The significance of Strategic Control in Strategic Management
Henry Mintzberg one of the foremost theorists in the area of strategic management, tells us that no matter how well the organization plans its strategy, a different strategy may emerge.
Strategic management refers to the managerial process of forming a strategic vision, setting objectives, crafting a strategy and then over time initiating whatever corrective adjustments required for achieving the long-term objectives and goals of an organization.
Strategic control is a term used to describe the process used by organizations to control the formation and execution of strategic plans; it is a specialized form of management control, and differs from other forms of management control (in particular from operational control) in respects of its need to handle uncertainty and ambiguity at various points in the control process.
Starting with the intended or planned strategies, he related the five types of strategies in the following manner:
- Intended strategies that get realized; these may be called deliberate strategies.
- Intended strategies that do get realized; these may be called unrealized strategies.
- Realized strategies that were never intended; these may be called emergent strategies.
- Proactive control system helps in keeping an organization on track, anticipating future events and responding to opportunities and threats.
- Strategic control system makes employees more responsive to customers through evaluating and monitoring employees behavior and contact with customers.
Recognizing the number of different ways that intended and realized strategies may differ underscores the importance of evaluation and control systems so that the firm can monitor its performance and take corrective action if the actual performance differs from the intended strategies and planned results.
