Dynamic planning

Description

Organizations cannot survive in today's turbulent and threatening business environment unless senior managers learn to diagnose and address underlying problems instead of applying the buzzword of the month to the most obvious symptoms. In Dynamic Planning, Beverly Goldberg and John G. Sifonis offer these leaders a tested, successful way to integrate new ideas, processes, and technologies into their organizations to improve their current bottom line and build a foundation that will allow them to adapt as the business environment changes yet again in the future. In this elegant blend of practical consulting experience and four years of extensive research, Goldberg (an executive at a New York-based think tank) and Sifonis (rated one of the top ten management consultants in America by Information Week) introduce the Dynamic Planning Framework, a pragmatic tool for business and IT managers. Dynamic planning is based on four interrelated principles: taking a long-term view; thinking holistically; being open to change; and being aware of the need to integrate business and information technology. By uncovering weaknesses, the Dynamic Planning Framework helps managers choose which processes to redesign. By encouraging comparisons with other organizations, it leads to improved quality and customer satisfaction. By instilling awareness of the need to constantly monitor developments in the economy, in technology, and in the social and political climate, it helps executives create and maintain a flexible, learning organization. Through numerous, exciting case histories of national and multinational companies, the book illustrates the activities involved in the Dynamic Planning Framework, including the Strategic Alignment Model, the groundbreaking process for integrating business and IT strategy, which is based on a landmark MIT project in which Sifonis participated. Other essential techniques include critical success factor analysis and assumption surfacing, possibilities analysis, enterprise planning, mission statement development, change management programs, and monitoring and evaluating performance. Dynamic Planning is a valuable tool for survival in an uncertain, challenging business climate. It explains the need for integrating both sides of a company - business and information technology - to address today's issues and to gain tremendous long-term benefits. It also teaches how to drive new ideas and technologies into the organization's culture so that they bring the benefits they promise - the benefits business is desperate for in this difficult and troubling decade.

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