STRATEGIC ISSUE IDENTIFICATION APPROACHES 2

Strategic Issue Identification Approaches

A strategic issue is a critical challenge or key policy question which needs to be
addressed in order for the organization to achieve both its short-term and long-term
objectives. Identifying strategic issues in an organization is one of the most crucial steps in
strategic planning (Bryson, 2018). Without proper identification of the strategic issue, the
strategic plan is likely to fail. Generally, strategic issues are identified after conducting
SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis which enables the
organization to identify various issues within its internal and external environments that need
to be addressed.
Not all issues identified through SWOT analysis can be classified as strategic issues.
Some of them could be operational issues. To determine which issues are strategic and which
ones are not, organizations usually use a number of approaches/techniques. They include
direct approach, goals approach, and vision of success approach.
In direct approach, the planners simply review the organization’s mission, mandates,
and conduct SWOT analysis (Bryson, 2018). All the issues identified through this review are
considered as strategic issues and a plan is developed to address them as such. This approach
is often favored by non-governmental organizations and governments.
The goals and vision of success approaches are related. In the former, the strategic
planners first identify the objectives and goals of the organization. They then identify from
SWOT analysis the issues that the organization needs to address in order to achieve the stated
objectives and goals (Bryson, 2018). As for vision of success approach, the strategic planners
create a vision of the organization and identify issues that need to be addressed in order to
achieve the vision (Bryson, 2018). All the identified issues are then treated as strategic issues.

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The approaches that have been discussed in this paper are among many approaches
that organizations use to identify strategic issues that they face and need to address. The
choice of the approach to use, however, depends on the type of the organization. For instance,
vision of success approach may be suitable for start-up organizations but not for
governments. The approaches to use or avoid are, therefore, dependent on the type of the
organization, its size, and its decision-making process.

STRATEGIC ISSUE IDENTIFICATION APPROACHES 4

References

Bryson, J. M. (2018). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to
strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. John Wiley & Sons.