How Has the Role of the Strategic Planner Changed Over the Past Few Decades? - Essay Sample

Introduction

The work of a strategic planner in any organization is to ensure that there is planning and also help in facilitating the formulation of a strategy or a review session. They not only research but also educate and provide strategic tools that enable the organization to go through the decision-making process with ease (Whittington, 2017). Over the years, the roles of a strategic planner have changed drastically. Strategic planners are now being used often in serious matters affecting organizations as opposed to the previous times when such issues were only dealt with by the heads of the institutions. Through carefully coming up with strategies that are well implemented, they are now being used more frequently in the decision-making processes of the organization they work for. They provide a vision for the organization, which is often termed as path-finding (Speziale, 2015). This facilitates the excellence and implementation of the concepts of the organization.

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What new skills will be essential for the strategic planner?

Although over the years strategic planners have been given the mandate to exercise their skills in analyzing the organization's plan, through critical thinking, communicating to employers and employees about the company's strategies and in decision making, they have been granted the mandate to exercise other skills with ease. These skills include recruiting new employees, auditing, project management, and marketing. This is essential in decision-making processes of any organization and more particularly in the health care sector where there is need to have excellent skills that will ensure the decisions made cater for both the employees' and patients' needs.

Leadership in organizations have found it necessary to improve strategic thinking and management of vital momentum which will ensure that the company is coping positively with the dynamics experienced in health care world (Ginter, Duncan, & Swayne, 2013). Therefore, new skills from strategic planners are essential in these institutions for better running of daily activities.

How does the scanning process create a "window" to the external environment?

Several factors are associated with essential elements in the strategic planning process, environmental scanning being one of them. Environmental scanning is an element that focuses more on future anticipation of the organization rather than the current conditions. This helps the planners to forecast on many different areas as possible. Environmental scanning is also accredited to have a broader scope than traditional forms of data collection. Environmental scanning uses an assumption that most unsuspected sources like social, political, and economic indicators may be causes of substantial impacts in an organization. This means that there is a need to carefully monitor indicators and the impacts that they might cause in the organization. Environmental scanning is also significant in that it gives room for participants in scrutinizing the interactions of trends and events in a much broader area than the traditional data collection method.

It is part of an ongoing section of the planning process through which any information regarding the external trends and events are being collected and also put into considerations throughout the whole process. This helps in improving the collaborations between different societal sectors, having the same goal of improving public health (Koo, 2016). This has been sufficient to improve the decision-making process as well as improving the strategic planning of organizations. canning the environment enables the organization to understand its position in the market and recognize any external factor that could be detrimental to the organization planning. This helps to evade surprises and spot opportunities, which will increase the competitive advantage of the company and fuel the immediate and long-term plan.

How does the window concept help in understanding organizations and the type of information they produce?

The window concept has helped organizations understand what activities are taking place in and outside the organization. It has helped the organization to understand that there is a need to come up with rapid decisions that are required to compete favorably as well as understand the impacts that are being brought about by the changes in the organization (Marroni, 2018). The concept helps in understanding the organization through several factors like:

Identifying the Strengths and Weaknesses

Strength means the capacity the organization has over its competitors. This is followed through the analysis of the internal environment of the organization. This, in turn, enables the company to consolidate its strength as a way of remaining on top. Understanding the weak areas of the company also allows the company to rectify them as early as possible to aid efficient decision making.

Identifying Opportunities and Threats

Window concept allows for identification of any chance in the market, enabling the company to make any move possible to win the opportunity ahead of its competitors. Environmental scanning also helps in understanding the type of threats that are available in the market to come up with ways that can be used to diffuse the treats.

Environmental scanning enables the organization heads to adopt methods that are helpful in environmental planning as well as in decision-making processes. Environmental scanning, therefore, allows organizations to be able to anticipate any form of threats and opportunities in the market, as well as the strengths and the weaknesses of the organization (Marroni, 2018). This is essential in that it helps the company to act relatively fast, which in turn helps it to remain competitive in the market.

References

Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2013). Strategic management of healthcare organizations (7th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Koo, D. O., (2016). An environmental scan of recent initiatives incorporating social determinants in public health. Preventing chronic disease, 13, E86. doi:10.5888/pcd13.160248

Marroni, B. N., (2018). Individual environmental scanning as a barrier to collective processes in organizations. REGE, 25(3), 321-335. doi:10.1108/REGE-05-2018-0070

Speziale, G., (2015). Strategic management of a healthcare organization: engagement, behavioural indicators, and clinical performance. European Heart Journal Supplement, 17(suppl_A), A3-A7. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/suv003