Barriers in Strategic Evaluation and Control :
Strategic evaluation and control since an appraisal process for the organization as a whole and people who are involved in strategic management process either at the stage of strategy formulation or strategy implementation or both, is not free from certain barriers and problems. These barriers and problems center around two factors: motivational and operational. To discuss Barriers in Strategic Evaluation and Control the following problems have to be overcome.
Motivational Problems
The first problem in strategic evaluation is the motivation of managers (strategists) to evaluate whether they have chosen correct strategy after its results are available. Often two problem; are involved in motivation to evaluate the strategy: psychological problem and lack of direct relationship between performance and rewards.
Operational Problems
Even if managers agree for strategic evaluation, the problem of strategic evaluation is not over, though a beginning has been made. This is so because strategic evaluation is a nebulous process; many factors are not as clear as the managers would like these to be. These factors are in the areas of determination of evaluative criteria, performance measurement, and taking suitable corrective actions. All these are involved in strategic evaluation and control. However, nebulousness nature is not unique to strategic evaluation and control only but it is unique to the entire strategic management process.
Four basic types of strategic controls:
- Premise control which basically identifies the key assumptions and keeps track of changes in them to evaluate the impact on strategy and implementation. It is usually handled by the corporate planning team in view of the environmental and organizational factors.
- Implementation control comprises appraising programs, projects and plans in order to observe whether predetermined objectives are achieved. It leads to strategic re-thinking.
- Strategic surveillance aims at generalized control which is intended to monitor a wide range of events which are likely to threaten the course of actions of the business.
- Special Alert control is a quick response or instantaneous reassessment of strategy in the light of sudden and unanticipated events.