The Future of Strategic Planning in Public Sector

Research Question(s)

The article is trying to find answer(s)to the elements of future strategic plans that can be improved to enhance performance in the public sector. The paper investigates how strategic planning and management can be linked to achieving future performance in public sector. In this regard, the article tries to answer the following questions:

• How can formulation strategy be used to enhance strategic planning in future?
• How can strategic planning and strategic management be linked to enhance performance?

Purpose of the Article

The article has been written to address the concerns being experienced currently in the public sector, and the need to explore better ways to improve performance. It addresses the government and the public sectors managers who must incorporate new management methods to handle emerging issues in future.

Hypothesis

Unless more is done to change the history of the past 25years, there are fewer expectations if managers will not transform from just strategic planning to broader processes of strategic management (Poister 2).The author feels that managers must play a more critical role to realize this by 2020.

Data

The author of the article has used case studies from various scenariosto answer the article’s questions. The U.S. military case study on strategic planning, local governments’ strategic planning cases, and strategic planning in public agencies are among the cases the author has been used. Also, he has also used surveys on public agencies’ managers and municipal governments.

Results

The author has found out that public agencies need to engage in various kinds of assessments through the understanding of forces that drive issues, do feasibility tests to explore options, and stimulation of cost related discussions to achieve proper strategic planning processes. Furthermore, he has also confirmed that performance information can be used to strengthen performance.

Implication of Findings

The findings of the article demand that public agencies should identify suitable objectives, which are legal and politically sustainable to improve on performance and ability to deliver. As such, by doing so, public agencies will be able to increase their ability to handle and solve unseen challenges and will, therefore, create more public value in the next decade.

Works Cited
Poister, Theodore H. “The Future of Strategic Planning In The Public Sector: Linking Strategic Management and Performance.” Public Administration Review, vol. 70, 2010, pp. 1-9. Wiley, doi:10.1111/j.1540-6210.2010.02284.x.