QUESTION :4

ANSWER:

What is a policy?

Business Policy & Strategic Management Business Policy includes guidelines, rules and
procedures established to support efforts to achieve stated objectives. Policies are guides to
decision making and address repetitive or recurring situations.

Why are policies so important in strategy implementation?

Some companies don’t succeed not because they don’t have good strategic plans but because
they fail to implement those plans.

One of the tools used in implementing a strategy are right business policies. Without good
policies to implement a strategic plan a good strategy may fail to see the light of day.

Policies are used by companies to make sure that employees throughout the organisation make
decisions and take actions that support the organisation’s mission, vision, objectives and
strategies.Business policies can simply be seen as the instructions that the organisation lays down
to manage its activities. A policy provides a range within which the subordinates can take
decisions in an organisation.This enables the lower level management to resolve issues and take
decisions without having to consult top management always. Policies define limits within which
decisions are made.

Good policies enable the proper acquisition and distribution of limited resources to needy areas
in order to meet organisational goals.Business policies also help in the analysis and definition of
roles and responsibilities of top management and the decisions they make which have a long
term effect on the organisation.Business policies therefore deal with major issues that have an
effect on the success of an organisation.

Policies play a very critical role in the running of an organisation. A company will operate
consistently, effectively and efficiently when dealing with both internal and external issues if it
has well established policies.Business policies should be set up before the company starts
operating, even before recruiting its first employees so that activities of a repetitive nature can be
easily administered. Without policies on the ground an organisation will struggle to achieve
organisational objectives.

Policies are articulated by management so that they facilitate thinking and action in decision
making both at the top and lower levels.It ensures that activities are performed in a desired
way.Business policies are very important because of the following reasons:
  Policies help in coordinating all activities in the organisation thereby ensuring
uniformity of action throughout the organisation. If well crafted, policies will
encourage cooperation and promote initiativeness within the organisation.
 Subordinates will be able to take prompt action and quick decisions with the help of
policies because they give guidelines and limits within which subordinates can make
decisions.

Subordinates will be able to take decisions confidently without having to consult their immediate
superiors every time because a good policy should give guidance on what action to follow in a
particular situation.

Policies save time in that when they are formulated those involved in their formulation try to
think of frequent problems and then provide ways to resolve those issues.

 Policies are set to help implement certain strategies in the organisation which are
intended to meet organisational objectives.

In this way policies will provide a basis for assessing performance because there will be
uniformity in implementation of critical activities.

Policies ensure that all the activities of the organisation are synchronised with the objectives of
the organisation. There will be minimal divergence from the planned course of action.
Management usually tends to deviate from the objective if policies are not well defined.

To ensure operational efficiency of an organisation there is a great need to have policies

 Policies help to identify and define executive roles and responsibilities. This makes it
much easier for senior management to delegate authority to subordinates who will have
policies at their disposal to help them run the business without frequently consulting
senior executives before making decisions.

The policies will provide appropriate guidelines to the subordinates to help them in determining
the suitable actions which are within the limits of the stated policies

Strategy implementation is often considered the most difficult stage in the

strategic management process?

Q 5: Do you agree or disagree with the

The implementation stage of strategic management is often considered the most difficult stage of
strategic management. This does not have to be the case, however. Understanding the causes of
implementation difficulties will allow managers to avoid them and to successfully implement
firm strategies.

Resources Are Often Lacking

Deciding to implement a strategy is one thing, but the actual implementation requires resources
such as staff and capital. Often, firms will create a strategy but fail to account for the resources
that are needed to actually implement this. Not surprisingly, this creates immense difficulties
and, often, makes the implementation phase of strategic management the most difficult.

Processes May Be Poorly Defined

The implementation stage is often the most difficult stage of strategic management simply
because the implementation process is often poorly defined. A poorly defined implementation
process causes confusion and uncertainty and makes it difficult, and often impossible, to
successfully implement the strategy.

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Lack of Support

The support of employees and managers is needed in order to successfully implement a strategy.
When there is a lack of support, people do not proactively make the changes that are needed to
adapt to the strategy. This creates large difficulties for strategy implementation.

No Follow-up

One of the largest difficulties in strategic management occurs when there is no followup to the
strategy implementation. When this happens, managers simply enact a strategy but fail to check
if it has been successfully implemented. This makes the implementation difficult, because there
is no way to ensure that it has been successfu