How do we evaluate the strategies?

The success of an organization depends on several factors which include the strategies adopted by the organization. In this way, formulating the most appropriate strategies for the organization becomes a significant task of the top management. At the same time, it is also very important that the strategies adopted by the organization are carefully evaluated in order to see if these strategies are proving beneficial for the organization or not. The below mentioned standards can be used to decide if a strategy has proved to be successful or not.

1. Consistency: A successful strategy should play a role in creating consistency in the organization. The reason is that a wide range of policies, programs etc. are used in an organization with a view to smoothly run the day-to-day operations of the organization. Therefore, it is very important that the strategies adopted by the organization should fit with the internal management of the organization and does not disturb the other aspects of its operations. In the same way, the strategies adopted by the organization should not be inconsistent with the policies adopted by the organization.

2. Suitability: The strategies adopted by an organization should also be suitable to the external environment of the organization. The external environment of the organization certainly has a significant impact on the operations of the organization. Therefore, it is also very important that the strategy adopted by the organization should conform to the prevailing situation or the external environment. For this purpose, a strategy needs to be static as well as dynamic due to which it should be capable of adjusting to the requirements of any changes taking place in the external environment of the organization.

3. Suitability for resources: The strategy of the organization should also confirm to the resources that are available with the organization. On the other hand if a particular strategy requires more resources than the resources that are available with the organization, such as strategy may not prove to be successful. Such resources include the financial resources as well as the physical facilities available with the organization. Therefore a strategy can be considered as successful only if it utilizes the resources that are available with the organization.

4. Level of risk: While selecting a strategy for the organization, it is important to consider the risk that is involved in it. In order to evaluate the risk involved in a strategy, the quantity of resources that are used by the strategy, have to be considered. The managers have to see the amount of resources that are required by the strategy at present and also the commitments in future regarding the resources. A high risk strategy can even cause danger to the existence of the organization in case anything goes wrong as a result of the resources that are involved in such a strategy. Therefore, a good strategy should not cause risk to the existence of the organization even if such a strategy does not prove to be successful.

5. Workability: The functioning of the strategy can be evaluated from the results that are received by the strategy. The effectiveness of a strategy depends on its proper implementation also. At the same time, the effectiveness of a strategy can also be evaluated by considering the role played by the strategy in achieving the goals and objectives of the organization. A strategy can be considered as successful if the strategy has helped in improving the performance of the organization.