Essay Sample on Strategic Planning

Introduction

A strategy refers to an action plan that an organization establishes to meet specific organizational goals and ambitions. Public organization strategies are established by setting specific goals that help an organization acquire their aspirations (George, 2017). A good strategic plan should include strategy labeling which refers to the ability to identify the features and characteristics of a strategy which helps assess what the organization is seeking to gain from a strategy (Salkic, 2014). Strategic planning is critical towards sustainable development and success of an organization by ensuring that an organization sets its objectives and acquires the necessary resources to achieve the set goal (George, 2017). This essay will assess the elements of strategic planning in public organizations and why it is essential for such organizations to invest in strategic plans.

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Strategic Planning in Public Organizations

The public organizations refer to entities that are owned and operated by governments with their primary role being to render services to the people (Giraudou & Mclarney, 2014). In most cases, public organizations do not seek to generate profits. Unlike private organizations, public organizations are governed by laws, traditions and have structural bureaucratic checks and balances to ensure that the taxpayer's money is used appropriately (Olsen, 2008). Strategic planning involves a systematic process through which the environment of the organizations is analyzed to define strategic goals to be achieved within a specified period and using a stipulated amount of resources (George, 2017). Strategic planning has remained a significant topic of contention in the public sector mainly because many public organizations are shaped by legislative mandates which stipule their roles and responsibilities (Mansor & Tayib, 2012). However, strategic planning has been linked to positive public organization outcomes which have increased its overall effectiveness and adoption by many public organizations. Besides, a strategic plan has been associated with high accountability and responsibility of public funds and the public sector is increasingly adopting strategic goals to ensure continuity and accountability (George, 2017). In most cases, governments invest a considerable amount of resources in the public sector, and without strategic and well-defined goals the resources can easily be embezzled.

US Food and Drug Administration

The United States Food and Drug Administration is one of the many public organizations in the US, and this essay will assess the organization environment to define goals which can be achieved through strategic planning. The organization is responsible for ensuring safety in drugs and food products by vetting all the products to ascertain their quality and the absence of harm to the consumers.

Strategic Planning Model

Gap Planning

Organizations adopt different strategic models depending on the organization situation (Chen, Nasongkhla, & Donaldson, 2018). Gap planning is an excellent strategic model that can be implemented by the FDA because it seeks to establish the ability of the organization to achieve its objectives by assessing the actual and the desired organization situation. Therefore, gap planning as a strategic planning model creates internal organization deficiencies which is crucial towards the sustainable achievement of the organization objectives (Chen et al., 2018). Gap planning establishes the organization gap which informs the organization strategy to be adopted (Trainer, 2004). In FDA, there is a gap in technology adoption with the organization citing the adoption of greater communication, testing and research technologies as key towards meeting its mandate of ensuring human and animal safety by certifying products and equipment.

Strategic Planning Process

Environmental Assessment

A strategic plan should emanate from a thorough environmental assessment to establish and define strategic goals based on the organization challenges, services or trends in the environment (Poister, 2010). The primary objective of the FDA is to ensure consumer safety in terms of food and drug products. In this regard, the FDA has continuously been seeking to improve consumer safety and also increase the efficiency of their services by taking advantage of new technology to make their tests more efficient, timely and accurate.

Organization Direction

The FDA mission is to protect public health by facilitating the safety, efficacy, and security of all human and veterinary medical instruments, drugs, and biological products which ensure that the food supply and products consumed are safe. Therefore, the primary organization vision is ensuring that food, equipment, and drug products are safe for human and animal consumption.

Strategy Formulation

FDA views technology as a significant approach to improve its efficiency in securing the safety of Americans through regular food and drug testing. The organization strategy is to establish and incorporate modern technology at both testing and communication departments of the organization to improve service delivery (Nguyen, Seoane-Vazquez, Rodriguez-Monguio, & Montagne, 2013). Changes in FDA enforcement activities following changes in federal administration: the case of regulatory letters released to pharmaceutical companies. BMC health services research, 13(1), 27. Technology can significantly streamline most of the organization activities while at the same time promoting accountability and reporting of the organization progress. Information today is key to consumer safety by ensuring that potential safety information is provided to the people promptly and also streamlining internal communication to align different departments towards current organizational goals.

Strategy Implementation

This step involves identifying the different actions that an organization should take to implement the strategy. Determining the necessary steps is key towards reducing the gap between the current technology being used in the FDA and the organization desired technological applications. The following actions will be instrumental in the FDA strategic plan of adopting greater technology.

Technology Research

Technology research is fundamental because it assesses the technological gap within an organization by determining the current technology and potential areas for adopting new technology. Besides, the organization can invest in unique technologies that ensure that the organization takes technologies that can be able to help the organization achieve its desired objectives.

Stakeholder Involvement

The organization should involve all the stakeholders and related agencies to ensure that the new strategic plan is supported which will increase its success potential (Wamsler, 2017). Being a government organization, it is essential to notify the relevant authorities for funding and creating political backing. Therefore, stakeholder involvement should be considered as a prime strategic plan implementation function.

Execution

Upon finishing establishing the implementation plan, the FDA should implement its plan by adopting modern technology in communication and testing operations to increase the convenience of communication and quality of the food, equipment, and drugs tests.

Review and Update

Strategic planning is a continuous process, and upon implementation, the organization should review to ensure that the targeted results are being achieved. Studying the existing strategic plan helps the organization to continuously introduce new plans to reinforce the existing plan or adopt changes that can improve the overall results.

Conclusion

Strategic planning is possible and of great value to the public organizations by increasing their ability to account to the public through specific goals and identifiable outcomes. Strategic plan involves the assessment of an organization to establish potential goals and objectives. Through strategic planning, a public organization can account for all its resource allocations and return value to the taxpayers. The gap planning strategic model is the right approach to implementing a strategic plan by assessing a gap between an organization current state and desired outcomes. In this case, FDA can significantly benefit from strategic planning by implementing modern technology in its communication and laboratory activities to improve the accuracy of its tests and the ability to communicate the results to the public in time.

References

Chen, S. H., Nasongkhla, J., & Donaldson, J. A. (2018). A Strategic Planning Process Model for Developing Open Educational Resources. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 8(5). Retrieved from http://www.ijiet.org/vol8/1064-ER1016.pdf

George, B. (2017). Does strategic planning 'work' in public organizations? Insights from Flemish municipalities. Public Money & Management, 37(7), 527-530. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2017.1372116

Giraudou, A., & Mclarney, C. (2014). Benefits and Challenges to Strategic Planning in Public Institutions. SDMIMD Journal of Management, 5(1), 3-13. Retrieved from http://www.informaticsjournals.com/index.php/sdmimd/article/download/2667/1753

Mansor, M., & Tayib, M. (2012). Strategic Planning in Public Organization: The Case of a Tax Administration in a Developing Country. Business Management Dynamics, 1(8), 20. Retrieved from http://bmdynamics.com/issue_pdf/bmd110182__20_33.pdf

Nguyen, D., Seoane-Vazquez, E., Rodriguez-Monguio, R., & Montagne, M. (2013). Changes in FDA enforcement activities following changes in federal administration: the case of regulatory letters released to pharmaceutical companies. BMC health services research, 13(1), 27. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-13-27

Olsen, J. P. (2008). The ups and downs of bureaucratic organization. Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci., 11, 13-37. Retrieved from https://www.sv.uio.no/arena/english/research/publications/arena-working-papers/2001-2010/2007/wp07_14.pdf

Poister, T. H. (2010). The future of strategic planning in the public sector: Linking strategic management and performance. Public Administration Review, 70, s246-s254. Retrieved from https://www.squaredapplesuk.co.uk/app/download/26163844/Poister_The+Future+of+Strategic+Planning+in+the+Public+Sector.pdf

Salkic, I. (2014). Impact of strategic planning on the management of public organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems: INDECS, 12(1), 61-77. Retrieved from https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/170023

Trainer, J. F. (2004). Models and tools for strategic planning. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2004(123), 129-138. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1002/ir.127

Wamsler, C. (2017). Stakeholder involvement in strategic adaptation planning: Transdisciplinarity and co-production at stake?. Environmental Science & Policy, 75, 148-157. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2017.03.016