Strategic Management
Introduction
Strategic Management deals with the formation of strategies inside a given organization. The organization needs to scan the entire environment look into various variables and accordingly frame the strategies. The top-level management decides upon certain objectives on the basis of which the strategies are framed in the organization (Brow, Bessant, & Lamming, 2013). These strategies are then broken down into set of tasks and responsibilities, which every employee on the basis of his level and skills is allotted with this set of tasks and responsibilities. They need to be completed within the given timeframe so as to ensure achieving of the desired objectives of the organization.
Brief Profile of the case
In the current case, MasterCard is becoming a public corporation in May 2008. Hence, for this purpose, the entire scenario of the organization will change. 4,600 employees need to be informed about this global event and later need to be prepared as per the new changes in a given working environment. For this purpose, the top-level management has decided to implement a single learning event with a view to educate the employees and prepare them for the future.
However, the learning map will comprise of 4-5 seminars conducted in 110 workshops and in 36 different cities. The total timeframe for this entire even will be three weeks, and several human resources (HR) specialists and hundreds of local managers will perform the role of trainers and facilitators. The goal of such training sessions is to ensure proper change management across the organization and make the employees aware about the issue of IPO. Further, they need to be trained as per the new business strategies of the global perspective.
The entire training program is divided into three learning maps. These include Universal Opportunity, How We Make Money and New Climate, New Culture, New Company. The aim is to make the employees aware of the new working environment and the new challenges that they might face from the global perspective.
Critically evaluate the key process of strategic management applied by MasterCard
MasterCard has taken the right steps of deploying the global strategies. It is important for them to make the employees aware of the new changes that will take place due to Initial Public Offering (IPO). The organization is turning public and hence, it will become all the more important for the organization to change their way of working.
The working environment will change completely, since public can demand any sort of information of the organization (David, 2011). The shareholders will invest into the organization, only if the organization will be working on the principles of accountability, transparency and honesty. Hence, the strategies related to these ethical functions will change completely.
The employees will be accordingly required to change their way of working. They will be required to perform the same roles but will added responsibilities. Their working hours might be extended and they might even be required to work for the other departments. Under such conditions, it is of utmost importance to make them aware of these changes in the given organization.
The HR Department should ensure that the entire training event for the current purpose is successful. They need to communicate the change management needs of the organization. The medium could be any, but more important is communicating the employees of the organization.
The HR trainers and facilitators need to provide all the technical and managerial information to the employees. They need to assist them even after the deployment of the new working environment. During the initial phase the employees will need support both of their technical managers and their HR managers in their daily operations (Griffin & Moorhead, 2014).
Hence, it is important to support them during this phase, for which the top-level management needs to frame the strategies in association with the HR department of the given corporation. To guarantee success of this event as well as ensure achieving the objectives of Change Management, the HR department needs to monitor the event. They also need to check out the performances of the employees. They need to modify the strategies as per the arising needs in this direction.
Analyze theories and perspective of corporate strategies used by MasterCard and appraises them appropriately based on the industry's anticipated growth rate
The basic theories and perspectives of corporate strategies that are deployed by MasterCard are related to Change Management and related to addressing the needs of the Global Environment. MasterCard wants to deploy global strategies with a view to expand the organization as well as meet the new needs of the general public after it turns into a public organization.
The new shareholders of the organization will have different needs and requirements from the information and financial perspective. Hence, it is important to provide them all the information about the operational activities of the organization. They should be aware of the technicalities of the organization so that they do not raise any questions in the future (Kouzes & Posner, 2008).
MasterCard has correctly deployed the strategy of Change Management with a view to prepare the employees for the global working environment. The style and way of working completely gets changed when an organization goes public; in addition, they also need to be trained on the different requirements of these shareholders.
MasterCard has also correctly deployed the strategy of hiring multiple HR managers and specialists since they are the ones that can correctly explain the scenario to the employees of the organization. The employees will not be in a position to address the global needs of the corporation and hence, it is the best way to train them through a given training program. The event is also going to last for three weeks, which reflects the fact that, the corporation will be providing information on each of the theoretical concepts on the topics of Change Management, Managing Global Strategies and Global Working Environment, and Working in a Team-based approach in a given situation.
One might assume that deploying such strategies will have certain hurdles or challenges. And, it is true that, deploying such a training program will also have certain troubles. There could be employees that might resist such a change and might threaten to leave the organization (Marturano & Gosling, 2008). There could be miscommunication between the HR Department and the employees resulting into strikes in the organization.
Further, there could be issues related to deploying change across the organization and employees would not like to accept the new roles and responsibilities. It is therefore, necessary for the top-level management to decide upon strategies to overcome these challenges in the organization. The HR Department needs to compensate the employees accordingly so that they get motivated to work in the new environment.
In addition, the changes should be communicated in a positive way, rather than threatening the employees about the global working environment. They should be assisted and supported in their daily activities so that they can perform as per the expectations of the organization. Further, the organization needs to ensure that all the required processes of new change management process are fulfilled. There could be several norms that need to be followed once the organization turns public after getting listed on the market.
MasterCard has yet not thought on this issue, and hence, it is important for the Board Members to formulate strategies at the earliest. They need to prepare the new guidelines of working and following the norms of the Securities Exchange Board so that all the employees can follow the same. The employees will be required to functions as per the requirements of this Board so that there are no ethical or operational breaches in the organization.
Explain what important strategic plan would be needed to actually hold the event (short term, long term or both). Demonstrate the ability to communicate and apply appropriate problem solving techniques.
In order to successfully launch the event, the organization will be required to prepare the short-term and long-term plans. Such a big change inside the organization cannot be accepted at one go, and hence, the strategies should be prepared for different term perspectives. Now, looking at the short-term perspective, the strategic plan will include the following:
Communicate the vision for change inside the organization in a positive manner
Make the employees aware about the benefits of new change
Utilize different means to communicate the change so as that all the employees can be informed within short span of time (McDonald & Wilson, 2011.)
The entire event of training should be well planned and should cover key aspects of Globalization and Change Management
The employees should be trained on the aspects of public organization and should be asked to follow the norms of Securities Exchange Board
The HR trainers and facilitators should provide all sorts of training and even practical hands-on experience so that the employees get prepared for the future
The organization needs to look out for all the resources so that the entire event becomes successful (Mullins, 2010)
The employees should have a positive impression of the new change so that they are ready to work in a given new environment
The employees should be motivated through proper compensation and rewards
The new tasks and responsibilities should be assigned only after the training event gets completed (Mullins, 2010)
The HR Team also needs to overcome the challenges of the Change Management at the earliest and prevent the environment of creation of strikes
Finally, the top-level management and the HR facilitators should assist the employees in their every need of a given new working environment
Now, looking at the long-term perspective, the strategic plan will include the following:
Scan the global environment and look out for the global challenges
The HR department should provide training to the employees on constant basis so that their knowledge gets updated
The top-level management needs to follow the new norms of the Securities Exchange Board and communicate the same to the employees across the organization (Nystrom & Viveca, 2013)
The performance of the employees should be monitored and upon requirements should be asked for the modifications
The modifications can come for different perspectives such a change in the job role, change in the working hours, change in the approach toward work, change in the team role and certain external changes
The top-level management needs to ensure that, they have at least achieved the fundamental objectives of a Public Corporation after going for IPO
They can, however, still change their strategies depending upon the requirements of the internal and external parameters (Porter & Kramer, 2011)
Conclusion
Strategic Management is an important function in any given organization. The top-level management needs to define their strategies for achieving the desired objectives in the organization (Porter & Kramer, 2011). In a given case scenario, we shall find that, MasterCard is going for an IPO and hence, it needs to communicate the same to the employees.
The employees are also required to get aware of the new working environment. For this purpose, they will be required to follow the strategies of Globalization and Change Management. This report has evaluated the process of strategic management deployed by MasterCard. It has also analyzed different theories and perspectives implemented by MasterCard. They are also appraised with a view to suggest any changes in the given strategies that are deployed. Finally, it has provided short-term and long-term plans to actually organize the given event on providing training to the employees of the organization.
It has provided all the steps so that the event gets successful and at the same time, it will also overcome the challenges mentioned in the report. MasterCard after the deployment of these strategies needs to ensure effective implementation of these strategies and monitor the performance of the employees; they need to bring in modification as per the requirements of the organization.
References:
Brow, S., Bessant, J. and Lamming, R. (2013) Strategic Operations Management. New York: Routledge.
David, R. (2011) Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases. Francis Marion University.
DuBrin, A. J. (2013) Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning.
Griffin, R. W., and Moorhead, G. (2014) Organizational behaviour: managing people and organizations. Mason, OH, South-Western: Cengage Learning.
Kouzes, J. M., and Posner, B. Z. (2008) The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Marturano, A. and Gosling, J. (2008) Leadership: The key concepts. London: Routledge.
McDonald, M., and Wilson, H. (2011) Marketing Plans: How to prepare them and how to use them. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
Mullins, L. J. (2010) Management and Organizational Behaviour. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Nystrom, C. A., and Viveca, A. (2013) Virtual teams - support for technical communication? Journal of Organizational Transformation and Social Change, 10(1), pp. 64-80.
Porter, M. E., and Kramer, M. R. (2011) Creating Shared Value. Harvard Business Review, 89(1), pp. 62-77.
