More than a hundred years have passed since the principles of scientific management by Frederick Taylor and the theories of Henri Fayol defining the universal functions performed by all administrators and the principles that constitute good administrative practice, and it is in this historical evolution that what is defined is defined. which is management, scientific administration, or direction.
Various concepts have been formulated over more than one hundred years and are still being defined according to the historical context, in this information age, also called postmodernity, authors such as Rojas (2006) describe “management, in general, we can understand as a set of knowledge to facilitate the achievement of goals. For some it is an art, for others a science, for a segment it is an object of study, and for many a way of life (p. 4).
Various studies and fields of knowledge promote scientific knowledge of management at the university level, as Rojas (ob. Cit) has pointed out. " It applies to various sectors of life such as education, the business world, government, or even personal life. It is approached from different perspectives from traditional functional areas to senior management, and it is studied from different levels of depth from the TSU, through bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, until reaching the doctorate. And it is at the doctoral level where there is the greatest scientific interest in posing the challenge of understanding the phenomenon of advanced management in an information society ”(p. 5).
1 - Strategy Concept:
Among the concepts that throughout the history of the administration has been defined and continue to be defined, is the term "strategy", whose origin has developed from the military sphere, and can be located in the famous book "The Art of the War "of Sun - Tzu", 400 years BC. From a managerial point of view and in business management courses, strategy is defined as the action necessary to achieve the proposed objective, within this order of ideas, various authors have incorporated concepts such as strategic management, strategic management or strategic management.
Authors such as Mintzberg (1997) point out “The term strategy comes from the Greek strategos which means“ a general ”. In turn, this word comes from roots that mean “planning the destruction of enemies due to the efficient use of resources” (p, 1) from the business point of view has another meaning to what Mintzberg (ob. Cit) has described: “In the case of modern entrepreneurs with a competitive bent, the roots of the strategy concept have obvious appeal. Although the strategists of the companies do not "project the inescapable destruction" of their competitors, the majority if they try to outsell their rivals or to obtain better results than them ". (p. 1).
2 - Elements associated with the concept of strategies:
Objectives or goals: It is defined as what is intended to be obtained, as well as the establishment of the times to achieve it.
Policies: The guidelines are established by which the direction of the organization is governed, within which the actions of the strategies must be generated.
Program: They are the successive actions to be carried out to obtain the proposed goals.
Strategic decisions: they are those that establish the general orientation of a company and its viability in light of both predictable and unpredictable changes, which, in due course, may occur in the areas that are of interest or competence.
3 - Dimensions of the strategy:
Effective formal strategies which contain three essential elements: goals, policies, and action sequences.
Effective strategies possess cohesion, balance and clarity through the few key concepts and momentum.
Strategy not only understands the predictable but the unpredictable.
Like military strategies, business strategies also have combat, area, battle, infantry and artillery fronts.
4 - The five Ps of strategy:
- Strategy as a plan: These are actions defined prior to their implementation to address a specific scenario.
- Strategy as a guideline for action: They are all the maneuvers that try to influence the opponent in order to win the game.
- Strategy as a pattern: They refer to the behavior that needs to be provoked, elaborated from the existing ones.
- Strategy as position: It consists of locating the organization in a competitive place in relation to the opponent.
- Strategy as a perspective: Consolidates the organization's own personality considering not only the location but also the joint way of perceiving the world, its affinities of thought or behavior.
5 - Strategy for change:
Change management is directly affected by change managers. Change managers are not just strategy people, they must also exemplify change and be incredibly effective communicators so that they can spread the word and make strategy proud.
6 - Vision as a manager in the face of eclecticism in the strategic process:
Success depends on how the manager chooses the best moment and relates the concepts of strategy, as defined in the organization as a plan, action guideline, pattern and perspectives, it must be seen in a way, since everything that the organization raises becomes In reality, the important thing is to understand from which perspective the strategy is assumed, since from there you can have a perception and collective action of the organization to then act and meet the objectives or goals.
7 - The managers as strategist:
Strategic management can be defined as the formulation, execution and evaluation of actions that will allow an organization to achieve its objectives.
Starting from the previous concept, the role of the manager as a strategist must be a reflective and participative person, who strives to obtain the greatest amount of information to be able to analyze it, being able to delegate responsibilities so that he does not take time for what is important. makes it necessary for him to exercise transpersonal leadership, maintaining an attitude of observation of the future with the aim of distinguishing internal and external opportunities and difficulties in the organization so that he can make timely decisions.
The manager must have the ability to understand the significance of events without being influenced by current opinion, changing attitudes, or his own biases.
8 - Strategy models:
- Business model.
- Planning model.
- Adaptive model.
9 - Functionality of the strategy:
The strategy directs leaders to obtain satisfactory results for the organization, through the implementation of plans and establishment of competitive goals.
References
ROJAS, L. (2006). The Challenges of Management in the Information Society.
MINTZBERG. (1997). The Strategic Process, Concept, Context and Cases. (Short Edition) 1st.Ed.
