Application of Strategic Management in Organizations Providing Social Services in the South Bohemia Region

Abstract

Strategic management is a crucial insight that provides vision and direction for an organization. Through its implementation, an organization is able to identify its strengths and weaknesses, the potential of the whole organization, and the scope of its activities. The research was conducted to determine how strategic management is implemented, how strategic plans are created and developed in organizations providing social services in the South Bohemia Region, to identify the criteria determining strategic plans and the methods used for the implementation of strategic plans. The qualitative research was conducted in social service organizations in the South Bohemia Region through semi-structured interviews with their managers. The results were processed using the ATLAS.ti program with open, selective, and axial coding. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that strategic planning is not an integral part of management in all organizations. The managers of the organizations interviewed did not attach much importance to strategic plans; they even stated that a strategy did not make sense for their organization. However, when they did report that their organization was developing a strategic plan, it was more like a two-year plan rather than a long-term plan with a vision. Based on the results of the research, recommendations can be made for managers to improve the implementation of strategic management and for continuing education in this area.