Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Strategic Management - Essay Example There are many psycho-social characteristics that are unique in a very diverse organizational environment, such as values, principles, ethical and moral perceptions, or even inherent motivations that will predict whether the employee will act upon or resist the change imperative. Therefore, many organizations will try to develop culture through human resources practices, attempting to strengthen the bonds of socialization so that the organization maintains competitive advantage through human capital development. However, these actions are not always successful, requiring the strategic manager to become more integral in attempting to balance out overt socialization in groups. For example, when groups have a great deal of closure, their social ties become stronger. There is a phenomenon in the organization referred to as groupthink, where members of a group begin to fear questioning the shared beliefs of the group (Dess, et al., 2010). Why does this happen? Social psychology theory rem inds that when people consider an organizational employee or manager as being credible, attractive and trustworthy, they will tend to role model behaviors they observe within in-group members. Groups with very strong social connections look toward other group members as reference groups, those by which individuals measure themselves, their identities and behaviors. Therefore, it would be socially improper for a group member to openly and publicly discount the opinion of group members, leading to unproductive groupthink. This is highly important when studying strategic management and its many complicated responsibilities. In the decentralized organization, as one example, decision-making no longer occurs top-down but moves horizontally in a way that allows employees to be... This essay discusses one of the most fundamental elements of strategic management that is the development of an appropriate culture that is dedicated and motivated to achieve strategic objectives. This essay describes a concept in strategic management known as closure, which is defined as â€Å"the degree to which all members of a social network have ties with other group members†. An interactive strategic manager in the HR process as well as establishing control barriers between excess socialization within the organizational environment would seem to have the most effective outcomes based on sociological and psychological theory. No research materials are available that describe specific, effective methods to prevent overt closure problems and groupthink; therefore, these suggestions could be piloted in a strategic management model to determine whether it has effective balancing results and effective productive outcomes from employee groups. Many of the recommendations or sug gestions for improvements provided in this essay are based on theoretical premises, there is enough research evidence available on human behavior and transformational strategic leadership to justify attempting its inclusion into a relevant organizational model. This can be accomplished through experiential learning in training practices and adding interactivity to the multitude of responsibilities of strategic management. If these steps are piloted, it is likely that social capital will have its balances and provide a better path to strategic goal attainment.