ANTHEA VIVIENNE D.

ESTAVILLA
Course Work #3

Strategic Planning Process and Social Work

It is our responsibility as social workers to address the complex social,

physical, emotional, and economic challenges that the people of our country
face. A well-defined strategy must be established for us to efficiently carry out
our responsibilities. The strategic planning process is an effective instrument
that helps us lay out a direct path to attaining our objectives and having a
positive influence on society.

Adopting a participatory approach is essential, as it enables us to involve

a wide range of stakeholders in the planning process, including clients,
community members, donors, and staff. By doing this, we can make sure that
our interventions are in line with what our communities and organizations need.
The opinions we collect from stakeholders can aid us in developing a thorough
grasp of the difficulties we encounter and the resources at our disposal. This
knowledge is essential for ensuring that our interventions are successful and
fulfill the needs of the people.

In addition, developing clear vision and mission statements is an integral

part of the Strategic Planning Process. A clear and concise vision and mission
statement can serve as a powerful tool to align stakeholders and guide
decision-making. We can ensure that we are working towards a common goal
and be capable of assessing our progress by clearly outlining our aims and
values. Likewise, a well-crafted vision and mission statement can help us
communicate our purpose and values to people, which can enhance our
credibility and reputation within the community. Moreover, a comprehensive
strategic planning process involves environmental scanning and scenario
building to better understand the external factors that can affect our work. By
conducting an analysis of trends and forces in the social, economic, and
political environment, we can identify potential challenges and opportunities
that may arise. Through scenario building, we can also develop contingency
plans to prepare for possible changes in the future. These steps can help us
adapt and respond effectively to changes in the environment.

Furthermore, once we have developed a shared vision and mission,

conducted environmental scanning, and identified potential challenges and
opportunities, we can move on to formulating effective strategies. We can
monitor our progress and make the required modifications along the way by
using the SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-
bounded) framework to define precise objectives. We can also ensure that our
strategies are feasible and align with our overall vision and mission by
identifying the required resources, activities, and timelines. This can ultimately
lead to the successful implementation of our interventions and the achievement
of our goals.

Overall, the Strategic Planning Process can aid us in fulfilling our

responsibilities effectively by providing a structured approach to planning,
implementing, and evaluating interventions. Through this, we can ensure that
our programs, projects, and interventions are all tailored to the needs of our
organizations and communities and ultimately make a positive impact in
society.

Participatory Development Planning emphasizes the importance of

participation in sustainable development planning. The Rapid Appraisal
Technique (RAT) is one of the common tools in participatory development
planning. It is a simple methodology that involves the community in preparing
and implementing community-based plans and projects. The process of RAT
involves collective investigation, analysis, and action by the people aimed at
long-term as well as short-term solutions to problems. The steps in the RAT
process are a collaborative approach involving researchers and actors in a
problem situation to design and implement change plans while consolidating
learnings and insights. The RAT is composed of three major categories of
activities, namely preparatory work, field visits, and necessary activities to
complete the RAT study. In preparatory work, the members of the team must
be selected in such a way that all aspects of the situation will be covered, and
all relevant information must be collected and examined. During the field visits,
various methods, tools, and techniques are employed to enhance the
understanding of people's conditions, with particular emphasis on tapping the
knowledge of local inhabitants and combining that knowledge with modern
scientific expertise. After field visits, the necessary activities to complete the
RAT study include the analysis of data, sharing the results with the actors,
development of change goals, implementation of change plans, and
consolidation of learnings and insights.

The methods and techniques used in Rapid Appraisal Technique (RAT)

include the use of existing information through document screening, key
informants, focus group discussions, aerial photography and topographic
survey map interpretation, personal or direct observation, group discussions,
public meetings, community seminars and workshops, and fact-finding tours.
These methods are used to collect primary and secondary data and gather
information on particular issues, focusing on their characteristics, problems,
and solutions. RAT is a cost-effective and efficient way of collecting data that
can be used in community development projects.

The vision management process involves strategic planning to envision

the future of an organization and formulate the necessary activities to achieve
it. Strategic planning answers three basic questions: where is the organization
now, where is it going, and how does it get there? An effective strategic plan
must have 14 characteristics, including being fundamentally sound and correct,
having foresight, focusing efforts on a few critical activities, having a finite time
frame, being feasible, taking a full and holistic approach, being flexible
depending on environmental changes, etc. The strategic planning process has
two levels: the first level focuses on formulating the vision, mission, key result
areas, success indicators, and goal setting, while the second level involves
implementation through environmental scanning, strategy formulation,
operations planning, and monitoring and evaluation.

The process of formulating a vision and mission statement for an

organization is crucial in providing direction, motivation, and focus for its
members. It involves creating an ideal future condition that the organization
aims to achieve through a vision statement, followed by a mission statement
that defines its role in achieving that vision. Key result areas (KRA) are
identified to operationalize the mission statement, and key success indicators
(KSI) are established as yardsticks to evaluate the organization's progress
towards fulfilling its mission. Both KRAs and KSIs should be checked to ensure
they operationalize the vision and mission statements.

Environmental Scanning and Scenario Building are explored through the

processes of environmental scanning and analysis, SWOT analysis and
forecasting, scenario building, and goal setting. Environmental scanning and
analysis are the process of examining an organization's external and internal
environments to develop an effective strategy. The external environment
includes social, political, economic, and ecological factors, which can be
gathered through primary and secondary data collection methods and analyzed
using data sievers. The internal environment includes structures, systems,
personnel, and performance, which can be evaluated based on the
organization's vision, mission, and objectives. Data gathered from assessments
should be classified into strengths and weaknesses and rated based on their
importance to achieving group goals. A critical attitude of openness, honesty,
sincerity, and a strong desire to improve is necessary for this type of analysis.
The SWOT analysis involves placing data gathered from internal and external
analysis into a 3x3 grid matrix. The top row contains strengths and weaknesses
in the internal environment, while the leftmost column contains opportunities
and threats in the external environment.

Forecasting is the process of extending present trends into the future to

determine what the future might look like. This process uses various
techniques, such as trend analysis and correlation, to make predictions.
Forecasting leads to scenario building, which is the construction of future
conditions. Three scenarios that organizations might encounter are Business-
as-Usual, Preferred Scenario, and Downbeat Scenario. The next step after
scenario building is to set goals, which are operationalizations of the
organization's vision and mission. Goals provide the specific parameters for the
organization's vision and are the end results that the organization wants to
achieve. It is important to make goals compatible with the vision and mission
statement for a viable strategic plan.
 Strategy formulation is the process of finding the best position or
placement for an organization to achieve its goals while taking its environment
into account. To arrive at different strategic options, a SWOT analysis should
be conducted, as mentioned in Module 8, and several guide questions should
be asked. These questions include S-O strategies, S-T strategies, W-O
strategies, and W-T strategies. Strategic options will determine the direction
and general plans of an organization for the next five to ten years. It is also
important to remember that the organization's positioning should be based on
the data gathered and considered important. In evaluating strategic options, it
is important to assess them against a set of criteria such as magnitude, overall
fit with magnitude, vision, mission, and goals, effectiveness, ecological
friendliness, relevance, acceptability, synergy, gender sensitivity, and doability.
These criteria can be tailored to specific needs and situations. Using these
criteria, the most suitable strategy can be identified and implemented, along
with complementary strategies. Good strategies should have the 14
characteristics that are mentioned in Module 7. It is also important to ensure
that the chosen strategy is compatible with the organization's vision, mission,
and goals.

Evaluating an organization's structure and policies is important before

implementing a strategy. The first step is to assess the organizational structure
and determine whether it can support the strategy. If not, changes must be
made to the structure, such as creating a new department or team. The policies
must also be evaluated to ensure that they align with the strategy, and new
policies may need to be created. An organization engaged in strategic planning
should be committed to change to improve its services and impact on its
beneficiaries. Other areas, such as technology, procedures, systems, and
staffing, may also need to be retooled to support the strategy.

Organizational planning and management involve designing and

implementing processes that align with project goals and the socio-political and
economic environment. The type of project organization depends on factors
such as institutional competence, sensitivity to local conditions, urgency, and
independence from government influence. The principles of organization, such
as scalar, unity of command, delegation, certainty of accountability, and span-
of-control, are essential for effective decision-making, communication, and
accountability within a company or project. The organizational planning process
involves establishing objectives, identifying critical success factors, scanning
the environment, determining project staff, ranking company elements,
developing an ideal organization structure, evaluating and testing alternative
structures, modifying the ideal structure, and preparing documentation for
implementation. The seven basic organizational structures are functional,
product, geographical, process, customer, time, and matrix grouping. Each has
its advantages and drawbacks, which should be considered before
implementation.
 To establish critical success factors for a project, a Cross Impact
Analysis can be used to rate the impact of each company grouping, such as
personnel, production, administration, marketing, and finance. Once this is
established, the organizational structure should align with the objectives and
success factors, with the most basic grouping being the functional grouping.
Documentation, such as an organizational manual, salary structure plans,
procedure manuals, and implementation schedules, is also crucial.

The operations planning involves the identification of objectives for major

activities, people responsible for them, activities to be carried out, timeframes,
resources needed, outputs, and assumptions. The elements of an operations
plan include goal, strategy, objectives, programs/activities, timeframe, person
responsible, resources needed, output, and assumptions. Programming
involves calendaring the activities using tools like Gantt charts or PERT-CPM.
It is important to ensure that all the elements in an operations plan jibe with
each other and with the organization's vision and mission statements.
Additionally, monitoring and evaluation are necessary to assess the
effectiveness and efficiency of the plan and make adjustments if needed. The
concept of contingency planning involves anticipating possible setbacks that
may arise during the execution of an operations plan due to major assumptions.
In the case of Maogma Development Cooperative, their assumption was that
individuals would agree to become outlets, but if that does not happen, it could
lead to a problem in fulfilling their objective. Thus, it is important to prepare a
Plan B to address potential risks. In this case, the cooperative can set up its
own outlets as a contingency plan, with the marketing supervisor responsible
for searching for suitable locations, staff, and equipment. Members will provide
facilities, making the resource requirement minimal. The effectiveness of the
contingency plan will be evaluated after the first quarter of implementation.

Monitoring involves observation and documentation of project

implementation, evaluation assesses actual accomplishments compared to
planned outputs, and adjustment involves steering or making changes to
redirect implementation according to the plan. Furthermore, input monitoring
ensures timely procurement and resource usage as intended, activity
monitoring involves checking if activities achieve expected results on time, and
output monitoring observes well-defined indicators for midterm or final impact
evaluation.

Social workers use strength-based perspective as an approach in the

helping process. This approach emphasizes the strengths and resources of the
client, family, community, and client’s environment rather than client’s problems
and pathologies. Hence, environmental scanning and analysis is the most
useful tool that I could use in my workplace as a social worker. I am currently
working with clients in the community from different walks of life, specifically
those who belong in poor sector. For me to implement appropriate and efficient
interventions, I need to conduct an assessment to my clients, and conduct an
external and internal environment scanning to identify the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of my clients’ situations. Even though
social workers focus more on strengths of the client, it is still important to identify
the threats that could possibly hinder the interventions for enabling the client’s
social functioning, and weaknesses that cause the client’s problems. Identifying
the threats and weaknesses also allows the client to be able to maximize his or
her strength to address the problem with clear direction. Thus, this tool is useful
for me because it allows me as a social worker to formulate interventions with
the client that is based on his/her strengths, and I can lobby my clients to
opportunities existing in their community and outside their community. This tool
will also help me to assist my client in identifying the existing threats and
weaknesses within himself/herself, in his or her family, and community that she
or he could resolve.