Strategic Management in the Public Sector: Reflections on It’s Applicability to Iranian Public Organizations

Strategic management is a managerial story of private sector that has been transferred to the public sector. Many authors have challenged its applicability in public organizations. This paper discusses some important barriers to implementation of strategic management in the public sector empirically. After presenting a conceptual model, we examine several important factors that influence the failure or shortcomings of public sector strategic management. The last section of paper offers implications for theory and practice.

[1]  Ian Wilson,et al.  Strategic planning isn't dead— it changed , 1994 .

[2]  E. A. Locke,et al.  Separating the effects of goal specificity from goal level , 1989 .

[3]  Mary Louise Hatten Strategic management in not-for-profit organizations , 1982 .

[4]  H. Koontz Making strategic planning work , 1976 .

[5]  Peter Smith Ring,et al.  Strategic Management in Public and Private Organizations: Implications of Distinctive Contexts and Constraints , 1985 .

[6]  Robert D. Behn,et al.  Why Measure Performance? Different Purposes Require Different Measures , 2003 .

[7]  G. Miller Unique Public-Sector Strategies , 1989 .

[8]  Laurence J. O'Toole,et al.  Strategic Management and the Performance of Public Organizations: Testing Venerable Ideas against Recent Theories , 2006 .

[9]  R. Durant,et al.  From Complacence to Compliance , 1986 .

[10]  Paul C. Nutt,et al.  Strategic Management of Public and Third Sector Organizations: A Handbook for Leaders , 1992 .

[11]  Barry Bozeman,et al.  Public Management Strategies: Guidelines for Managerial Effectiveness , 1990 .

[12]  Marc Holzer Public Productivity Handbook , 2004 .

[13]  Frances Stokes Berry,et al.  State Agencies' Experience with Strategic Planning: Findings from a National Survey , 1995 .

[14]  S. Hart,et al.  How strategy‐making processes can make a difference , 1994 .

[15]  Owen E. Hughes,et al.  Public Management and Administration: An Introduction , 1994 .

[16]  H. Rainey,et al.  Goal Ambiguity and Organizational Performance in U.S. Federal Agencies , 2005 .

[17]  Melville Hensey Strategic Planning: Developments and Improvements , 1997 .

[18]  S. Floyd,et al.  The Middle Management Perspective on Strategy Process: Contributions, Synthesis, and Future Research , 2008 .

[19]  Do senior management development programmes enhance strategic management capabilities , 2006 .

[20]  Gregory Streib,et al.  STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR Concepts, Models, and Processes , 1999 .

[21]  P. Ingraham,et al.  Government Performance: Why Management Matters , 2003 .

[22]  The nature and practice of strategic planning in Egypt , 2007 .

[23]  John M. Bryson,et al.  Initiation of Strategic Planning by Governments , 1988 .

[24]  Peter Kobrak The Social Responsibilities of a Public Entrepreneur , 1996 .

[25]  Luc Bernier,et al.  The Changing Nature of Public Entrepreneurship , 2007 .

[26]  M. Argyropoulou,et al.  Board characteristics and involvement in strategic decision making , 2009 .

[27]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  Cycles of organizational change , 1992 .

[28]  Sangmook Kim,et al.  Individual-Level Factors and Organizational Performance in Government Organizations , 2004 .

[29]  Thomas Plant Public sector strategic planning: An emergent approach , 2006 .

[30]  R. Steinberg,et al.  Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations , 2011 .

[31]  H. D. Fard An Administrative Manifesto for Survival in the Twenty‐First Century , 2009 .

[32]  W. P. Barnett,et al.  EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVES ON STRATEGY , 2007 .

[33]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  Rethinking strategic planning part I: Pitfalls and fallacies , 1994 .

[34]  M. Beer,et al.  The Silent Killers of Strategy Implementation and Learning , 2000 .

[35]  Michael Barzelay,et al.  Breaking through bureaucracy : a new vision for managing in government , 1992 .

[36]  D. King,et al.  Using strategic planning to drive strategic change. , 1992, Long range planning.

[37]  P. Drucker What business can learn from nonprofits. , 1989, Harvard business review.

[38]  Paul C. Nutt,et al.  Organizational Publicness And Its Implications For Strategic Management , 1993 .

[39]  P. Drucker The Deadly Sins in Public Administration , 1980 .

[40]  G. Steiner,et al.  Strategic Planning: What Every Manager Must Know , 2008 .

[41]  David R. Brodwin,et al.  Strategic implementation: Five approaches to an elusive phenomenon , 1984 .

[42]  Mihaela Kelemen,et al.  Too Much or Too Little Ambiguity: The Language of Total Quality Management , 2000 .

[43]  Frances S. Berry Innovation in Public Management: The Adoption of Strategic Planning , 1994 .

[44]  Douglas C. Eadie,et al.  Putting a Powerful Tool to Practical Use: The Application of Strategic Planning in the Public Sector , 1983 .

[45]  Strategic management: A tool for public management? An overview of the Belgian federal experience , 2007 .

[46]  Sidney A. Nachman,et al.  Strategic leadership patterns , 1989 .

[47]  Peter Lorange,et al.  Strategic Planning and Control: Issues in the Strategy Process , 1993 .

[48]  Henry Mintzberg The Strategy Concept I: Five Ps for Strategy , 1987 .

[49]  R. Denhardt,et al.  The Pursuit of Significance : Strategies for Managerial Success in Public Organizations , 2000 .

[50]  J. Kotter Leading change: why transformation efforts fail , 2009, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[51]  Jack Koteen,et al.  Strategic Management in Public and Nonprofit Organizations: Managing Public Concerns in an Era of Limits , 1997 .

[52]  S. Moore,et al.  Strategic management in Australia and China: the great leap forward or an illusion? , 2007 .

[53]  Participative planning for a public service , 1989 .

[54]  R. Moe,et al.  THE REINVENTING GOVERNMENT EXERCISE: MISINTERPRETING THE PROBLEM, MISJUDGING THE CONSEQUENCES , 1994 .

[55]  Gregory G. Dess,et al.  Measuring organizational performance in the absence of objective measures: The case of the privately-held firm and conglomerate business unit , 1984 .

[56]  I. MacMillan,et al.  Strategy implementation versus middle management self-interest , 1986 .

[57]  R. Hendrick,et al.  Strategic Planning Environment, Process, and Performance in Public Agencies: A Comparative Study of Departments in Milwaukee , 2003 .

[58]  S. French,et al.  Critiquing the language of strategic management , 2009 .

[59]  R. Behn The Big Questions of Public Management , 1995 .

[60]  H. Rainey,et al.  Public Agencies and Private Firms , 1983 .

[61]  A Partnership for Strategic Planning and Management in a Public Organization , 2001 .

[62]  B. Dyer,et al.  What Will New Governance Mean for the Federal Government , 1994 .

[63]  R. Haass The Bureaucratic Entrepreneur: How to Be Effective in Any Unruly Organization , 1999 .

[64]  Anthony R White,et al.  Strategic management , 1986 .

[65]  Robert A. Dahl,et al.  Politics, Economics, and Welfare. , 1953 .