Assessed Discussion Question – Week One
STR 581
November 5, 2012
Derek Osborne

Major Components of a Strategic Management Process Organizations use the strategic management process to set goals and objectives that will help them to reach a higher level of performance (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). A continuous process, strategic management studies the businesses and industries in which the organization operates, examines the competitors, and establishes goals and objectives to counter competitors in the present and in the future. The strategic management repeats the process continuously. This process has four major components, which are environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation and strategy evaluation. Environmental scanning helps organization to analyze the internal and external factors that influence the flow of the organization (Pearson & Robinson, 2011). The strategy formulation helps an organization to charter the best course of action to accomplish the goals and objectives of the organization. The strategy implementation helps management to find ways to make the organization’s strategy works. The strategy evaluation looks at internal and external factors, measures performance, and makes necessary corrections.
Most Difficult Strategic Management Process Component to Manage Strategy implementation involves change, and people tend to have a difficult time dealing with change (Mintzberg, Ghoshal, Lampel, & Quinn, 2003). As a result, the strategy implementation aspect of strategic management is the most difficult to manage. Implementation is possible only when managers and the workforce have the essential supports that they need to carry out the strategy. Managers and the workforce have to believe in the change before management can implement any strategy. As such, management needs to give