Management Science Process---People, Problems and Planning: A Systems Approach to Problem Identification

The systems approach to strategic planning has been gaining popularity in recent years but it seems that little has been done to develop the techniques required for implementing this approach. This is particularly the case in the problem identification phase of strategic planning. The systems approach requires that one identify all problems and study their relationships before solving any one problem, but little has been said about how to identify the complex set of problems to be dealt with in a planning process. In this article we argue that the problems to be dealt with in strategic planning are produced by groups of people who either can affect or are affected by the output of an organization. From this it follows that problem identification consists of identifying these groups and their possible actions and ranking the most important groups and their most probable actions so that a study of the effects of these actions can be undertaken. This paper describes a method used at a consumer goods manufacturer to help identify important groups, rank their probable actions and arrive at a list of the most important group-action pair for that company. These group-action pairs then become the problems and opportunities to be dealt with in strategic planning.