Strategically Crafting

The article is intended for those assuming their first managerial role and those reaching senior executive position. It aims at explaining how implementations of strategic decisions affect culture and leadership. A carefully developed organizational culture can create effective employee experience, which in turn relates to various academic insights on intangible social or collaborative capital.

The article contains the exemplary case of Gaylord Palms (a large American convention hotel) that allows instructors to comprehensively teach the concepts and analytical tools while also providing a taste of the stimulating literature in strategic management.

Key Features

1.On-target content: The article strives to fulfill four criteria essential to ensure that the content is in accordance with the subject in focus – “Strategizing Culture & Leadership”

(a)                 It explains the core concepts to the audience by illustrating the example from their native country making it easier to grasp.

(b)                 A detailed explanation on tools of strategic crafting for a service industry, both descriptively and analytically.

(c)                 Being comprehensive and abreast with coverage of the landmark changes in competitive markets and company strategies being driven by globalization, Internet technology, Customer Satisfaction, and governance issues.

(d)                 Focuses squarely on what each business management audience needs to know about crafting, implementing, executing and aligning business strategies in today’s market environments.

2. Design/Methodology Approach: The article contains an inductive case study, which focuses on the strategic crafting of a service-firm culture, both in terms of organization’s current situation and the various Organizational Behavior literature used to improve the organizational efficiency.

3. The author makes a sincere effort in exhibiting how organizational culture can translate strategic plans into action and achieve measurable results, which can be continuously improved for a remarkable organization. To support his belief, the author has provided an integrated analysis of the various organizational cultures and their strengths prevalent in the service industry.

4. The research results can be successfully applied across a wide variety of work settings because it expands the view of organizational culture to a more broader and complex strategic issue of amending and managing cultures that fit their objectives.

5. The article reflects the practical implication of executing a well-articulated service mission into operational practice: Creating employee experience based on a desired culture, so that they are effectively focused on that mission.

6 The article illustrates specific tactics for implementing culture, while developing a strategic approach to creating a particular culture. It offers a template of crafting a culture, based on the strategic pairing of managerial mission with action

Application of the study in improving a professional environment

Management’s job is not to see the company as it is . . . but as it can become.”

Crafting an organization's future is the big think and implementing strategy is difficult. The odds are stacked against us before we are able to execute a formulated strategy; shifting our focus to reviewing strategy every few weeks. However, with the Gaylord Palms case study individuals get an edge over their competitors, because they have learned how to combat strategic complexities while achieving a desired organizational behavior, necessary for a successful business organization.

The article offers its readers an insight to determining the individual and organizational behaviors and competencies necessary for translating strategy into action. And become familiar with the specific actions that lead to measurable, results-oriented strategic change across cultures and leadership styles.

The article with its inductive pairing of the literature and cutting-edge strategic practices of Gaylord Palms motivates us to adopt a balanced approach towards the real-world strategic management. For a successful organization a strategically crafted work culture is important as can be seen in the case of Gaylord Palms financial success.

Since the article describes the various strategic elements of the Gaylord Palms culture and the larger environmental context in which it was created, we learn that strategizing is a collaborative effort of both individuals’ and teams that initiates the production of a successful performance in a specific business and develops a competitively valuable competencies and capabilities

The case study reflects the idea to strategically shape a coherent and inspiring culture that is critical for a business organization to be a successful. Therefore, to be a successful leader we need to believe and focus on the essential ideas of total quality management.

Thinking culture as the “software” of an organization producing an intangible service is pertinent towards building ourselves as a successful entrepreneur. It initiates a thinking process for strategically designing and assigning the organizational mission with the specific cultural content to produce effective and improved business results.

To achieve business end results like a successful leader, we need to articulate a customer focused mission and then translate that mission into specific tactics, which align with the relevant human resources policies and operational systems.

Organizations with a positive work culture are more attractive places to work and are more desirable places to visit than places that are unpleasant, unfocused, and uncaring. We can draw an analogy from the daily interactions with our fellow beings; we appreciate conversing with individuals who show warmth and concern regarding us, rather than individuals’ who give us a cold shoulder.

To be an effective leader, the need to create an effective organizational culture is critical, it requires structure, framework and specific actions. Leaders must walk beyond strategy and deliver on their promises. We need a concise approach based on the latest thinking where action-based strategic decisions need to be deployed at a large scale for various organizations progressing towards a global market.

Conclusion

Being abreast with latest technology, market and operations is not a cakewalk for organizations that aim at expanding and launching their business at a global level. However, this article is a big welcome to all management professionals who aim at expanding their business visions beyond their local territory, as the article outlines the foundations of strategic planning, presenting a conceptual model for making corporate strategy work, and showing how to apply a project perspective to strategy.

Due to the fresh case study of Gaylord Palms, illustrating important kinds of strategic challenges faced by managers, embracing valuable teaching points, and adding value-to the knowledge pool. The article certainly charms its way into a reader’s mind.