The Deliberate-Emergent Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Deliberate-Emergent Strategy - Essay Example 260). Five years later, Mintzberg (1990) wrote a critique of the 'design school' generally associated with the Harvard Business School where Porter was a faculty member (Mintzberg was then a professor at Canada's McGill University). Before going into the essence of the discussions, a brief explanation is in order as to what Mintzberg meant when he distinguished these two methods - deliberate and emergent - of formulating strategy, also known as defining 'long-term' organisational objectives. Deliberate strategy is a method of formulating strategy following an over-all design dictated by top management that needs to be followed more or less strictly, whilst emergent strategy is a method of developing strategy following a trial and error approach based on general guidelines agreed on by everyone in the organisation (Mintzberg, 1990). Deliberate strategy is a 'top-down' approach, the product of what he called the 'design' or 'planning' school, whilst emergent strategy is its opposite, a process of 'learning by doing' that belongs to the 'learning' or 'emerging strategy' school. Taking up the challenge was Ansoff, one of the 'fathers' of strategic planning (1965), who felt alluded to. He countered with a defence (1991) of the 'design school' and a discussion and critique of Mintzberg's 'emerging strategy' school. Mintzberg responded (1991) by categorising an earlier Ansoff work (1987) as being part of the 'design school' and built upon the basic premises proposed by Andrews (1987). Although Mintzberg (1991) agreed that both emergent learning and deliberate planning are necessary for good strategy formulation, he defends his initial position that in a fast-changing world characterised by the rise of knowledge workers, learning organisations, and ever-shifting markets, the top-down deliberate strategy approach must be balanced by placing greater attention on emergent strategy techniques. Up next inside the ring was Goold (1992), a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) consultant who elaborated upon and defended his and BCG's role in Honda's development of a successful motorcycle strategy. He acknowledged the differences between the planning (deliberate) and learning (emergent) approaches but counselled that synthesis and collaboration, rather than conflict, are most appropriate for the continued development of the discipline, a view that Porter (1996) and Mintzberg (with Lampel, 1999) supported. A thorough study and analyses of the academic papers surrounding the debate would show that, in reality, there may be no grounds for conflict as the arguments proposed by both schools seem equally sound and reasonable. To better understand why, it would be necessary to develop a clear understanding (Johnson, Scholes, and Whittington, 2005) of strategy, strategy formulation, and strategic management and implementation (or execution). Strategy comes from the Greek word strategos meaning "art of the general" and implies its initial application in warfare (Watson, 1993, p. 26). Strategic planning involves knowing what to do in the future and is also called "long-range planning", but before an