategic value to education provided by TRU. Opening another campus in larger community expands the opportunities as well as the threats respectively; yet, TRU should take advantage of its key strengths and past success experience. Implement an overseas temporary campus to provide short-term programs and reach a larger range of stakeholders. Participate in more world educational events by encouraging more researches Provide PhD degrees in the major disciplines and encourage multi-disciplinary subjects, and Integrate a further mentoring strategy to nurture the student’s leadership skills. Lessons Learned The lessons learned from my experience at TRU will be taking into consideration when I become the decision maker one day. Constant planning and opportunity scanning Provide a positive, and productive work environment Ensure standards by which participants are treated fairly Integrate the goals of the shareholders with the goals of the stakeholders including the employees Provide assistance needed to participants to ensure their success which will also reflect on the success of the organization, and Implement an open-door strategy. Ambitions Summary: The Role of Strategic Planning The role of strategic planning in such a large organization like TRU is critical to its future and current success. TRU was once called a college with a very small number of students at its opening and was later converted into a University in 2006. The growth of the University had been the management’s priority for many years and strategic actions were taken to utilize the ambitions of growth. Organizational scanning is powerful tool to assess the external as well as the internal environments. TRU should continue to improve its reputation and positioning for the economic and social benefit of TRU, as well as the benefit of its graduates. For instance, when TRU signed an agreement with Open University of China to establish existence in China the developemnt of the university became evident (Thompson Rivers University, 2015). TRU’s decision to add the Open Learning service is a recent strategic initiative that benefits the university economically as well as socially and expands its relationship with a larger audience. One of the contemporary examples associated with learning retrieved from the book “Strategic management: Concepts and cases (12th ed.)” authored by David, (2009), is of Dunkin’ Brands, Inc., which was able to dominate the donut market in the U.S. through prioritizing the development of advisements as part of the external assessment. Moreover, the company was able to challenge its competitors, even in a weakened economic scenario. On the contrary, it must be noted that Amazon.com, Inc., as an online retail market player, was able to challenge its competitors and face additional challenges associated with weakening economy through focusing on the development of an internal assessment that considered offering customers with the required products and services at the lowest possible prices (David, 2009). The aforementioned examples can be compared with the present situation of TRU, wherein, strategic planning involving internal as well as external assessment can enable TRU to foster its competitiveness in the educational sector and challenge its competitors. The Organizational Culture The organizational culture of TRU embraces divergent thinking for a simple reason; it is a diverse workplace and learning environment. The faculties of TRU include members from different backgrounds and nationalities. The students of TRU come from more 85 countries contributing divergent perspectives into the classrooms of TRU. The organizational culture of TRU is innovative, outcome oriented, and team oriented ensuring the success of each individual student and faculty member (Schein, 2006). My Experience as a Strategic Leader As part of the simulation online activity tied with Harvard University, the coursework on Mount Everest was undertaken in order to demonstrate a clear understanding of the leadership and strategic decision making skills that must be possessed by a leader in order to attain the highest point of Mt. Everest. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that the Mount Everest experience was supported by the lessons learnt from the book “Becoming a strategic leader: Your role in your organizations enduring success” penned by Hughes & Beatty (2005). The book provided a clear understanding of the role of strategic thinking and acting as a part of leadership qualities in enabling development of decision-making abilities and group dynamics. Additionally, the experiences similar to that of the learning retrieved from the book “Becoming a strategic leader: Your role in your organizations enduring success” enabled gaining an understanding of interpersonal skills and competencies amongst individuals. The same further highlighted the role of communication, Group dynamics, Decision making, Psychological safety and teamwork as some of the attributes associated with enhancing my Mount Everest experiences (Hughes & Beatty, 2005). My Mount Everest experience as a leader has been a positive one as I was able to take advantage of what TRU has to offer. Moreover, my Mount Everest experience was supported by a strong cultural identity that enabled me to develop and exercise my leadership skills that direct people while setting missions. In addition, I was able to carve my decision-making abilities pertaining to selection of team-members and decisions associated with future roles while undertaking the module. In numerous cases, I was named a leader of teams working to achieve a common task. During the times I was the leader, I was able to lead my teammates based on their abilities and core competencies, which they can contribute to the team. However, I believe I had done a satisfactory work; I look forward to putting the experience I gained into perspective in the coming days. I am planning to incorporate my experience into taking a leading role with my peers at me next work place. Moreover, I would like to utilize the skills and competencies that I have learnt during the experience in other sorts of future roles and activities. Additionally, I would like to strive towards attainment of higher objectives and sharpen my decisions in future actions based on the decision-making abilities I learnt through the Mount Everest experiences. Social and sport activities with my peers would my second priority outside of the workplace. I will also take more of a motivational role to encourage the people around me to reach beyond their limits. (Thompson Rivers University, 2015) References David, F., (2009). Strategic management: Concepts and cases (12th ed.) Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall. Gordon, A. (2009). Future savvy: Identifying trends to make better decisions, manage uncertainty, and profit from change. New York, N.Y.: American Management Association. Hughes, R.L. & Beatty, K.M. (2005). Becoming a strategic leader: Your role in your organizations enduring success. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Jim Collins. (2015). Amgens Culture of Discipline. Retrieved 2015 йил 27-June from Jim Collins: http://www.jimcollins.com/media_topics/culture.html#audio=76 Jim Collins. (2015). The Wrong People Cant Be Motivated to Do the Right Thing. Retrieved 2015 йил 27-June from Jim Collins: http://www.jimcollins.com/media_topics/culture.html Markides, C.C. (2008). Game-changing strategies: How to create new market space in established industries by breaking the rules. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Thompson Rivers University. (2010). Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning Strategic Partnerships. Bibliography Alvesson, M. (2002). Understanding Organizational Culture. SAGE Publications. Collins, J. (2006). WHERE ARE YOU ON YOUR JOURNEY FROM GOOD TO GREAT? Retrieved 2015 йил 28-March from GOOD TO GREAT: http://www.jimcollins.com/tools/diagnostic-tool.pdf Good to Great2001USAFast Company Howland, S., Schoemaker, P. J., & Krupp, S. (2013 йил January). Strategic Leadership: The Essential Skills. Retrieved 2015 йил 28-March from Harvard Business School Publishing: https://hbr.org/2013/01/strategic-leadership-the-esssential-skills King, R. (2013). Microsoft reaffirms new strategy dedicated to devices, services over software. 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