Cervone, H. F. (2014). Strategic planning and assessment. Journal Of Library Administration, 54(2), 155-168. doi:10.1080/01930826.2014.903371
Summary:
The article describes how agile methodologies - in software development - can be used in the strategic planning process to help facilitate greater engagement and more effective planning processes. The article defines, examines, and discusses strategic management and the factors, which impede it 's affective use. Altering the cultural fabric of the organization is vital to the successful implementation of strategic planning. “It is clear then that developing a planning culture is critical to strategic planning success” p. 158. To combat the three common issues of apathy - based on an ambiguous definition of strategic planning -, the overselling of the concept as an all purpose solution, and the poor execution or misplaced focus of any or all of the seven elements in an organization, which frequently hinder strategic planning; the author offers two solutions - found in agile project management - for addressing and conquering the barriers to strategic planning. …show more content…
The first concept from agile project management, advocates the creation and use of short term goals and objectives rather than long projects. The second concept advocates increased and frequent communication with all members of the project. These two concept can be more effectively implemented through the use of the Scrum model. “For purposes of strategic planning, the Scrum model is used to implement a lightweight process for managing and controlling planning” p. 163. The Scrum model utilizes three concepts: roles, processes, and artifacts. This section discusses the 3 roles of Scrum: master, team, project owner (p. 163-64), the five major activities of Scrum: the kickoff, sprint planning meeting, the sprint, the daily scrum, and sprint review meeting (p. 164-165). Thus, the use of agile project methods improves the attainment of goals and objectives, while increasing accountability and ownership through the reenforcing of extensive communication, which helps teams to organize more effectively. Analysis: This article provides a demonstration of the elements of strategic planning as implemented in agile project methodology and examines the practices from the software industry, which may facilitate greater involvement, enthusiasm, and use of strategic planning. This work enhances the research by providing a dualistic definition of strategic planning. “Strategic planning is defined by two basic concepts: (a) the identification and expression of long-term goals and (b) the provisioning of resources to bring those goals to fruition” p. 156. Further more the examination of the issues surrounding strategic planning and the implementation of the Scrum model - to enhance the effectiveness of strategic planning - illustrates the importance of strategic planning and it 's complexity within organizations. Evaluation: Due to H. Frank Cervone 's record as an author of scholarly literature, a lecturer, and his role as the Director of Information Technology and College Information Security Officer for the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois in Chicago, he is an excellent source on the finer points of agile project methods such as the Scrum model. One limitation to this article is that changing the organizational planning strategy maybe a difficult and gradual transition from a traditional form of planning to agile project methods. Chekwa, C., Ouhirra, L., Thomas, E., & Chukwuanu, M. (2014). An examination of the effects of leadership on business ethics: Empirical study. International Journal Of Business & Public Administration, 11(1), 48-65. Summary: This article examines and reveals the linear relationship between leadership and ethical behavior, and demonstrates how leadership impacts ethical behavior. Through a survey of organization’s employees, …show more content…
The eight ethical virtues are: clarity, congruency of management, congruency of supervisors, feasibility, supportability, transparency, discussability, and sanctionability. The importance of ethics programs and their methods are given. The work also examines transactional verses transformational leadership and methods of resolving moral issues. The methodology and research design section examines the collection of empirical data, which evaluates the relationship between leadership and organizational ethical behavior. Although the empirical data of this work does not offer a final and definitive verdict on the relationship of leadership to ethical behavior, the comprehensive overview of the literature provides a solid foundation for the further investigation and initial discussion of the relationship of these vital elements of organizational