Modulation and Integration of Strategy

Some companies place themselves into a defective organizational architecture that fractures alignment down through goals, strategies, objectives, procedures, and activities. This type of condition could work passively and unremittingly against the achievement of a mission and/or vision.

The following are typical observation that could come out based on the above condition and/or difficulties:

• They initiate boundary and uncooperative problem.
• They evolve patterns of operation that favor their units' interests.
• They inhibit cooperation, collaboration, and sharing information.
• They waste talent and often stifle innovation and creativity.
• They inhibit team up to pursue mission-critical outcomes.
• They lack of confidence and/or trust in subordinates.
• They impose high communication costs.
• They design workflow for restructuring.
• They develop impervious boundaries.
• They lack instruction or feedback.
• They lean on others for direction.
• They foster internal competition.
• They avoid contact with others.
• They create dependency.

Moreover, the intention of combating this behavior is one of the key factors why the current phase of creativity and development of Quoth is made into existence. That is, Quoth aims to utilize the modulation and integration of strategy to:

• provide a systematic and transparent inventory and a framework for evaluation and refinement of strategy information;
• have a focus departmental and individual agendas that aligns purpose in the fundamental structure and natural processes of operation, makes clear priorities, and eliminates guessing about next move; and
• exclude caste system practices that promotes factionalism, tempts in-group members to serve their own social and political needs at the expense of the company, and promotes unequal gender role power, influence, or access to opportunity.

Note: Modulation of strategy is divided into a careful set of classes and interwoven with synthesis in a mainly top-down fashion in Quoth. While the integration of strategy proceeds in an order governed by pattern interdependencies, the continuous analysis and repair of failures, and commitment to detail, variety, experimentation, and wholeness of purpose.

Further, Quoth must help company and its people to synthesize their existing organizational structure into a coherent view with it, albeit a multi-layered view, in which modulates and integrates the strategy information.

The modulation and integration of strategy is the primary principles in aiming to solve the following existing organizational disorders:

• Caste System: The Anointed and the Untouchables
• The One-man Band: Clint Eastwood Rules
• Testosterone Poisoning: Men Will Be Boys
• Malorganization: Structural Arthritis
• Silos: Cultural & Structural

The Process

The process of Quoth is spiral in nature, which solution to the shortcomings in strategic planning will take shape as Quoth proceeds. Characteristically, it will take shape slowly, informed by our growing understanding of Quoth.

The essentials of the process are characterized as follows:

A. Initially, we intend to foster deeper understanding of the problem in our practice by defining our framework (theoretical, conceptual, and operational), process, and situation. Here we understand our current situation, what our needs and interest are all about, and what our practice competency level are and/or require.

B. Then, we develop program and plan the action to reinforce and achieve the purpose. We develop the strategy as form of intervention.

C. Next we carry out the intervention to determine how successful the program and action has been. That is, during and around the time of intervention, relevant data are collected for outcome evaluation. This allows us to check the effects of the activities we intended to do, if they are aligned accordingly with the purpose. Note that, we may use several approach to generate data, such as observing the relevant factors and settings, interviewing people to discuss information, and analyzing documents.

D. Afterwards we meet better understanding of the strategy by reflecting on the result findings of the action. We may review the outcome we are pursuing; the emerging data collected; our evaluation, analysis, and interpretations; the plan of action we are using; our frameworks and processes to help us make sense of data; how well our actions are doing; and the people who are involved in the undertakings. These will lead us to better understanding on how we can achieve our purpose; allow us to become more effective at achieving our purpose; decide if the action is achieving what it is supposed to; devise ways of improving the action; and setup within the action some means for on-going monitoring and improvement.

E. Finally, in keeping up-to-date on the challenges facing us, we refine the strategy to improve the action until solution to the problem is achieved. The idea is to eliminate and close in upon the problem in our practice on which we are confronted with the refined strategy. In each “refine” the strategy is tested in our practice. The intended changes in the strategy reflect the evolution and redefinition of the strategy throughout the process.

Further, the process must be known and clarified based on certain condition. This is to ensure that the process could help us collaboratively agree on it and develop a coherent view for acceptance, understanding, compelling, empowerment, and/or likely action.

Practice Generalization Stage

The practice generalization stage uses dialectical process, which generates agreement out of disagreement. The purpose is to set standards, exchange accurate and adequate information, strive to understand what others’ issues, and use disagreement to identify where more information is needed. For example, people improve their understanding when they engage with issues. They educate each other within a process of participative, cooperative, and involvement inquiry. In other words, the stage is a process of mutual education.

Moreover, this stage process is of value. By reason of, it provides us with another way of obtaining accurate and reliable information. Scientifically, that is, it will allow us to test the strategy in the public arena – the strategy is described in a sufficient detail so that the strategy can be viewed, analyzed, and criticized by anyone who would like to question the strategic plan. In addition, it also helps us with the most practical and efficient approach to develop draft and finalized information. Like values - a person wants to identify and promote and those that will help him make the right decisions. To understand more what this valuing process is, consider the fundamental ideas described below.

One of the most common sets of activities in the statement gathering stage is the strategy formulation, wherein a person in a managing environment, whether it be office, school, home, or one’s workplace, wants to define and achieve his strategy, let say, as father in a family. Note that the father defines his strategy and specifies all his " father-related" roles and responsibilities on purpose, such as " head", "provider", “husband”, and “etc.” as dictated by or directed to support other strategies in the application. That is, he obtains and preserves the wholeness of an existing direction in striving to accomplish specific purpose. Then, the father strategy supported his family to achieve its goals and objectives. For example, the father strategy goal and objective is to address major problem facing the family like inadequate resources to provide them with their daily needs, and etc.

Observe, other fathers also define and achieve this same father strategy with different set of descriptive attributes or facets focusing on the same problem. Each of which results in a form shared by or adapted from other father strategy.

Then, the father strategy must be improved. Thus, the number of father strategies interconnected in the application is modeled into a base class of father strategies by originating and capturing the common and general attributes of these father strategies. This base class of father strategies will yield similar outcomes in similar situation once carried out properly and with passion by other fathers.

Next, in the event that a father wants to remodel and enhance the quality of his father strategy from an existing base class or derived class of father strategies, he can simply remodel his father strategy by means of inheritance. Another way is to use abstraction, encapsulation, polymorphism, and decomposition as modeling principles to remodel his father strategy.

Finally, much of a father’s work deals not only with his family, but with group, management, or organization as a whole in reality. Thus, a father can define and achieve more than one strategy and design them “Supervisor”, “Manager”, or “etc.” based on his given situation, position, or task.

Further, this stage could address the global issues of standards and the values that these imply, and translates the quality of strategy into definite pattern, accessible, workable, educational form, integrative, comprehensive, desirable, purposeful value, and advances.

Practice Organization Stage

The practice organization stage uses consensual process, which identifies agreement as foundation for further planning or decision-making. The purpose is to reach a mutually agreeable outcome, remove confusion, and put order. For example, people are willing to devote effort to achieve the same criteria, which gives them a common how to tasks and/or activities.

Moreover, the primary rule of this stage is this: As a person who defines a certain condition should look at it from the inside. He should be concerned with what it is composed of, how it works, and what he can contribute for the development of practice and/or strategy. As a person who operates on a certain condition to achieve direction should look at it from the outside and need to know anything about what is inside. He should be concerned only with what it is and what it does. He should look past the details and think solely in terms of the role that it plays at a higher level.

Furthermore, this stage requires internal consistency of data gathered that will be gathered in the practice gathering stage, which can be made possible by the use of database management systems. Like information are rearranged in a way that it makes the needed group categories. Or the same ideas of understanding are put into order for information patterns.

Further, this stage could create change in the application and reflect a conforming degree of control in a top-down fashion. Like it forms a geese, a group of web-footed water bird, swayed dramatically to a new direction when one goose have changed his course of direction. Of course, it is more factual if I used pigeon (a short-legged bird with compact body) instead of a goose in the analogy in the actual use when proceeds. The characteristic of the pigeon in the sky is more likely or unlikely will be followed by another pigeon in a group when the bird changed his direction. Also, in somewhat appropriate behavior, you may relate the behavior of the application to a buffalo, a large bovine mammal, joined a group and then lost his direction immediately when the leading buffalo of the group was killed by a buffalo hunter.

A further, this stage could make coordinated effort possible. Thus, it could influence us by its role. By reason of, it has the capacity to drive toward a variety of possible future. That is, it could give us a good chance of falling to the idea that the future is somewhat in linear progression.

This stage could help us to create the future.

Practice Gathering Stage

The study under this domain is focused on our descriptive attribute information characteristically a follows:

• Personal - like profile, qualification summary, knowledge and skills, training, work experiences, references, resources, and others.
• Company - includes mission and vision, values, goals, profile, product, services, program, policies, standards, resources, campaign, news, directive order, reports, letters, instruction, memo, and publication.
• Strategic Planning - includes requirements, SWOT, analysis, general statement, tactics, and operation details. Moreover, it presents an adaptive, open, and reflective approach to develop strategy. A major benefit of this approach is speeding formulation time. In addition to speeding formulation time, proper goal and objective and class construction and reuse results in less time development, which translates to provide higher performance.

The domain collects this information for unified and harmonized interaction, linkage, binding, relationship, interchange, transmission, and/or acquirement of its descriptive attributes. The purpose is to enable us to talk about, understand, interpret, criticize, operate on, interview in, and fulfill some other cognitive or pragmatic goal.

Moreover, this stage will contribute to our formative information, which could add value and credibility to the natural developmental and functional works being done by us. It will help us to create a maintainable reputation and predictable behavior that could demonstrate our capacity and integrity to influence other behaviors and clear negative expectation. It will also help us to increase our development and functional work knowledge, capacity, and effectiveness; and clear existing blockages by forming our frameworks and processes.

Further, this stage is designed nothing more than a file containing our information. It subdivides our information into manageable files in which we can change and evolve in the course of development. This kind of settings holds a great deal of promise, for it can conceivably lighten difficult tasks and bring impossible information into the realm of possibilities.

In this view, this stage must provide space wherein it can create a place for new ideas and choice behavior. It must also adopt a process that balances development, collection, and presentation of strategy. Without this behavior, then it might destroy or damage fresh strategies and new beginnings to emerge and nurture in the future.

Practice Training Stage

Quoth, like most interesting new developments, builds on some old ideas, extends them, and puts them together in distinctive ways. The result is many-faceted and a clear step forward.

Moreover, Quoth presents some formidable obstacles to those who would like to understand what it's all about or begin trying it out. It introduces a new way of doing things that may seem strange at first, and it comes with an extensive terminology that can take some getting used to. The terminology will help in the end, but it's not always easy to learn.

That's where this stage comes in. It's designed to help a person become familiar with Quoth and get over the hurdle its terminology presents. In addition, it spells out some of the implications of Quoth and tries to give him a flavor of what formulating a strategy is really like. That is, it meets the need for simple how-to-do-it approach in developing strategy.

Furthermore, this stage is focused on teaching approaches. In effect, the question “how can this subject matter best be taught?” is raised. Strategic planning, in turn, can be done most effectively when we have some prior understanding.

Further, the practice training stage will involve establishing the Special Interest Group.

Perceived Benefits

In the Benefit piece, I said about talking more on this. Here the following are perceived benefits of having Quoth from instituting training, record keeping, human resource information, planning, organizing, directing (couching and/or counseling), controlling (knowing what direction and guidelines), and/or generalizing use of information characteristically as follows:

Training

• Acquire new or improve knowledge and skills.

Record Keeping

• Clarify and promote understanding of company practices.
• Provide human resource information and source of data for statistical purposes.
• Promote consistency and credibility – the roadmap for consistent, fair, and firm management.
• Provide direction and guideline information to know what the management wants to do in carrying out its objectives.
• Provide manager with reference information that applies his subordinate practices on a day-to-day basis. It gives the manager a quick reference guides to various information.
• A positive reminder to manager about the important needs for consistency – it will reinforce the manager’s day-to-day responsibility for supervising his employees fairly, firmly, and consistently and administering company performance standards.
• Provide the “newly promoted” manager with confidence on what he should expect on employees in their day-to-day work practices.
• Save much time for managers in getting answers to questions raised by employees on a day-to-day basis about what should be done and how to handle problems.
• Help creates a maintainable reputation and predictable behavior that could demonstrate capability and integrity to influence other behaviors.
• Provide new employees with their first employee education and orientation on what is expected of them in their new job in terms of on-the-job performance.

Human Resource Information

• Ensure that the company has the right number and kinds of employees capable of effectively and efficiently completing tasks that will help the company achieve its overall objectives.
• Provide an efficient new employee orientation management tool – the most practical and useful management communication tool in the induction and orientation of new employees.
• Provide an effective management recruiting tool – can be represented to prospective employees to provide a positive and persuasive image of the company.
• Attract desirable new employees in the employee recruiting process – project a favorable, positive image of the company and what the prospective employee may expect from the company.
• Help effective placement of jobs.
• Determine the degree of job market condition.
• Identify if the type of needed candidate are available.
• Measure how much the candidates know about his job.
• Hire those candidates who are best at formulating strategy.
• Develop and maintain contact for future human resources needs.
• Staff and promote those candidates who will most effectively implement strategy.
• Identify employees who are qualified for transfer, promotion, or upgrade selection. Thus, it could serve as basis for job evaluation.
• Use to acquire competent employees in terms of knowledge, skills, experiences, traits, and behavior.
• Identify vacant positions, its requirements, and its type for possible job application.

Planning

• Allow effective utilization of available resources.
• Develop uniformity of understanding and purposes.
• Promote public trust and confidence towards leaders.
• Save management substantial time and operating cost by avoiding the need for day-to-day, week-to-week spontaneous, lengthy “brainstorming” session to discuss and reach decisions about what should be done and how to handle problems.
• Help priority setting.
• Demonstrate stable situation.
• Delimit confusion and brand image.
• Begin to set in a sense of optimism.
• Enhance communication within company.
• Promote and enhance the development of work effectiveness and advancement.
• Improve morale.
• Improve educational practices.
• Simplify the tasks of practitioners.
• Enhance interest and pride in work.
• Advance knowledge in any applicable field of study.
• Provide employees with a sense of self-esteem and job security.
• Begin to feel more confident and get used of new way of doing things.
• Help shape, affect, and achieve desired attitude, program, and work functionality.
• Get things better immediately with smooth and harmonious adaptation to change.
• Improve condition spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally, financially, and/or socially.
• Help increase work knowledge, capacity, and effectiveness to clear existing blockages by forming work frameworks and processes.

Organizing

• Relate component parts to one another and to the company objectives.
• Develop channels of promotions and transfer along lines determined by duties, responsibilities, job requirements, working conditions, and other interests.
• Connect formal relationship among those which are officially established and prescribed in the company manuals, charts, and job descriptions.
• Help effective management and utilization of available resources and manpower to produce results.
• Help in making decisions.
• Regulate activities in accordance to the general plans.
• Provide managers and employees with common ground for mutual understanding of the employees responsibilities in the workplace – reinforce the manager’s authority and responsibility to properly supervise employees.
• Align plans, resources, and requirements.

Directing (couching)

• Give credit.
• Give visibility.
• Build interaction.
• Keep confidence.
• Make aware of duties.
• Capitalize on strengths.
• Serve as a good role model.
• Orient company values and strategies.
• Provide feedback about job performance.
• Help shape company and its people direction.
• Help increase company and its people relationships.
• Promote sense of encouragement that renders work proactively.
• Collaborate company and its people learning that addresses issues
• Promote sense of encouragement that leads to a gain of energy and commitment
• Help the company and its people share a special bond with others that make their success just as important to one as his own might be.
• Explain reasons for decisions and procedures and give advance notice of changes whenever possible.
• Identify behavior or results that were desired, not up to, or up to exceeding standards. And that are highly regarded and often specific how to incorporate them in the future.
• Ask to work willingly and effectively for the achievement of designated goals.
• Provide information / feedback on operation for decision making.
• Communicate information requiring immediate action.
• Communicate information requiring future action.
• Communicate information that affects them.
• Have others understand your ideas.
• Answer complaints and criticism.
• Reprimand for work deficiency.
• Motivate and work for results.
• Communicate work progress.
• Stimulate desired action.
• Defend the status quo.
• Produce action.

Directing (counseling)

• Reassure insecurity.
• Protect from undue stress.
• Make performance expectations and priorities
• Make feel confident about ability to solve problems.
• Help promoting better employee-employer relationship
• Encourage when you are discouraged or about to undertake new and difficult situation.
• Provide information about the company and their role in the attainment of goals.
• Allow and send their dissatisfaction or concern about their jobs.
• Establish personal relationships wherein mutual trust is developed.
• Enhance the good image of the company and its people.
• Provide opportunities to have a say with everyone.
• Solicit feeling, ideas, and solutions.
• Give full attention to discussion.
• Help work out tough priorities.
• Allow and grieve over loss.
• Get the people together.
• Support taking risk.
• Let make decisions.
• Build self-esteem.

Controlling (knowing what direction and guidelines)

• Performance rating
• Decision making
• Operations
• Programs
• Functions
• Problems
• Contracts

Generalizing

• Prevent unnecessary creation or duplication of positions, work, and activities.
• Link all the proceeding functions of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling.
• Guide in establishing standards or work performance, simplifying work procedures, and improving methods and approaches.
• Spell out the thinking of the practitioners and their attitude towards personal, work, and program.

Further, they are based on the four practice stages below.


The practice stages are discussed in the next pieces.