Aleena

Sp21-rms-001
 Summary
The Ten Schools of Thought model from Henry Mintzberg is a framework that can be
used to categorize the field of Strategic Management. These are classified into three
grouping. The first they call prescriptive schools in which how strategies should be
formulated than with how they necessarily do form. This grouping comprises the design,
planning and positioning schools. The second one is descriptive schools in which the
groups include comprising entrepreneurial, cognitive, learning, power, cultural and
environmental schools. These set are describing how it is made in practice. The final
group comprises just one school the Configurational. Firstly discuss about the groups
which is include in the prescriptive schools, the first one is design school which represent
the SWOT analysis which effectively marks the position of this school in spanning the
process of strategic management, from the recognition of environmental influences on the
business in the form of opportunities and threats, and the need for an objective appraisal
of the strengths and weaknesses of the business compared to competitors.  In this process,
the internal situation of the organization is matched to the external situation of the
environment. The second one is planning school in which the business looks at how the
organization can improve its strategic positioning within that industry. It includes the
factor which affects the performance and operation of the business such as business
objective, internal and external Audit, strategy evaluation, strategy operationalization.
Strategies appear from this process finished and ready for implementation, so that they
can then be implemented through detailed attention to objectives, budgets, programs, and
operating plans of various kinds. The third one is positioning school that focuses on
strategy content and prescribes the use of analytical frameworks for strategic decision
making. Strategies are generic, identifiable positions in a competitive marketplace. It
focus on the current situation of the market it ignore the concept of new entrants and their
influences on the market. Moreover the next groups are discussed which is include in
descriptive schools, The first one is Entrepreneurial school focuses on the vision as the
key determinant of strategy. Strategy exists in the mind of the leader. The leader
promotes the vision single-minded, maintaining close personal control of the
implementation. The next one is cognitive school which focuses on the mind of the
strategists. In this the organization depends a lot on ‘mental maps’ for making strategies.
It depend on the individual thinking through what is required and what the options are.
The critical point of view of this school is that it is not practical because a firm cannot
depend only on the survey reports to find new ideas for the business. The other one is
learning school, this Strategy making is a process of learning over time, occurring
throughout the entire organization. The complex and unpredictable nature of an
organization’s environment, coupled with a decentralized distribution of knowledge
inside the organization, rules out deliberate control. The learning process may fall victim
to collective cognitive fallacies such as group-think and escalating commitment. . The
next one is political school focuses partly on what goes on inside the firm on the battles
that are fought internally among line managers and staff professionals for resources,
status and promotion. In this school the strategy is shaped by the power and politics.
According to the cultural school strategy formation is subject to a company’s unique
values, subjective perspectives and styles of decision-making. Strategy formation is a
process of social interaction that is based on the beliefs and understandings shared by the
members of an organization.  The cultural school brings to light how strategic change is
always a change in culture as a result when addressing strategy one must necessarily also
address culture. The next one is environmental school gives more importance to the
environment because with the passage of time the situation evolves according to which
an organization should change its strategies constantly. Analysis of the situation is the
most important tool of this school. The last one is configuration school that analyzed the
strategy must be well planned, well derived and well configured. The configuration
school partially resolves the conflict between emergent and deliberate strategy schools by
incorporating both aspects of strategy formation.