Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Published in:
Introduction to the Handbook of Systems Sciences Read chapter Read first chapter

2021 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

17. Reaching Goals with Structured Strategic Plans

A Fresh Approach to an Annual Leadership Dilemma

Authors : Steven E. Wallis, Kent E. Frese

Published in: Handbook of Systems Sciences

Publisher: Springer Singapore

Log in

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

Planning (in general) and strategic planning (in particular) are mainstays of the business world. While significant time and effort are placed into the creation and execution of those plans, the results are not impressive. A growing body of research suggests that the benefits of strategic planning are minimal. Even generally accepted methods, such as SWOT analysis, may be detrimental to company performance in some circumstances (Hill and Westbrook, Long Range Plan 30:46–52, 1997).
Because our world is made of systems (economic, industrial, organizational, etc.), the problems and opportunities of that world can be better understood and addressed by plans which are themselves more systemic. In our research and consulting experience, however, most plans are not highly systemic and so they are not highly useful for reaching goals. Instead, plans are typically based on simple, linear, assumptions which fail to account for the many variables of this complex world, so leaders may be moving effectively forward in the wrong direction.
Metaphorically, the plan is a map that leaders use to guide their organizations. Today, however, most leaders have only a small scrap of a much larger map. As a result, decisions based on those plans often lead to unanticipated and unwanted consequences instead of the anticipated success. What they really need is a highly reliable GPS.
This chapter draws on advances in the science of conceptual systems to understand why some plans succeed while others fail. We use Integrative Propositional Analysis (IPA) and related tools to evaluate and improve the systemic structure of strategic plans to improve their chances for successful implementation and reaching organizational goals.
While the chapter is focused on business operations and management, the methods presented here will also be applicable to nonprofit and NGOs, academic and research institutions, government agencies, collaborative megaprojects, and the stakeholders invested in them.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now
previous chapter A Human Ecological Approach to Policy in the Context of Food and Nutrition Security
next chapter Designing Socio-technical Systems
Literature
Ambrose D (1996) Unifying theories of creativity: metaphorical thought and the unification process. New Ideas Psychol 14:257–267
Ansoff HI, Sullivan PA (1993) Optimizing profitability in turbulent environments: a formula for strategic success. Long Range Plan 26:11–23
Arthur JB, Huntley CL (2005) Ramping up the organizational learning curve: assessing the impact of deliberate learning on organizational performance under gainsharing. Acad Manag J 48:1159–1170
Ashby WR (2004) Principles of the self-organizing system. Emerg Complex Organ 6:103–126
Axelrod R (1976) Structure of decision: the cognitive maps of political elites. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Boschken HL (1994) Organizational performance and multiple constituencies. Public Adm Rev 54:308–312
Brown SL, Eisenhardt KM (1998) Competing on the edge: strategy as structured chaos. Harvard Business School Press, Boston
Bryson JM (2011) Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: a guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement, 4th edn. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
Bryson JM, Ackermann F, Eden C, Finn CB (2004) Visible thinking: unlocking causal mapping for practical business results. Wiley
Burch GF, Batchelor JH, Heller NA, Shaw J, Kendall W, Turner B (2014) Experiential learning – what do we know? – a meta-analysis of 40 years of research. Dev Bus Simul Exp Learn 41:279–283
Cabrera D, Colosi L (2008) Distinctions, systems, relationships, and perspectives (DSRP): a theory of thinking and of things. Eval Program Plann 31:311–316
Camillus JC (2008) Strategy as a wicked problem. Harv Bus Rev 86:98
Carolan MS (2006) Science, expertise, and the democratization of the decision making process. Soc Nat Resour 19:661–668
Casson M (2005) Entrepreneurship and the theory of the firm. J Econ Behav Organ 58:327–348
Chandler AD (1990) Strategy and structure: chapters in the history of the industrial enterprise, vol 120. MIT press
Chandler AD (1992) Organizational capabilities and the economic history of the industrial enterprise. J Econ Perspect 6:79–100
Checkland P (2012) Four conditions for serious systems thinking and action. Syst Res Behav Sci 29:465–469
Chevalier R (2000) Situational leadership and performance coaching. In: Goldsmith M (ed) Coaching for leadership. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
Coleman HJ (1999) What enables self-organizing behavior in business. Emergence 1:33
Cotae CE (2015) Regional performances in the context of a transition towards the circular economy: structuring the assessment framework. Ecoforum 4:140–146
Cua KO, McKone KE, Schroeder RG (2001) Relationships between implementation of TQM, JIT, and TPM and manufacturing performance. J Oper Manag 19:675–694
Curseu P, Schalk R, Schruijer S (2010) The use of cognitive mapping in eliciting and evaluating group cognitions. J Appl Soc Psychol 40:1258–1291
Denning S (2005) The leader’s guide to storytelling: mastering the art and discipline of business narrative, vol 269. Wiley
Dent EB, Umpleby S (1998) Underlying assumptions of several traditions in systems theory and cybernetics. In: Trappl R (ed) Cybernetic and systems ‘98. Austrian Society for Cybernetic Studies, Vienna, pp 513–518
Deterding S, Dixon D, Khaled R, Nacke L (2011) From game design elements to gamefulness: defining “gamification”. In: Paper presented at the MindTrek’11, Tampere, Finland, September 28–30
Dyson RG (2004) Strategic development and SWOT analysis at the University of Warwick. Eur J Oper Res 152:631–640
Ference G (2001) Improving organizational performance: using survey-driven databases. Cornell Hotel Restaur Admin Q 42:12–27
French WL, Bell CH (1995) Organization development: behavioral science interventions for organizational improvement, 5th edn. Prentice Hall
Goltz SM (2017) Enhancing simulation learning with team mental model mapping. Manag Teach Rev 2:211–224
Gregory A (2007) A systems approach to strategic management. In: Proceedings of the 51st annual meeting of the ISSS-2007, Tokyo, Japan, vol 2
Hesketh A, Fleetwood S (2006) Beyond measuring the human resources management-organizational performance link: applying critical realist meta-theory. Organization 13:677
Hill T, Westbrook R (1997) SWOT analysis: it’s time for a product recall. Long Range Plan 30:46–52
Hodgson A (2012) A transdisciplinary world model. Syst Res Behav Sci 29:517–526
Houston R (1999) Self-organizing systems theory: historical challenges to new sciences. Manag Commun Q 13:119
Houston D, Wright B, Wallis SE (2017) Re-structuring evaluation findings into useful knowledge. J Multi-Disciplin Eval 13:30
Jakubowski M (2014) Gamification in business and education – project of gamified course for university students. Dev Bus Simul Exp Learn 41:339–342
Jarzabkowski P (2004) Strategy as practice: recursiveness, adaptation, and practices-in-use. Organ Stud 25:529–560
Kaner S (2014) Facilitator’s guide to participatory decision-making. Wiley
Kaplan RS, Norton DP (1996) Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system. Harvard Business Review, Boston
Kelly GA (1955) The psychology of personal constructs. Norton, New York
Kenyon-Rouvinez D (2001) Patterns in serial business families: theory building through global case study research. Fam Bus Rev 14:175
Kobe K, Schwinn R (2017) Small business GDP 1998-2014 US small business administration office of advocacy SBA research paper
Kor YY, Mahoney JT (2004) Edith Penrose’s (1959) contributions to the resource-based view of strategic management. J Manag Stud 41:183–191
Martin RL (2014) The big lie of strategic planning. Harvard Business Review, January/February
Mathieson GL (2008) Playing with CARS: a pluralist approach to supporting executive decision-making. In: Dennard L, Richardson KA, Morçöl G (eds) Complexity and policy analysis: tools and concepts for designing robust policies in a complex world. ISCE Publishing, Goodyear
McGrath JE (1997) Small group research, that once and future field: an interpretation of the past with an eye to the future. Group Dyn Theory Res Pract 1:7–27
Miller CC, Cardinal LB (1994) Strategic planning and firm performance: a synthesis of more than two decades of research. Acad Manag J 37:1649–1685
Mintzberg H (1994) Rise and fall of strategic planning. Simon and Schuster, New York
Nguyen NC, Graham D, Ross H, Maani K, Bosch O (2012) Educating systems thinking for sustainability: experience with a developing country. Syst Res Behav Sci 29:14–29
Olson EE, Eoyang GH (2001) Facilitating organizational change: lessons from complexity science. Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, San Francisco
Penrose ET (2009) The theory of the growth of the firm, 4th edn. Oxford University Press
Porter TM (1996) Trust in numbers: the pursuit of objectivity in science and public life. Princeton University Press
Prahalad CK, Hamel G (1994) Strategy as a field of study: why search for a new paradigm? Strateg Manag J 15:5–16
Prahalad CK, Hamel G (2006) The core competence of the corporation. In: Strategische unternehmungsplanung—strategische unternehmungsführung. Springer, pp 275–292
Pretorius M, Millard SM, Kruger ME (2006) The relationship between implementation, creativity and innovation in small business ventures. Manag Dyn 15:2–13
Richards D (1990) Is strategic decision-making chaotic? Behav Sci 35:219–232
Russom P (2011) Big data analytics. TDWI Best Practices Report, Fourth Quarter 19:1–34
Senge P (1990) The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization. Currency Doubleday, New York
Senge P, Kleiner K, Roberts S, Ross RB, Smith BJ (1994) The fifth discipline fieldbook: strategies and tools for building a learning organization. Currency Doubleday, New York
Shakun MF (2001) Unbounded rationality. Group Decis Negot 10:97–118
Shaw DR, Allen TF (2012) A systematic consideration of observational design decisions in the theory construction process. Syst Res Behav Sci 29:484–498
Slawski C (1990) A small group process theory. In: Banathy BA, Banathy BH (eds) Toward a just society for future generations – 34th annual meeting of the International Society for Systems Sciences, Portland, Oregon, USA, July 8–13, pp 872–878
Smith TS, Stevens GT (1996) Emergence, self-organization, and social interaction: arousal-dependent structure in social systems. Sociol Theory:131–153
Solomon GT (2006) Are we teaching small business management to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship to small business managers? (USASBE White Paper Series)
Stacey RD (1996) Complexity and creativity in organizations. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., San Francisco
Suedfeld P, Rank AD (1976) Revolutionary leaders: long-term success as a function of changes in conceptual complexity. J Pers Soc Psychol 34:169–178
Suedfeld P, Tetlock PE, Streufert S (1992) Conceptual/integrative complexity. In: Smith CP (ed) Handbook of thematic content analysis. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 393–400
Tait A, Richardson KA (2011) Guest editorial: from theory to practice. E:CO 13:v–vi
Umpleby S (1997) Cybernetics of conceptual systems. Cybern Syst 28:635–651
Van de Ven AH, Delbecq AL (1971) Nominal versus interacting group process for committee decision-making effectiveness. Acad Manag J 14:203–212
von Bertalanffy L (1972) The history and status of general systems theory. Acad Manag J 15:407–426
Wallis SE (2008a) From reductive to robust: seeking the core of complex adaptive systems theory. In: Yang A, Shan Y (eds) Intelligent complex adaptive systems. IGI Publishing, Hershey, pp 1–25
Wallis SE (2008b) Seeking the robust core of social entrepreneurship theory. In: First international conference on social entrepreneurship, systems thinking, and complexity, Garden City, NY, April 24–26
Wallis SE (2008c) Validation of theory: exploring and reframing Popper’s worlds. Integral Rev 4:71–91
Wallis SE (2009a) Seeking the robust core of organisational learning theory. Int J Collab Enterp 1:180–193
Wallis SE (2009b) Seeking the robust core of social entrepreneurship theory. In: Goldstein JA, Hazy JK, Silberstang J (eds) Social entrepreneurship and complexity. ISCE Publishing, Litchfield Park
Wallis SE (2010a) The structure of theory and the structure of scientific revolutions: what constitutes an advance in theory? In: Wallis SE (ed) Cybernetics and systems theory in management: views, tools, and advancements. IGI Global, Hershey, pp 151–174
Wallis SE (2010b) Towards developing effective ethics for effective behavior. Soc Responsib J 6:536–550
Wallis SE (2010c) Towards the development of more robust policy models. Integral Rev 6:153–160
Wallis SE (2011) Avoiding policy failure: a workable approach. Emergent Publications, Litchfield Park
Wallis SE (2012) The right tool for the job: philosophy’s evolving role in advancing management theory. Philos Manag 11:67–99
Wallis SE (2014) Existing and emerging methods for integrating theories within and between disciplines. Organ Transform Soc Chang 11:3–24
Wallis SE (2015a) Are theories of conflict improving? Using propositional analysis to determine the structure of conflict theories over the course of a century. Emerg Complex Organ 17:1–17
Wallis SE (2015b) Integrative propositional analysis: a new quantitative method for evaluating theories in psychology. Rev Gen Psychol 19:365–380
Wallis SE (2016) The science of conceptual systems: a progress report. Found Sci 21:579–602
Wallis SE (2018) Actionable knowledge mapping to accelerate interdisciplinary collaborations for research and practice. In: International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS), Corvallis, OR, July 22–27, p 14
Wallis SE (2020) The missing piece of the integrative studies puzzle. Interdiscip Sci Rev 44:402
Wallis SE, Johnson L (2018) Using integrative propositional analysis to understand and integrate four theories of social power systems. J Policy Complex Syst 4:169–194
Wallis SE, Valentinov V (2016a) The imperviance of conceptual systems: cognitive and moral aspects. Kybernetes:45
Wallis SE, Valentinov V (2016b) A limit to our thinking and some unanticipated moral consequences: a science of conceptual systems perspective with some potential solutions. Syst Pract Action Res 30:103–116
Wallis SE, Wright B (2015) Strategic knowledge mapping: the co-creation of useful knowledge. In: Association for Business Simulation and Experiential Learning (ABSEL) 42nd annual conference, Las Vegas, CA, March 4–6. Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning
Wallis SE, Wright B (2016) Integrative propositional analysis: the missing link for creating more effective laws. Sci Laws J 2:10–15
Wamba SF, Akter S, Edwards A, Chopin G, Gnanzou D (2015) How ‘big data’can make big impact: findings from a systematic review and a longitudinal case study. Int J Prod Econ 165:234–246
Warfield JN (2003) A proposal for systems science. Syst Res Behav Sci 20:507–520
Weisbord MR, Janoff S (2000) Future search: an action guide to finding common ground in organizations and communities, 2nd edn. Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco
Wexler MN (2001) The who, what and why of knowledge mapping. J Knowl Manag 5:249–263
Wong EM, Ormiston ME, Tetlock PE (2011) The effects of top management team integrative complexity and decentralized decision making on corporate social performance. Acad Manag J 54:1207–1228
Wright B, Wallis SE (2019) Practical mapping for applied research and program evaluation. SAGE, Thousand Oaks
Metadata
Title
Reaching Goals with Structured Strategic Plans
Authors
Steven E. Wallis
Kent E. Frese
Copyright Year
2021
Publisher
Springer Singapore
Book
Handbook of Systems Sciences

Print ISBN: 978-981-15-0719-9

Electronic ISBN: 978-981-15-0720-5

Copyright Year: 2021

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0720-5_64

Premium Partner

    Image Credits