Develop a Strategic Plan

DEVELOP A STRATEGIC PLAN FEEDBACK 02-14-22

02/08/2022

Thank you, Walter, for your thoughtful work on this important deliverable. 

While this submission includes several strengths, it also includes some soft spots. 

Please review and address my comments on the rubric dated 02/08/2022.

Be encouraged, Walter. This will take a little time but only a little. You are obviously quite capable.

I fully expect that you will be able to address all of these issues in short order.

1) Explains the purpose of department’s strategic goals. NOT YET MASTERED!!!!!

You are off to a good start here, Walter, but your opening section (slides one through seven) still needs some work.

First. This section is too long. One slide is usually sufficient. Just explain the general purpose of your department’s goals.

Second. In this case study, the technology department that you lead is not the IT department. They do not manage hardware, software, networks, data security, etc. Your team is a group of highly skilled PhD level electrical engineers. It would be best to think of your team as the engineering department.

You may find these resources very helpful in this process. •    Time Management Part I: Goal Setting as a Planning Tool •    Goals and Goal Setting: Achieve Measurable Results (pgs. 3-5 & 11) •    Mastering Strategic Management (Section 2.1) •    Setting Goals and Strategic Plans •    Goals and Goal Setting: Achieve Measurable Results (pgs. 29-32)

It may help, Walter, if you will consider these leading questions. •    What is the goal of Hoorah Corporation's strategic plan? •    How would the Hoorah Corporate Board describe the purpose of the Technology Department and therefore the strategic goals it must meet in the next two years? •    What is the general purpose of the Department’s strategic plan?  •    Explain how your strategic goals are centered around the design and launch of the microchip. 

2) Describes how components of departmental strategic plan align to organization’s goals. NOT YET MASTERED!!!!!

There are several strengths in your presentation, Walter, but it is not quite complete in this area because your goals are not clear. Let’s look at your first goal as an example.

On slide number seven, you wrote “Inside year and a half, plan and produce a functioning model semiconductor that is minimal expense and equipped for offering to better quality contenders”. In this case study, there are two microchips mentioned. One is for Hoorah's new autonomous vehicle, and one will be sold to other car companies. They are two very different products. The first one will contain trade secrets that Hoorah will not want to share with competitors. The second chip will be a much simpler processors for less complicated vehicles. If you choose to mention both chips, be sure to make these differences obvious.

Please be sure that all of your goals are outcome oriented, objectively-measurable goals, not procedures or activities.

You may find these resources very helpful in this process. •    A Strategic Plan: Your Roadmap to Success •    Great Expectations •    Goals and Goal Setting: Achieve Measurable Results (pgs.16-18 & 20) •    Goals and Goal Setting: Achieve Measurable Results (pgs. 60-63 & 67-69)

It will help if, in this goal setting process, you will consider these leading questions. •    What are the goals the Board has established for the Hoorah Corporation? •    How does the Board expect your Department to address those goals? •    What are the specific outcomes the Board expects of your Department? •    In what ways will your Departmental goals support or align with those organizational goals?

3) Aligns tactical steps to organization’s strategic goals. NOT YET MASTERED!!!!!

I need to postpone evaluating your tactics (methods) until after your three goals are complete and approved.

4) Describes how the attainment of departmental strategic goals will be measured. NOT YET MASTERED!!!!!

Likewise, I need to postpone evaluating your metrics too, Walter, until after your goals and tactics are complete and approved.

5) Explains how to close the gap between departmental strategic plan and organizational goals. NOT YET MASTERED!!!!!

When potential gaps or threats are identified, that is good. That is the exact point - to find them, identify them and address them before they have a negative impact on the Department’s performance or the organization’s success. So, having identified a threat to your Department’s success, you need to address it. I refer here to your team, turnover, retiring expertise, grumpy workers, new folks, etc. You have not yet explained what you would do to solve or minimize these problems. Please do. Please explain how you would address this problem, how you would close the gap that you have identified.

You may find these resources useful in this process. •    What Is a Gap Analysis? •    Gap Analysis: Walking Through the Gaps, Analyzing the Cracks •    4 Examples of Gap Analysis •    14 Examples of Process Gaps

It may help with your response if you will consider these leading questions. •    To what extent have you identified the threat precisely?  •    How will your proposed actions address the gap and solve it rather than just avoid or work around it?

6) Clearly conveys meaning with correct grammar, sentence structure, and spelling; shows understanding of audience and purpose. NOT YET MASTERED!!!!!

Your writing is clear in several areas, Walter, but it is also confusing in too many places because of grammar, word choice, punctuation errors, etc. Please edit and correct this deliverable, one extra time and slowly, before you resubmit it.

You can find some help with writing in our project resources. For example, on the main page of this competency, you will see several tiles in the middle of the page. In the second row down, you will see a tile labeled “Academic Support”. (From the homepage of your course --> Academic Support --> "Get Help with your Schoolwork" --> scroll down to "Written Feedback".) This link will take you to several types of academic support that many students find quite useful. For example, you can upload your document and receive feedback on your writing within 12 hours.

7) Lists sources where needed using citation methods with no major errors. NOT YET MASTERED!!!!!

You wrote some of this using your own good ideas, Walter, and that was a nice approach. You also used some of the concepts from some of our resources. That was correct too. But you did not follow appropriate attribution (citation style). Proper attribution comes in two parts, in-text citations and a reference list. You are off to a good start with your reference list, but you have not cited those sources in-text.

Every source cited in the reference list needs to have been cited in-text. The sole purpose of the reference list is simply to show the complete citation of all sources cited in-text. Nothing more and nothing less. We call this alignment.

You will find some excellent help with citations in our project resources. On the main page of this competency, you will see several tiles in the middle of the page. In the second row down, on the left, is a tile labeled Citation Help. This link will take you to our Citation Guide and our Citation Maker. These can be very useful to you. Very.