From Strategic Planning to Strategic Design

FROM STRATEGIC PLANNING TO STRATEGIC DESIGN RECONCEPTUALIZING THE FUTURE OF STRATEGY IN ORGANIZATIONS

ALFONSO MONTUORI CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF INTEGRAL STUDIES 1453 Mission St. San Francisco, CA94104

TO BE PUBLISHED IN WORLD FUTURES: THE JOURNAL OF GENERAL EVOLUTION

ABSTRACT FROM STRATEGIC PLANNING TO STRATEGIC DESIGN RECONCEPTUALIZING THE FUTURE OF STRATEGY IN ORGANIZATIONS

In this paper I present an overview of critiques of strategic planning, focusing on their conceptualizations of the environment. I first outline the need for a more comprehensive understanding of the nature of the environment of strategy, and then outline some of the alternatives to strategic planning, and their underlying basis in constructivism and the sciences of 1

complexity. I conclude by arguing that Banathy’s systems design methodology is eminently suited to the process of strategy formulation, and should be explored more deeply within this context.

KEYWORDS: ENVIRONMENT

STRATEGIC

PLANNING,

STRATEGIC

THINKING,

DESIGN,

2

FROM PLANNING TO DESIGN RECONCEPTUALIZING THE FUTURE OF STRATEGY IN ORGANIZATIONS

In this paper I present an overview of critiques of strategic planning, focusing on the understanding of the environment. I first outline the need for a more comprehensive understanding of the nature of the environment of strategy, and then outline some of the alternatives to strategic planning, and their underlying basis in constructivism and the sciences of complexity. I conclude by arguing that Banathy’s systems design methodology is eminently suited to the process of strategy formulation, and should be explored within this context.

KEYWORDS: STRATEGIC THINKING, DESIGN, ENVIRONMENT

INTRODUCTION Whipp’s (1996, p. 273) overview of strategy argues that “narrow conceptions of strategy have been allowed to dominate” the discourse. The purpose of this article is to cross disciplinary boundaries, open up a space of possibilities in thinking about...