Strategic Objectives and Levels of Strategy in HR Management

You understood a company’s strategy as, ‘the coordinated set of actions that it takes in order to achieve its objectives’. However, you are yet to learn why and how companies frame their objectives. This will be covered in the following video by our faculty Sandeep Nair.

In this video, you learnt that well-set objectives are valuable to firms for the following three main reasons:

1. They focus the attention of all employees and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

2. They serve as milestones for measuring the company’s performance and progress.

3. They set a standard of performance for the employees to strive towards.

While there are many approaches to define objectives, many organisations frame objectives such that they are S.M.A.R.T., which stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.

Setting objectives is not a singular task. Often, objectives need to be set separately for different levels within the same organisation. In the next video, Sandeep Nair will explain this in greater detail.

In this video, you learnt that company-wide objectives need to be broken down into lower-level performance targets. This is done because employees will be better guided by specific objectives relating directly to their departmental activities rather than broad organisation-level goals.

You also learnt that crafting strategy is often a collaborative team effort that includes managers from various positions and organisational levels. Typically, the three levels of strategy are as follows: 

1. Corporate-level strategy

2. Business-level strategy

3. Functional-level strategy

All the components of a company’s strategy should be cohesive and mutually reinforcing.

Additional Content 

Corporate vs. Business Strategy by David Kryscynski: This video explains the difference between corporate and business strategy.