Taxonomy Strategy - Components of Instructional Strategies - Literature review Example

Introduction Strategy mainly refers to a plan that is designed to achieve a particular end or goal that is set to be achieved by an organization or an individual. It usually links or combines different engagements which work together towards the accomplishment of the final goal as explained by Andrew, Howard and Richard (2002). The word strategy mainly had its origin among the military people who were quick to put to light the difference between strategy and tactics. Tactics according to the military people are used in the achievement of a particular engagement while strategy is used towards linking the different engagements (Mulcaster, 2009). Andrew et.al (2002) explained that Strategy is applied in diverse areas as far as the achievements of different goals are concerned. This could be in politics, in the military especially in the times of warfare, in economy planning as well as in the running of business. This is applied mainly because for one to achieve the ends especially where achieving success is not a guarantee and therefore devising a plan or a strategy is necessary. This paper seeks to explore the components, and the structure of strategy. It will also explore the history and the theoretical underpinnings that strategy entails and it will mainly focus in the application of strategies in areas of management and teaching. Strategy in management Strategy has highly been used in management especially in the business organizations as cited by Langelev (1999). It has advanced to such a great extent that it has even become an area of study as long as the business curriculum is concerned. This has served to enlighten the people in that area of interest of the various measures and strategies that they ought to apply as they manage the business entities. This has changed from is simple form at the time of its inception to the present time in which it ha snow advanced as explained by Kogut (1991). Origin and evolution The strategic management domain has evolved rapidly over the past 40 years in which changes and developments have been incorporated into the model. It has numerous components, which are the root the methodology and the theoretical underpinnings as explained by langelev (1999). The origin and evolution has mainly been through three groups of academics as explained by Langelev (1999) and Kogut (1991). The first group is the strategy scholars who were mainly field researchers. These were mainly evident in the 1960s running into the 1970s and the group of theorists mainly based their focus on description of the elements that form strategy. They also based their focus on defining the perspective of a top manager as far as strategy is concerned (Bowen & Wiersema, 1999). Their research concentrated not only on the managers perspective from within the firms in which they operated in but also upon the perspective from the external environment. These scholars had a very broad scope from which to base their studies and they were thus in position to investigate many issues. They came up with the processual approach as far as strategy is concerned. This includes the areas of hypothesis testing which many more scholars have employed in their studies. The second category as Bowen et al. explains is the economists who mainly emerged between the late 1970s and the 1980s. These include Porter whose thesis is focused on and they mainly focused on the economics of the industrial organizations. They mainly researched on whether the structural characteristics acted as a constraint to the strategies of the firms that were competing with them. They also explored to a large extent the level to which the industries were concentrated and the barriers to entry. In addition to this the group of economists also concentrated on the strategies of economies of scale, the rates of profitability the scope of investments and the growth patterns which the firms experienced. This group also is composed of other economists called the game theorists who focus on strategy as far as competitiveness is concerned Langelev (1999). Behavioral scientists formed the third category of theorists and they emerged in the 1980s and the 1990s. These mainly focused on the functioning of organizations on one hand and their survival on the other hand. They also focused on the behavior of people in the organizations through the study of intra- organizational networks and inter-organizational networks on the other hand as explained by Kogut (1991). The views of the three groups were thus divergent but they have been integrated as explained by Andrew et al. They emerged at the onset of the 1960s in which period the world war 11 had just ended and business enterprises, which called for strategic planning, were just emerging. Diversification in business enterprises in the US and around the world was just on the onset. Larger firms in this period were conceptualized as doing better than the smaller firms do. This was based on believe that larger firms had a smaller cost of capital. Resources such as the human resource were also seen as doing better as far as larger firms were concerned. This explains why most of the scholars in this season focused on growth and expansion as well as acquisition and diversification of business enterprises. In the 1970s the main theorists was porter and he noticed that inflation hit around the world economies and this caused some form of stagnation. In this period, there was a turn back to the conservative styles of management for the purposes of financial control. This era was also characterized with the need of firms to increase their market share and they were meant to use the cash flow from such ventures to invest in new ventures. The Strategic Business Unit SBU was invented in this period. In the 1980s on the other hand foreign competition was increased and in this season globalization emerged. Japanese firms in this period stared doing better than most of the American and European firms. Firms thus were mainly focusing on restructuring and in the 1990s when the political realm changed in the world. Strategies in instruction Strategy has also been deemed as important as far as giving instruction in a classroom setting is concerned as Arends (2001) depicts. The instructional strategies differ in the perception on which they are based as some consider students 'to be empty' and thus very dependent on the learning institutions. Other strategies as depicted by Bandura (1997) see the children as social beings that learn through the various interactions and dialogues. Finally, others view students as interactive organisms who learn through asking questions and solving problems. History and evolution The instructional strategies have their roots in the Ancient Greek Society when the renowned philosopher Socrates made an illustration of a questioning strategy. This was meant to make the students to discover the facts in learning on their own. Samuel Griswold Goodwich made a similar account in the early eighteenth century in a rural school that was in Connecticut. In the nineteenth century, many instructors were interested in the instructional strategies. One method in this era was the Lancaster Method, which mainly involved gathering students in one big room. The students were then divided into their various groups, which had various capacities, and teacher’s guides were used on these students. In addition, in this era, the instructional strategies were mainly teacher centered and the main intention of the strategies was to transmit information clearly to the students. In the twentieth century, instructional strategies shifted towards instructional methods that were student centered. These were aimed at making students acquire a higher level of thinking and a higher ability of solving problems. The methods that were mainly involved here were cooperative learning that also advocated for group interaction. New theories were brought in the 1950s and 1960s by theorists like Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner as well as Jean Piaget and Albert Bandura. These included an introduction of discovery learning and teaching that was based on the inquiry made by students. Components of instructional strategies These are mainly were mainly developed by the theorists like Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Brunner and they are discussed in detail. Direct instruction This strategy involves the teacher identifying the set goals and providing the required skills to the students to acquire the skill as explained by Slavin (1997). The environment is teacher controlled and students experience high degrees of success .this is based on behaviorism theory where behaviors are broken down alongside skills to enable the mastering of each composite unit. The theorists advocate for the use of feedback as well as reinforcements to ensure that the best results are achieved from the students. This is mainly used in systematic topics that can be done in stages. Simulation This is applied where students are meant to gauge the situation in real life by playing the various roles by themselves in the learning process as depicted in Schmuck and Schmuck (1997). This way the students are able to learn from their successes as well as their failures as would occur in a driving or a flying class. This is also based on behavioral psychology branch called cybernetics where the learners receive immediate feedback. This allows the leaner to do corrections until the full mastery of skills is achieved (Gronroos, 1994). There are four phases in which the teacher explains purpose of simulation, rules procedures and goals of simulation are then taught and thirdly the teacher acts as coach and gives feedback while still maintaining the rules. Finally, he allows time to the students so that they might describe their various experiences and they are able to relate them to the real world issues. Concept teaching This helps students to learn the concepts and this in turn enables them to develop higher thinking skills. This is applicable with integers and other areas.hte theorists used this for enabling logical reasoning and formation of hypothesis as well (Gronroos, 1994). The structure of this strategy also has four phases and the teacher explains the importance of the concept-t in the first phase. He also gets the students ready to go through the learning process in the second stage examples and non examples are presented as far as the concept is concerned (Moore, 1993). Students engage in inductive reasoning and in the third phase teacher gives more examples and non-examples in which students understanding of the concept is tested. The fourth phase is whereby the tutor asks students to analyze their patterns of thinking so that there may be integration of the new concepts into the knowledge of the students. Discussion This can serve as an instructional strategy in a classroom setting or it can also be used as part of another strategy Joyce and Weil (2000). Lev Vygotsky was one of the theorists who believed in the strategy of discussion. He mainly advocated for social interactions that were language based. This is deemed to promote the thinking of students and it also improves the communication as well as the learning skills. There are five phases that it provides and these are introduction of aim of the discussion, the puzzle or question of discussion is then posed by the teacher. In the third phase the discussion kicks off and phase four a summary is reached of the discussion at hand.hte fifth stage is where the teacher gets the students to a time of reflecting on their various strategies Cooperative learning This is where students work in small groups towards the achievement of a common goal. There are groups that are formed by 2-6 students with a main aim of attaining an academic goal. Cruickshank (1999) explained that there is usually a reward system that is designed for the group or for the individuals in the group. John Dewey is the theorist who advocated for this strategy saying that school should be a mirror of all the values that are in the society. He said that schools should serve as laboratories for learning the behaviors and the democratic values of the society. The component goals of this strategy are academic achievement, attainment of cooperative social skills and finally the appreciation of the diversity that exists (Schmuck & Schmuck, 1997). This is acquired as people work in their various groups. This method has six phases which are the teacher introduces the goals that should be acquired; this phase also involves the motivation of the students. Phase two the teacher engages in passing the appropriate academic information. He then explains how the teams are formed in phase three and in phase four, the teamwork commences. Phase 5 involves assessment while phase six involves recognition. Conclusion Strategy is Bennett and Rolheiser (2001) say is, applied in various fields to ensure that competence is accomplished. This has over the years caused various researchers and theorists to come up with various hypotheses that have after investigation developed into theories. As depicted above in the area of business management Andrew et al said many theorists came up after the Second World War. The eras that followed called for different measures and the theorists came up with various theories to counter the strategies. The learning and instructional process Arends (2001) says has also called for various strategic measures and various theorists have also come up with various strategies. References Andrew, M., Howard, T., & Richard, W., (2002) Handbook of Strategy and Management. USA: Sage. Arends, R., (2001). Learning to Teach. New York: McGraw-Hill. Bandura, A., (1997). Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Bennett, B., & Rolheiser, C, (2001). Beyond Monet: The Artful Science of Instructional Integration. Toronto: Bookation. Bowen, H., &Wiersema, M., (1999) Matching Method to Paradigm in Strategy Research.NewYork: MacGraw-Hill.Cazden, C., (2001). Classroom Discourse. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Cruickshank, D., (1999). The Act of Teaching. New York: McGraw-Hill. Joyce, B., & Weil, M., (2000). Models of Teaching. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Gronroos, C. (1994). From marketing mix to relationship marketing: towards a paradigm shift in marketin. Management Decision, 32(2), 4–32. Kogut, B., (I991) Joint venture and the option to expand and acquire’Management Science 37(1):19-32 Langeley, A., (1999) Strategies for theorizing from process data’. Academy of Management Review 24 (4) 625 Moore, J. (1993). Predators and Prey. Harvard Business Review, 71,75–86. Mulcaster, W.R. (2009). Three Strategic Frameworks. Business Strategy Series, 10(1), 68 – 75. Schmuck, R., and Schmuck, P., (1997). Group Processes in the Classroom, Dubuque, IA: Brown and Benchmark. Slavin, R., (1997). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Read More