Strategic Foresight & Organisation Learning

[pic 1]

LITERATURE REVIEW for

MBS606 Strategic Decision Making:

STRATEGIC FORESIGHT & ORGANISATION LEARNING

By Chua Han Xiang Joel (30766312) – CLASS MBS606A

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Strategic foresight encourages decision makers to think systematically, immerse themselves and discuss the likely challenges of the future by testing their current assumptions of the future in business strategy formulation (Waddock 2015). According to Lusk and Birks (2014), strategic foresight helps decision makers to understand possible future complexity, build resilience, set direction and then design and implement policies for the organisation. While the process of strategy formulation, foresight activities do promote collective form of learning as an organisation and for the decision-makers as they adapt, implement, monitor and evaluate strategies with the help of scenario planning. The aim of this literature review “Strategic Foresight and Organisation Learning” by Bootz (2010) is to understand the relationship between strategic foresight and organisation learning.  The review will cover analysis of the article and the practicality of implementation for organisations.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary        2

Introduction        4

Strategic Foresight and Organisation Learning         4 

        Strategic Foresight Relationship with Organisation Learning         5

        Aspects of Organisation Learning lacking in Strategic Foresight         5

        Strategic Foresight and Organisational Learning is Leadership Driven         5

        Scenario Planning is a Valuable Educational & Communication Tool         5

        Unpredictability in Scenario Planning         6

        Creativity in Strategic Foresight         6

Conclusion _        7

References:        8

INTRODUCTION

Foresight is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as “the ability to judge correctly what is going to happen in the future and plan your actions based on this knowledge” (Dictionary 2016). Application of foresight in the organisation context and environment is known as strategic foresight.  According to Schwarz (1991), management practitioners liken strategic foresight as an art of the long-term view that involves the long-term analysis of business process, markets and environments, and the implications it has on cooperate strategies.  Contrary to Schwarz (1991), management academics have opposing views that strategic foresight is science that can be defined in areas of strategy, management and technology (Pettigrew, Thomas et al. 2002).  Despite these opposing views of strategic foresight as an art or science, both academics and practitioners conceded that strategic foresight is not to predict the future, but to prepare organisations for the future through a learning process (Van der Heijden, Bradfield et al. 2002, Tsoukas and Shepherd 2004, Bootz 2010).