Strategic decision making. understanding the strategy

The use that we usually make in Organizations of the terms "strategy", "strategic behavior", "strategic decision making", "strategos" cannot be extrapolated to other environments of human knowledge and behavior. On the other hand, the reverse is true.

Therefore, one would have to deduce that something is necessarily wrong. The concept of strategy must be redefined with all that it entails. We are unnecessarily complicating a process - especially in strategic decision making - which should be simple enough to cover the entire corporate strategy. Reality shows us that today the application of a global strategy is a painful and difficult path, when it should not be the case. If it were true that it is true that all advances in the development of Chaos Theories, Game Theory, natural evolution, among others, confirm that the application of strategic principles is something of a universal scope, something that is part of the basic structure of the functioning of the world in which we live, we would be forced to redefine the concepts that, of the term strategy, we have been doing. In the same way, the meaning of "strategic decision making" or "strategic behavior" and even the "Strategos" that we have been using up to now, would become partial rather than global aspects, about the true scope of the term "strategy". You have to start reviewing concepts.

1. Previous conclusions

I can never be sure that the decisions I make will lead to where I want to go. The more time elapses between what I decide based on a starting position, the further I will be from the result I want to obtain. When I make decisions based on initial conditions, As I develop my action plan, I am modifying my own initial conditions. I will never be able to perfectly know the initial conditions from which I must start. I will never be able to perfectly know the conditions in which my organization operates. I will never know perfectly the environment. Never I will know perfectly the conditions of the conflict. The starting conditions for making the decision are exclusive and proper, no one else is at the same point as me. What serves others may not serve me.What does not work for others may work for me. Initial conditions would be different if I were in another place and at another time.

… And so we could continue to infinity

All this is a necessary conclusion if we are based on the Chaos Theory - among others -.

'The movement of a simple butterfly wing today produces a tiny change in the state of the atmosphere. After a certain period of time, the behavior of the atmosphere diverges from what it should have been. So, in a period of one month, a tornado that would have devastated the Indonesian coast does not form. Or perhaps, one that was not going to be formed, is formed. » (…) «There are butterflies everywhere. But who is to say that their wing movements cancel each other out? "

Although it would be enough to pay attention to a popular saying:

By a nail, the horseshoe was lost; By a horseshoe, the horse was lost; By a horse, the rider was lost; By a rider, the battle was lost; By a battle, the kingdom was lost.

Someone, somewhere, said that a book of sayings would suffice to run the world, and you have to start thinking seriously about it.

But it is that we look where we look, biology, learning, geopolitics, economics, investments, history, etc. Wherever the term "strategy" is used, it is done with different premises from those that we have been applying in organizations.

… And we are probably the wrong ones.

2. What should be understood as a strategy?

If we must pay attention to all the areas in which the term is used - and that is what we intend - we immediately realize that "something is wrong", something is not in accordance with the traditional conception of strategy that we have been using in the Organization environment, inherited from military strategy.

A couple of examples, based on biology, are enough to realize this.

"Convergent evolution is the product of the independent evolution of one or more similar characters that, starting from different ancestral forms, develop in separate evolutionary lines (independent species) until converging over time in a unique way."

Or what is the "parallel evolution"

“At times, convergent evolution is distinguished from parallel. As has been said, in convergent evolution one or more characters start from different ancestral forms, and equally evolve along separate lineages until they converge in the same form. However, in parallel evolution, although the characters may eventually converge, they actually start from the same ancestral form. "

Where is the Strategos? Where is the planning? Where is the definition of objectives?

Concepts must be redefined: Strategy would simply be:

"The path that leads to a certain goal"

This includes all the methods, procedures, circumstances that you will find and use along that path, but not the objective, since different strategies can lead to the same objective, and on the contrary, the same strategies can lead us to different objectives.

"The strategy is part of the way of being of the world in which we live, although in some cases we do not know its objective or destination point".

It is not the property of the business world, it is not the property of the military world, although they are the fields in which it has been studied more deeply. The very functioning of the world makes us participants in its particular strategy. He exists, whether we like it or not, whether we know his fate or not.

"Strategy does not necessarily imply conflict"

Despite the fact that on many occasions we can believe the opposite and despite the fact that the concepts cannot be dissociated, the application of the classical Strategy is largely based on the avoidance of conflict.

"Different strategies can take us to a similar point"

Although some allow to reach that point in less time and with less cost.

"The concept of strategy is applicable to any situation that forces us to pursue a goal"

Therefore, within an organization, it is not the exclusive property of senior management. At any point in the organization, strategies with the smallest scope should be sought to achieve the goal set ”.

"The strategy that is working for me may not work for another"

This is applicable to different points within the same organization, with which the general strategy must be understood, as the sum of the different strategies of lower levels always oriented to achieve a common objective.

"We are all immersed in one strategy or another even though we do not know the destination point"

A person or organization can be on what may seem like the right path to us even if it does not have a fixed objective.

"The strategy corrects itself, even though the destination point changes"

This is so, although we may not like it. The important thing is to be aware of the path to know where it takes us "

"The strategy has nothing to do with the objective or destination to be achieved"

3. Strategy in Organizations

"Every organization is immersed in a certain strategy, although it does not know the destination point"

“When the current strategy is altered, what is intended to change is the path to achieve a certain objective; objective that is usually different from what it would achieve if it did not make any changes "

And it is in this context that it is necessary to understand the "strategic decision" making processes and "strategic behavior". It is a process of changing the current path towards another that leads us to a different objective.

Now, in order to voluntarily carry out this type of change of path, what must be taken into account?

Actually the answer is very simple:

We should know the starting conditions We should know the different alternatives or paths We should know the objective to be achieved.

Apparently the easiest point would be to decide the objective. Then it should be easy to decide or establish different paths or alternatives to achieve it. And finally, the one that would apparently be the most difficult would be to establish exactly the starting position.

However, we actually enter an endless loop or chain, since it is absolutely impossible to know exactly the starting conditions.

Determined the objective Selected the path Given some initial conditions

How:

The initial conditions were wrong The path taken is another The final destination changes.

I must therefore:

With the new conditions that, I cannot know exactly either, Correct the path To change the destination I am going to and reach the one I have set.

It is an endless chain.

Strategic decision making in an organization will always be a permanent process. To the extent that you can verify the evolution, the path, the deviations, and can change course at a certain time, you will have a better chance of reaching a desirable goal.

Everything you can read about business management is linked to a greater or lesser extent to this objective. New technologies, human resources management techniques, production methods, reengineering, are aimed at helping us achieve this great objective that Organizations set for themselves:

Change the current destination for a more desirable one.

This is provided that we are certain that our current destiny is not good enough.

Thus, and in summary, the process of making "strategic decisions" or "strategic behavior" of organizations is aimed at achieving this great objective, "Change the current destiny of the Organization for another more desirable" (in reality we could say the same of any type of decision at any level).

And sadly, until scientists provide us with the right formulas to predict the future, we can only act by approximation.

Approach to be able to know the initial conditions or starting point, in which we find ourselves.

Approach to be able to reproduce strategic guidelines or find the most appropriate one.

Approach to be able to intuit the destination we want to reach

The only thing we can do is make the best possible approximation, and correct the deviations in time.

Thus, any method that we think is adequate to know the initial conditions can help us, as long as we understand the relativity involved.

What would the initial conditions be?

"Know yourself" "Know the environment" "Know the nature of the conflict"

What would be the strategic guidelines that I can choose?

Luckily for us, the essential nature of man has not changed, in the last 5,000 years, his environment and social organization have changed, but the essence and basic needs have not. Fortunately for us, the essential nature of the world around us has not changed either (and all this, social organization, environment, etc. is part of the initial conditions). For this reason, we can take advantage of the experiences already lived by others who, like us, traveled the path of strategy, but who were also able to pass on their knowledge to us.

In the same way that there is entropy, action-reaction, chaos theory, in the same way that there has always been conflict, everything around us shows us different paths, because if there is something in common with strategic guidelines, it is that they can be extrapolated from one context to another.

What will be the goal that I will achieve?

Depending on the initial conditions and the chosen strategy, I will address one or the other, it is up to me to choose and correct it.

Thus, the strategic decision-making process closes a circle, or what in programming is called an endless loop.

I verify that the fate of my Organization is not desirable, or perhaps it is I set a desirable fate, which may be the same as I already had I know myself I know the environment I know the nature of the conflict - if there is one - I choose the strategy to follow I make the necessary decisions to implement the chosen strategy (although this is already implicit in the strategy, since a strategic decision does not exist if it is not carried out - if it is not carried out, I may have made a interesting theoretical exercise, but nothing more, -) I return to point number one.

Although it could perfectly continue as follows:

I verify that the fate of my Organization is not desirable. I set a desirable destination. I change myself and therefore I know myself I know the environment I know the nature of the conflict - if there is one - I choose the strategy to follow I make the necessary decisions to implement the chosen strategy (although this is already implicit in the strategy, since a strategic decision does not exist if it is not implemented - if it is not implemented, I may have done an interesting theoretical exercise, but nothing more, -) I return to point number one.

In this case, we would have done nothing more than add the factor of an additional strategy to reach an additional goal "I change myself" with a new additional loop.

In practice and as the application of general strategic decisions are put into practice, loops and more loops are added (each and every one of the people who must carry out their general strategy are forced to go through the same path but with the initial conditions that are its own).

And the "butterfly effect" that Chaos Theory talks about becomes a reality, and Murphy's Laws come to life, and the effects of the "Peter Principle" begin to show, and our life becomes a nightmare. That, if we are not a true “Strategos”.

Well, this is the last concept that we have yet to define.

Who is the one who makes strategic decisions?.

In fact all decisions are, to the extent that any decision affects the entire organization, remember "the butterfly effect" -.

Strategos - word that is at the origin of the very definition of strategy - that of the dictionary -. The general, the one who directs, ultimately the one who makes the decisions. The person who goes through the endless loop of "decision making" and does not die trying. The professional who makes the right decision making a facet in his life. That he has it as a habit of life ”and that he is also right. That he is capable of defining objectives for the organization that depends on him, or of assuming as his own those set by the higher organization and setting his own strategies to, at his level, achieve said objectives. In short, anyone in the organization who makes decisions.

4. Conclusions - Summary:

Strategy is the path that organizations follow to achieve an objective The strategic decision-making process is the one that serves to correct the course of organizations - even if they are sole proprietorships towards a more desirable objective. The Strategos is anyone who makes decisions.

All the rest that we can. Read, know or learn, or can be explained to us, or can be experienced, said, etc. is at the service of this process. It will be aimed at improving the organization's knowledge of itself, it will be aimed at improving the capacity of the different Strategos in the process, it will be aimed at measuring the environment, etc. But it all comes down to this: The ability to make the right decisions.

" In the future, the value of Organizations will be measured by their ability to make sound decisions."

In short, you have to:

Review concepts for strategic decision making It is necessary to understand the different strategies that others have experimented or that exist, even out of the usual ones, It is necessary to understand the strategies that the natural functioning of the world uses And above all to simplify all the processes, if not the trend. natural to "Entropy" to disorder will exponentially increase the costs that the whole process has for companies.

And with all this, experiment and learn. We are doing something wrong when the strategies we apply fail - unfortunately many times -

Maybe everything would work better if we applied the simple principle:

"Entia non sunt multiplicanda sine necesito" (entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily or do not explain at least what you can explain at least) in a slightly less literal translation "it is superb to do with more what can be done with less »

"Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate" or "plurality should not be postulated unnecessarily."

Although today it is better recognized as:

" All things being equal, the simplest solution is probably the correct one."

Theory of "Occam's razor" (Guillermo de Occam)

We must advance in pursuit of "The strategy of simplicity"

Bibliography:

Gleick, James (1988). CHAOS The creation of a science. Spain: Seix BarralTrout, J., Rivkin, S. (1996) The New Positioning, the latest on the most effective Competitive Strategy in the business world. Spain: McGraw Hill

Reference articles on the internet:

Cabrera, HG Teaching strategy. http://www.monografias.com/trabajos14/estrat-ensenanza/estrat-ensenanza.shtmlDomínguez, A. Evolutionary biology. Convergent evolution.González, RC «Skill in strategy», Work on the chapter “Skill in strategy”, from the book “El Proceso Estratégico” by H. Mintzberg and JB Quinn, Editorial Prentice Hall Hispanoamericana, Mexico, 1993.http: //www.monografias.com/trabajos11/henrym/henrym.shtmlGuerrero, F. Complexity theories: a paradigm for the study of organizationshttp: //www.monografias.com/trabajos14/teoria-complejidad/teoria-complejidad. shtmlLefcovich, ML. Kaizen strategyhttp: //www.monografias.com/trabajos15/estrat-kaizen/estrat-kaizen.shtmlMarcané, JA. From strategy to strategic direction. An approach to the integration of the strategic levels,tactical and operational. http://www.monografias.com/trabajos13/tacope/tacope.shtmlNava, C. In search of the strategos The professional of Strategy and the Competitive phenomenonhttp: //www.monografias.com/trabajos14/strategos/strategos.shtml

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