{"id":358,"date":"2013-04-24T22:16:27","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T03:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=358"},"modified":"2013-04-25T06:52:16","modified_gmt":"2013-04-25T11:52:16","slug":"applying-military-concepts-to-business-planning-operational-vs-tactical-vs-strategic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/applying-military-concepts-to-business-planning-operational-vs-tactical-vs-strategic\/","title":{"rendered":"Applying Military Concepts to Business Planning: Operational vs. Tactical vs. Strategic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We usually divide Planning into three <em>analytical levels <\/em>with a strong military flavor: <strong>Operational, Tactical and Strategic <\/strong>(a clear example of a classical proverb that in the Military everything consists of three parts <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\":-)\" src=\"http:\/\/s0.wp.com\/wp-includes\/images\/smilies\/icon_smile.gif?m=1129645325g\" \/> ).<\/p>\n<p>Despite the fact that all these levels are defined pretty clearly (<em>Strategic <\/em>\u2013 where are we going? <em>Tactical <\/em>\u2013 what are we doing to get where we\u2019re going? <em>Operational <\/em>\u2013 how are we doing it?), there still seems to be some confusion in the eyes of many Managers.<\/p>\n<p>You see, in the Military, the meanings of these concepts are somewhat different from the ones we\u2019re using in the Business world. Let\u2019s consider this difference while drawing some meaningful parallels to what we might encounter in our everyday work.<\/p>\n<p>Here is how they define the levels in the Military, while adding some extra:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Technological level <\/strong>\u2013 the properties and the abilities of the physical equipment, including personnel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Business example<\/strong>: new operating system is installed on computers inside the organization; staff is trained in its use.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tactical level <\/strong>\u2013 the utilization of the equipment in the physical environment; \u201cerosion by friction\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Business example<\/strong>: discovered bugs in the software need to be dealt with; people have difficulties with using the software even after training; all that leads to delays.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Operational level <\/strong>\u2013 interaction of own actions and plans with those of the adversary.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Business example<\/strong>: clients are unhappy with delays; competitors try to take over the client base \u2013 there is a need to salvage the situation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Strategic level <\/strong>\u2013 the submission of all actions and plans to clear <em>goals<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Business example:<\/strong> decision needs to be made: to return to previous system in order to quickly repair the situation or to try dealing with the problem directly by upgrading hardware\/updating software\/having better training. There are two conflicting goals here: immediate effectiveness and conservatism vs. long-term efficiency and innovation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Grand Strategy <\/strong>\u2013 the submission of all goals to a distinctive <em>policy<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><b>Business example<\/b>: the organization\u2019s preferred policy is one of innovation \u2013 decisions are made accordingly to deal with the situation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Our example here is pretty general, but I think many of you may remember a much more specific case of installing a certain operating system in the second half of the previous decade <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\":-)\" src=\"http:\/\/s0.wp.com\/wp-includes\/images\/smilies\/icon_smile.gif?m=1129645325g\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s obvious that the <strong>main differences between the Business and the Military <\/strong>models are in regards to the <em>Tactical and the Operational levels<\/em> \u2013 their order and meaning is almost linearly reversed. The actual motive behind this difference is language-based. While we regard the Operational level as one that deals with everyday <i>operation<\/i> of the equipment by the staff, in Military it deals with whole codenamed entities called \u201c<em>military operations,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0such as \u201cDesert Storm\u201d or \u201cMarket Garden.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So how can these differences be bridged, in order for us to have a better understanding of the subject?<\/p>\n<p>The most important thing we have to understand is that people in uniform tend to regard these levels more like LEVELS OF FUNCTIONING than LEVELS OF PLANNING. This is because the combat environment is frequently so unpredictable that it makes precise planning meaningless, while <strong>proper functioning of the system can let it survive even a completely unexpected contingency<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>To my opinion, this message is as relevant to us as it is to them, especially in <a title=\"Disaster Management \u2013 something to learn\u00a0from\" href=\"http:\/\/anyaworksmart.com\/2013\/01\/21\/disaster-management-something-to-learn-from\/\" target=\"_blank\">today\u2019s context\u00a0<\/a>. It reminds us that the differentiation of analytical levels doesn\u2019t exist solely for the purpose of populating managerial positions, but to allow the agile maneuvering of our bulky organizations in the vast ocean of Business. Therefore there is a place to integrate the perception of the issue in two worlds into a common understanding.<\/p>\n<p>What we are left with is this five-level model:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/5_level_model1.gif\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-365 aligncenter\" alt=\"5 level model (AnyaWorkSmart)\" src=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/5_level_model1.gif\" width=\"500\" height=\"355\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Technological<\/strong> <strong>Level<\/strong> <i>\u2013<\/i> (tools) basic constraints of technical performance, i.e. scheduling\u00a0system that does synchronization once a day with other systems like payroll.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Operational Level <\/strong>(tools + people) <i>\u2013<\/i> having a human factor in the equation, literally the operators of the system who enter the data, maintain the system, look after the materials, stock the balance or ensure that a new upgrade is running flawlessly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tactical Level<\/strong> (previous + friction put by constraints and play of interests external to domain) <i>\u2013<\/i> having a portfolio of projects can help you when there\u2019s a need to allocate resources for multiple projects, while securing an overall gain from the variety of initiatives.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Strategic Level <\/strong>(previous + friction through interaction with sources external to organization) <i>\u2013<\/i> minding the competitors in the same niche of the market.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Grand Strategy <\/strong>(previous + friction through interaction with the rest of the world) <i>\u2013<\/i> your overall presupposition about the behavior of the market, that could be influenced by political, economical, social, cultural and other macro environments.<\/p>\n<p>I am actually employing this model for a long time in my work, and it served me greatly. Now you can use it too.\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\":-)\" src=\"http:\/\/s0.wp.com\/wp-includes\/images\/smilies\/icon_smile.gif?m=1129645325g\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We usually divide Planning into three analytical levels with a strong military flavor: Operational, Tactical and Strategic (a clear example of a classical proverb that in the Military everything consists of three parts ). Despite the fact that all these levels are defined pretty clearly (Strategic \u2013 where are we going? Tactical \u2013 what are&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/applying-military-concepts-to-business-planning-operational-vs-tactical-vs-strategic\/\" rel=\"bookmark\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Applying Military Concepts to Business Planning: Operational vs. Tactical vs. Strategic<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[84,82,81],"tags":[127,133],"class_list":["post-358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-information-technology","category-operations","category-strategy","tag-business-planning","tag-military"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":363,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions\/363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}