Q1. What is meant by Strategy? Differentiate between goals and objectives?

Ans:

Strategy
Strategy is the method by which an organisation systematically achieves its future objectives. A business cannot progress for a long term without a reliable strategy. In this unit, you will learn meaning of business strategies, its conceptual evolution, scope and its importance, distinction between goals and objectives, analysing strategic intent through vision and mission statements and finding out the significance of core competencies of business and critical success factors. Sometimes, when clients hear, What is your strategy?, there is a deafenin g silence on the other end of the line. Not only do they have no strategy, they have no concept of the meaning of the word. So what is a strategy and how do you develop one? The American Heritage College Dictionarys first definition of strategy is, The S cience and Art of using a nations forces to execute approved plans as effectively as possible. Leaving aside the military aspect of this definition, substitute a few words, and for our purposes, you get, The Science and Art of using a clients resources and skills to execute detailed plans as effectively as possible. Science and Art means that the effort is done in a meticulous way, according to laws of nature, but adjusted and finessed in the moment, as needed when circumstances require it. In practice, what are the most meaningful ideas that need to be understood about strategies? 1. The primary purpose of behaving strategically is to be as effective as possible, i.e. have the best results, and to have the intended results. 2. Strategic actions are part of a well thought out, detailed plan, a plan that has the most likely probability of success, a plan so well prepared that chance is no longer in play. 3. A client will execute their plan in a logical and realistic progression. Effective strategies are laid out on time lines, so that the client is taking the right action at the right time. With a timeline, the client can release fretting and worrying about any action but the current one. 4. Using a clients resources and skills means that the client look s at their current resources and considers how they can be used to produce the greatest results. Has the client considered all their resources, including those that have just been sitting on a shelf? Assessing skills is equally as important. Which skills bring the greatest satisfaction? Is there

a new combination of existing skills that could produce greater financial return in the market place? 5. Plans are detailed. Initially, the client spends some time brainstorming every possible idea they could conceivably put into action as part of their strategy. Later as part of the process, the client chooses some actions and deletes others. These choices are made, based on things such as clients likes and dislikes, likelihood of success, projected results, conditions in the marketplace, time available, and family considerations. 6. Strategies, in the end, are about being executed as effectively as possible. This means that they bring the intended results, and are almost guaranteed to do so. This means that, if executed as planned, there is a high likelihood of success as projected. It also means that skills and resources have been used as efficiently as possible. 7. Lastly, strategies are flexible. Clients should review their strategies regularly (weekly is recommended), and as needed, adjust when the need becomes obvious. If you are reviewing your strategies and evolving them as you go, you can expect even greater results

Goals and Objectives:

Goals and objectives create the foundation for lesson plans. If they are written well, an instructor will have an effective and meaningful structure for discussion, activities, and assessment. Goals and objectives serve as a reminder that teaching is not an end in itself, but the means to an end. Goals Goals explain the reasoning behind what you will teach in a session. They articulate what you wish to accomplish and help to map your direction.

They address the question: What do I want my students to take with them after the session is completed? Once you've organized your goals, you can decide what content and teaching method will best achieve them. Goals state what a student should be able to do at the end of the library session; they do not describe the learning process. Goals for one session are often related to goals for the entire course. It can be helpful to look at the overall course goals and those of other library instructors. Goals should be clear and reachable. Concentrate on naming the most important broad concepts.

Examples - Goals Worse: Students will go through a sample search in Lexis-Nexis. Better: Students will be able to effectively search a commercial database. Worse: Students will be able to find an online periodical index, open it, perform a search, evaluate their results, refine their search if needed, and then choose three articles for their research paper. Better:

Students will be capable of selecting and searching library resources that relate to their discipline. Objectives Objectives are student performances of the concepts described in your session goals. They are often referred to as 'learning outcomes' because they define more specifically what skills students will be able to demonstrate after your session. They can be used to assess the effectiveness of the session. Objectives should always focus on the students, not the instructor. Objectives should address outcomes, not learning processes. Each objective should focus on only one idea. Objectives should measure specific behaviors. Try to avoid using vague verbs such as 'understands' and 'knows.'

Examples - Objectives Worse: Teach students to search the library catalog. Better: Students will be able to perform a title search in the library catalog. Worse: Students should know and apply evaluating strategies for choosing articles. Better: Students will able to distinguish between scholarly and popular magazines. Worse: Students will understand how to use the Boolean operators AND and OR. Better: Students will demonstrate how to use the Boolean operators AND and OR. Goals What you want students to take with them after the session is completed. Ex: Students will be able to select and search online indexes related to their discipline. Objectives Student performances demonstrating the abilities described in your goals.

Ex: Students will locate indexes as they are grouped by subject and choose one.Next they will perform searches using advanced search techniques.They will then evaluate their search results.

Goals are statements that provide an overview about what the project should achieve. It should align with the business goals. Goals are long-term targets that should be achieved in a business. Goals are indefinable, and abstract. Goals are hard to measure and do not have definite timeline. Writing clear goals is an essential section of planning the strategy. Example One of the goals of a company helpdesk is to increase the customer satisfaction for customers calling for support. Objectives are the targets that an organisation wants to achieve over a period of time. Example The objective of a marketing company is to raise the sales by 20% by the end of the financial year.

Example An automobile company has a Goal to become the leading manufacturer of a particular type of car with certain advanced technological features and the Objective is to manufacture 30,000 cars in 2011. Both goals and objectives are the tools for achieving the target. The two concepts are different but related. Goals are high level statements that provide overall framework about the purpose of the project. Objectives are lower level statements that describe the tangible products and deliverables that the project will deliver.