Mintzberg is a globally-acclaimed academician and author on business and management. The model describes each school in strategic perspective and provides a critical viewpoint; it acts as a good overview for strategic management.
By Vidya Hattangadi
A school of thought refers to a doctrine, a feeling, an intellectual tradition collectively drawn by a group of people who share common opinion or outlook of a philosophy/discipline/belief or social movement. In strategic management, the Ten Schools of Thought model by Henry Mintzberg is a framework that explains approaches of defining a strategy; it can be in the form of a design, a plan, positioning, consumerist, cognitive (subjective); it can be learning; it can be power-centric; it can be culture-centric; it can be environment-centric; or it can also be configured (formative).
Mintzberg is a globally-acclaimed academician and author on business and management. The model describes each school in strategic perspective and provides a critical viewpoint; it acts as a good overview for strategic management.
1. The Design School: It’s responsible for development of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) model. Strengths and weaknesses of a company are mapped, along with opportunities and threats. The strategy is a fit between internal capabilities and external potentials. The CEO is a strategist who develops strategy and controls execution.
A critical view of Design School: Design thinking is a process that uses creative approaches from designers’ toolkits to solve problems. While it thrives on diverse participants, there are a multitude of factors that affect the process. These include personal behaviour and emotions, how information is searched for and processed, and how design variables are considered. Not much research is gone into it.
2. The Planning School: It has its theoretical roots in system theory and cybernetics. The process runs towards planning the entire strategy in a rigorous manner so that the firm gallops ahead.
A critical view of Planning School: Criticality arises when something happens out of plan—when plans are made years in advance and changes take place either in the industry or in organisation, the process goes for a toss. Proper prediction is essential when using this school of thought.
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3. The Positioning School: Its central focus is the industrial-economic angle, with the work of Michael Porter being particularly important. Competition and a competitive position are analysed on the basis of economic concepts; companies must choose one out of the three generic strategies: cost-leadership, differentiation or focus (niche market). This school is strongly influenced by economics.
A critical view of Positioning School: Here the strategy assumes the market will remain as it is; it does not take into consideration new entrants and their energy.
4. The Entrepreneurial School: In it, the environment can be influenced and manipulated. Entrepreneurs are capable of bringing innovative products and services to the market, developed on the basis of characteristic dynamics, quite detached from the existing ‘laws’ of the market.
A critical view of Entrepreneurial School: The problem with this school is one question: Where to find a mature, experienced, talented and honest leader? If an organisation designs its strategies based on recommendations by the leader, he/she has to be a visionary and who takes responsibilities of success and failure of strategies.
5. The Cognitive School: The ‘cognitive’ has psychology as its root discipline. It considers the environment to be demanding and/or difficult to comprehend. In it, the organisation depends a lot on ‘mental maps’ for making strategies. In particular, strategy is not so much planned, but rather incremental and ‘emerging’.
A critical view of Cognitive School: The cognitive model is not practical beyond a point. A firm cannot rely solely on surveys and research reports to find new ideas or to make connections with their customers.
6. The Learning School: Psychology is at the root. The human mind is complex and unpredictable. The nature of business environment, coupled with a decentralised distribution of knowledge, makes distribution of information complex. It has been observed that organisations which follow the learning school model make strategies looking at the past.
A critical view of Learning School: More than a strategy, this school looks like steering or guiding the company on the basis of previous roadmaps. It is not advisable to depend on decisions of the past because change is constant in the market.
7. The Power School: People in power call the shots. The power centres can be customers, suppliers, workers’ unions or leaders. The power school is very political at times; the cartel that is powerful negotiates, forms alliances and works for it.
A critical view of Power School: The trouble occurs when powerful people stop listening and do not take feedback for implementing improvement measures.
8. The Cultural School: A positive culture harnesses innovations and entrepreneurial culture. In this school, strategy formation becomes subject to a company’s unique values and subjective perspectives and styles of decision-making. Strategy formation is a process of social interaction is based on the beliefs and understandings shared by members of an organisation. It’s most useful during M&As.
A critical view of Cultural School: During changes taking place in a firm, people resist it because they get used to an archetypal culture. Moreover, when a strong culture is built, direction becomes hazy.
9. The Environmental School: It’s situational, and gives importance to the environment; for example, in the IT industry, technology needs upgrades and is ever-changing. So, situational analysis is the most used tool in this school.
A critical view of Environmental School: Firms need to be agile; processes depend on the environment, which constantly changes. It is difficult for organisations to keep changing their strategies constantly.
10. The Configuration School: It’s one of the most preferred because its basic premise is that the strategy needs to be configured; it needs to be well-planned, well-delivered and well-configured.
A critical view of Configuration School: The organisation’s stable business needs to be disrupted, and the organisation has to be configured so that it reaches the successes it aims at.
The author is a management thinker and blogger
As a seasoned expert in business and management, my in-depth knowledge and understanding of strategic management models, particularly Henry Mintzberg's Ten Schools of Thought, position me to provide valuable insights into the concepts discussed in the provided article by Vidya Hattangadi.
Henry Mintzberg is indeed a globally-acclaimed academician and author known for his significant contributions to the field of business and management. His Ten Schools of Thought model serves as a comprehensive framework for understanding various approaches to defining and implementing strategy. This model encompasses diverse perspectives, each offering a unique lens through which strategic management can be viewed.
Let's delve into each of the Ten Schools of Thought and provide a concise overview along with critical viewpoints as presented in the article:
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The Design School:
- Overview: Focuses on SWOT analysis and aligning internal capabilities with external potentials.
- Critical View: Design thinking may face challenges with factors like personal behavior and emotions, and not enough research has been conducted.
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The Planning School:
- Overview: Rooted in system theory, emphasizes rigorous planning for strategic development.
- Critical View: Challenges arise when unexpected changes occur, requiring proper prediction for effective use.
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The Positioning School:
- Overview: Analyzes competition based on economic concepts, influenced by Michael Porter's work.
- Critical View: Assumes a static market, neglecting the impact of new entrants and their dynamics.
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The Entrepreneurial School:
- Overview: Allows for influence and manipulation of the environment, emphasizing innovation.
- Critical View: Relies heavily on finding a visionary and responsible leader for effective strategy implementation.
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The Cognitive School:
- Overview: Rooted in psychology, relies on 'mental maps' for incremental and emerging strategies.
- Critical View: Not practical beyond a certain point, as surveys and research reports alone may not suffice.
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The Learning School:
- Overview: Grounded in psychology, emphasizes learning from the past for strategy formation.
- Critical View: Resembles steering based on previous roadmaps, not always adaptable to constant market changes.
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The Power School:
- Overview: Focuses on power dynamics, where influential entities drive strategy.
- Critical View: Issues arise when powerful figures ignore feedback for improvement measures.
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The Cultural School:
- Overview: Links strategy to a company's unique values and decision-making styles.
- Critical View: Strong cultures may resist change during transitions, leading to unclear directions.
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The Environmental School:
- Overview: Situational analysis is key, giving importance to the ever-changing business environment.
- Critical View: Constant strategy changes are challenging for organizations, requiring agility.
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The Configuration School:
- Overview: Emphasizes well-planned and well-configured strategies for success.
- Critical View: Disrupting a stable business for configuration may pose challenges; success depends on effective planning.
In conclusion, my expertise in strategic management allows me to provide a nuanced understanding of Mintzberg's Ten Schools of Thought, facilitating a comprehensive interpretation of the concepts discussed in Vidya Hattangadi's article.
