ause of the cyclical character of the strategic process.
There are five generally recognized elements of the strategic cycle. These elements are (1) organizational considerations, which are concerned primarily with the organizational structure, (2) resource requirements, (3) strategic control, which is concerned primarily with the organization's internal environment, (4) strategic planning, which is concerned primarily with the external environment of the organization, and (5) the development of strategy, which is the end result of the combined effects of the other elements of the strategic cycle (Rowe, Mason, and Dickel, 1992, p. 291).
As the description of the strategic cycle indicates, strategic planning is closely associated with an organization's external environment. It is, thus, necessary for the strategic planner to (1) know of what the external environment of an organization consists, and (2) understand how an organization's external environment affects the strategic planning process. For Southpointe Construction, the external environment is changing in such a way as to contract the company's traditional market major project developments. The firm's strategy must, therefore, be redesigned to emphasize the light commercial projects segment of the Orange County construction market.
To organize for future success in early 1994 requires that Southpointe Construction confront the issue of quality. Total quality management (TQM) is a concept that increasingly is being adopted by construction firms. TQM is an organizational system that requires the involvement of every facet of a company's operation and every company employee in the effort to promote high product quality (Hammonds and DeGeorge, 1991, pp. 34 36). TQM, therefore, tends to produce incremental quality gains, as opposed to dramatic, one shot improvements. Decentralization is essential in a TQM system, and refers to the movement of the organizational dec...