Management
Crowdsourcing of strategic plans is a new concept that serves to be an out of the box solution to aligning an organization to strategic goals and towards obtaining fresh inputs while deciding the strategic direction and organization has to take.
Crowdsourcing for All Organizations
Crowdsourcing of strategic plans is not a formula for all organizations to adopt. Organizations like Wikimedia, whose existence is based on “collaborative content creation” (Gast and Zanini, 2012) are natural choices for crowdsourcing of strategy. If an organization is lacking in internal democracy, it would be difficult to obtain views on strategic direction. Employees would desist from voicing their opinions on subjects that are close to the hearts of top management, for fear of falling afoul of the management. The company needs to have its middle managers on board any changes envisaged in the strategy formulation process. If middle managers felt threatened, they would sabotage the entire process. Companies where “confidentiality issues are pressing” (Gast and Zanini,2012) may avoid opening up strategy to the entire staff. If dissent is not encouraged in a company, crowdsourcing of strategy would be an exercise in futility as no one would speak up (Gast & Zanini,2012).
Crowdsourcing as an Option to Reduce Resistance to New Strategy
When new strategies are crafted, there is a resistance to change. If strategy options are crowdsourced, a sense of ownership would be instilled in the rank and file of the organization. The workers would have a motive to ensure that the new strategy succeeds. Involvement of lower levels of staff for crowdsourcing would ensure that each person in the organization knows about the vision of the company. When senior management uses “positional authority to distribute power” (Gast & Zanini, 2012), the organization gets a sense of empowerment and identifies with the process of change (Gast & Zanini, 2012).
However, crowdsourcing of strategy would not be the only method to reduce resistance to change. If the company was to be transparent about the process of change and communicated a new strategy across the company, it is likely that the workers would accept the new strategy. In the final analysis, it is the internal environment of the company that is the key – both for profitability as well as crowdsourcing of strategy.
Reference
Gast, A., & Zanini, M. (2012). The social side of strategy. Retrieved 16 Nov 2014, from http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/strategy/the_social_side_of_strategy
