LINGKOD-BAYAN:

Navigating the VUCA World through

Strategic Management

Maria Carmela T. Pullantes, RSW

DSWD FO VIII
TOPIC OBJECTIVES

• Acquire knowledge on strategic management and its tools

• Develop and/or enhance the ability to identify and analyze

critical short term and long term issues confronting an
organization in today’s VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and
ambiguous) environment brought by the pandemic, make
recommendations for strategic solutions, and tailor strategy to
promote its implementation

• Gain a good understanding of the role of strategic management

in achieving resilience of public service organizations in today’s
turbulent environments
2
TOPIC OUTLINE

Embracing the VUCA World

1.       Organizational Resilience in a VUCA Environment 
• The VUCA Environment
• Strategic Thinking
• Strategic Management

Building Windmills While Others Build Walls

2.       Strategic Planning
• Process and Tools

3
Embracing the VUCA World
Organizational Resilience in a VUCA Environment

4
The VUCA Environment

• Volatility describes the world through the

speed of change that occurs in it.
• Uncertainty results from the degree by which
we cannot predict the future.
• Complexity is brought about by the situation
that has many interconnected parts, variables
and relationships between them.
• Ambiguity is a situation when information is
incomplete, contradictory or inaccurate to
draw any rational interpretation.
5
Organizational Resilience

“the ability of an organization to anticipate, prepare for,

respond and adapt to incremental change and sudden
disruptions in order to survive and prosper” 

(Denver, 2017)

6
Strategic Thinking

“a powerful leadership tool that gives organizations the foresight

and insight needed to succeed in the long term, especially when
applied throughout the organization”

(Bridget Gilmore)

7
Strategic Management

• Toft (1989) portrays it as "an advanced

and coherent form of strategic thinking,
attempting to extend strategic vision
throughout all units of the organization,
encompassing every administrative
system."

8
Building Windmills While Others
Build Walls
Strategic Planning

9
Strategic Planning

• John Bryson (1995) defines strategic planning as “a

disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and
actions that shape and guide what an organization is,
what it does, and why it does it.”

10
Strategic
Planning
Process

11
“”..sa lahat ng panahon, sisikapin kong makatugon sa mga hamon sa lingkod
bayan..”

-Panunumpa ng Lingkod-Bayan-
12
References

Bryson
1. Chapter 9- Implementing Strategies and Plans Successfully
2. Chapter 11-Leadership Roles in Making Strategic Planning Work

Kearns
3. Chapter 9 – Implementing Strategic Decisions

Journal Articles
4. Strategic management in the Public Sector: How tools enable and constrain strategy making
5. Strategic Management in Public and Private Organizations: Implications of Distinctive Contexts and
Constraints
6. Strategic Management in Public Sector - Challenges in Theory and Practice
7. The Challenges Faced by the Strategic Management of Public Organizations
13