Phase 1 Discussion Board 2

MGMT455-1302B-03
May 20, 2013

Strategic and Routine Planning

Orchestrating a massive conglomerate of business entities in order to meet a common
objective can be challenging without the proper plans in place. Developing and maintaining
corporate directives are important to ensuring that the entire company is moving in the same
direction (Schilder, 1997). Strategic and routine planning are both methods of mapping out
directions in order to ensure that the company meets its goals. The first method, strategic
planning, is meant to ensure that the company changes in order to reach a target. The second
method, routine management planning, is used to ensure that the company is sustainable and can
maintain its current trajectory (Collier & Evans, 2012). This is where the critical difference is
between the two, one focuses on maintaining the present state of the company where the other is
a map towards the companys future.
Routine management planning is an important part of building a company because the
proper measures need to be in place in order to ensure the company operates smoothly. Process
planning, incident response planning, and business continuity planning are all examples of
routine planning. This planning is important to maintaining operations and ensuring that the

management staff knows how to operate and respond in effective ways which are designed to
ensure that there is minimal loss of service due to failure or inefficiency (Slater, 2012).
Strategic planning is usually focused on aligning the department and divisional goals
around a central idea or vision. These forms of plans usually involve high level concepts that
may be otherwise overlooked when operating at the micro level (Schilder, 1997). For example, a
strategic plan may be to focus on technology investment in order to create a competitive
advantage.
Ramifications of Poor Strategic Planning
Lack of strategic planning can create stagnation and complacency. Without focus on the
future, the company will not gain agility or foster any valuable ingenuity. Companies that do not
change are destined for failure as other companies will quickly overtake them by maximizing on
new competitive advantages. Companies that change without a plan will be pulled apart as the
entities all begin moving in different directions. Strategic planning keeps the company moving,
and moving in the same direction (Clegg, Kornberger, & Pitsis, 2011).
Poor communication of the benefits for strategic goals and objectives can create
significant push back. Without proper communication, investment in strategic initiatives may
not seem to make any sense to those who are trying desperately to reduce costs. Managers who
are used to looking at their budget from a micro level may not be able to see the full picture
when they are trying to cut what they see as unnecessary expenditures from their budget
(Schilder, 1997).
Strategies that are not adaptable, not realistic, and not complete can just as much trouble
and chaos as a company who does not have one at all. It is important that a company looks at the

goals and objectives with great scrutiny and ensure that the plan is completely thought out. In its
very simplest form, a strategic plan needs to answer the following questions: where is the
business going; why is the business going there; what is required to get there; and how can it be
delivered (Schilder, 1997). Finally, if the strategy involves significant change the company must
ensure that the systemic ramifications of the change are evaluated so there are no unintended
side-effects.
References:
Clegg, S., Kornberger, M., & Pitsis, T. (2011). Managing & Organizations: An Introduction to
Theory & Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Collier, D. A., & Evans, J. R. (2012). OM3. South-Western, Cenage Learning.
Schilder, D. (1997). Strategic Planning Process Steps. Retrieved from HRPF.org:
http://www.hfrp.org/publications-resources/browse-our-publications/strategic-planningprocess-steps-in-developing-strategic-plans
Slater, D. (2012, December 13). Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning: The
Basics. Retrieved from www.csoonline.com:
http://www.csoonline.com/article/204450/business-continuity-and-disaster-recoveryplanning-the-basics