Importance of Top Management in Strategic Management
Introduction
In Strategic management: An integrated approach (9th Ed.) Hills and Jones make the following statement
“Many writers have emphasized that strategy is the outcome of a formal strategic planning process and that top management plays the most important role in the process. Although this view has some basis in reality, it is not the whole story” (p.11)
In this essay the author will be showing that top management does indeed play an important and vital role in the strategic planning process but that many other factors such as middle management and unplanned or emergent strategies also play a large and very important role in the process.
In making the argument the author will be using the terms senior or top management and middle management extensively. Top management refers to the corporate level managers such as the CEO, divisional managers and general managers. These are the managers who are traditionally associated with strategic management and strategy formulation. Middle management for the purposes of this essay refers to the functional level managers, those managers who are classically associated with implementing the plans created by top management.
Strategic planning is the process where strategies are selected to build a company’s strengths and address the weaknesses and so take advantage of external opportunities and defend again threats in the external environment. These plans should be consistent with goals and stated mission of the company as well as being a viable business model (Hill & Jones, 2010).
Discussion
Mintzberg (1978) defines a strategy as “a pattern in a stream of decisions”. This means that any series of decisions that shows a consistent pattern can be termed a strategy. Under this definition a strategy does not need to be intended, a strategy can emerge gradually as decisions are made one by one , this is known as an emergent strategy. The result of this is that while top management may plan a corporate
In Strategic management: An integrated approach (9th Ed.) Hills and Jones make the following statement
“Many writers have emphasized that strategy is the outcome of a formal strategic planning process and that top management plays the most important role in the process. Although this view has some basis in reality, it is not the whole story” (p.11)
In this essay the author will be showing that top management does indeed play an important and vital role in the strategic planning process but that many other factors such as middle management and unplanned or emergent strategies also play a large and very important role in the process.
In making the argument the author will be using the terms senior or top management and middle management extensively. Top management refers to the corporate level managers such as the CEO, divisional managers and general managers. These are the managers who are traditionally associated with strategic management and strategy formulation. Middle management for the purposes of this essay refers to the functional level managers, those managers who are classically associated with implementing the plans created by top management.
Strategic planning is the process where strategies are selected to build a company’s strengths and address the weaknesses and so take advantage of external opportunities and defend again threats in the external environment. These plans should be consistent with goals and stated mission of the company as well as being a viable business model (Hill & Jones, 2010).
Discussion
Mintzberg (1978) defines a strategy as “a pattern in a stream of decisions”. This means that any series of decisions that shows a consistent pattern can be termed a strategy. Under this definition a strategy does not need to be intended, a strategy can emerge gradually as decisions are made one by one , this is known as an emergent strategy. The result of this is that while top management may plan a corporate
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