1.  In order to properly implement a strategic plan, organizations use  structure, various control systems (budgets, variance analysis, policies  and procedures, company rules), and culture.     Let u

1.  In order to properly implement a strategic plan, organizations use  structure, various control systems (budgets, variance analysis, policies  and procedures, company rules), and culture.    

Let us revisit General Mills and determine the relative effectiveness of the company’s strategic controls. Choose two implementation controls, and discuss whether or not you believe the  controls you've selected effectively support the company's strategic  choices. Be sure to defend your answer (critical thinking is required)!

2.  Culture must fit with an organization's strategic choices.  Poor alignment between culture and strategic choice is a sure-fire way  to doom any strategic choice.

Of course, some organizational theorists would assert that an  organization's culture cannot be "managed" in the truest sense of how  one “manages" the processes and activities and things that exist within  an organization. David Campbell (2000, p. 28) says that an organization

Is being constructed continuously on a daily, even momentary [italics  added], basis through individual interactions with others. The  organization never settles into an entity or a thing that can be  labelled and described, because it is constantly changing, or  reinventing itself, through the interactions going on within it. [At the  same time, an organization] does have a certain character to it, such  that, like driving on the motorway, not just anything goes (p. x).

Do you agree or disagree with the above? That is, can culture  really be "managed"? What might this interpretation mean in the context  of our current discussion related to “strategic controls”? 

A  few comments on the above: Many individuals believe that, while the  notion of "culture" can be defined, no single individual (irrespective  of his/her legitimate power) is capable of single-handedly moving an  organization’s culture in one direction or another. These individuals  suggest that the sheer number of formal and informal groups, structures,  tasks, functional operations, and individual interactions that exist  and occur within organizations (even moderate-sized ones) render the  “management” of culture impossible (consider the potential number – and  combination – of individual to individual, individual to group, and  group to group interactions that are likely to occur within an  organization at each and every moment (and then, there are endless  numbers of contacts / interactions with external stakeholders as well).  The possibilities are seemingly infinite -- or at least they are  indefinite. In this view, an organization’s culture is abstract,  fragmentary, fluid -- and even relative and momentary – how can such a  thing be “managed” in the same sense that we “manage” people and  organizational processes?

3.   Please address the following:   What concepts were most interesting to you?  (“Strategic Management Process/Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives”, “The External Environment, Internal Profile, and SWOT”, “Strategic Choices”, “Strategy Implementation and Strategic Controls”) What concepts and ideas will be most useful to you?  What actions will you take in the future to improve yourself and your abilities in these two areas?