Strategic Management Certificate Program
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Current course offering dates and locations
Strategic Management Certificate Program has the current day(s) and time(s) available for convenient program registration:
- 9/4/2013 - 11/6/2013, Online
- 2/5/2014 - 4/9/2014, Online
Information regarding the listed course section(s), as well as registration for a course, is available at the bottom of this course page.
Program Information Contact
Eilish McDonagh-Hermer is the program contact for this course. Eilish can be reached at any of the following:- E-mail: emcdonag@depaul.edu
- Telephone: (312) 362-5295
- Fax: (312) 362-8764
Introduction
Skilled strategic management professionals establish and direct disciplined approaches to planning and execution that fits their organization by being practical, sustainable and cost effective. The Strategic Management Certificate Program gives you an understanding of the discipline of strategic management as a whole and breaks down the required phases and steps for planning, implementation and evaluation of strategy as a management process.
The 10-week program immerses you in the industry's most widely respected and universally applied practices in strategic management. Aligned with the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP) "Lead -Think-Plan-Act" Body of Knowledge, you will gain valuable experience and establish a pathway to ASP Certification as a Strategic Planning Professional (SPP), Strategic Management Professional (SMP) or association designation as a Strategic Planning Associate (SPA).
An enterprise level strategic management program delivered to individual organization management teams is available through DePaul Corporate Training.
Who Should Attend
- Professionals who manage or lead the development and implementation of strategy
- Strategic management consultants
- Owners and senior executives who see the need for more effective strategic management processes in their organizations
Benefits
- Build understanding, skills and tools to facilitate all phases and steps of planning, implementing and evaluating a managed process
- Use assigned text, on demand "podcast" lectures, "live online" class discussion, guided practice, Q&A sessions, online forum discussions and individual offline help/coaching to build your capacity to manage strategy
- Prepare to become an ASP Strategic Planning Professional (SPP), Strategic Management Professional (SMP) or Strategic Planning Associate (SPA)
Affiliations
The Strategic Management Certificate program is an approved program of the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP), and is delivered by ASP "Registered Education Provider", LBL Strategies, Ltd.
Syllabus
The Strategic Management Certificate Program covers the entire strategic planning and management cycle. Sessions are organized to dive deep into the required phases and steps of a practical strategic management process.
Week 1: Assess and Organize
Lays the groundwork for understanding and successfully applying the strategic management process including:
- History and terminology of strategic management
- Current strategic direction's level of development
- Current strategic management capabilities
- Factors influencing the nature/scope of the strategic program
- Benefits, concerns, time frames, participants and start up activities for strategic planning
- Organizing a "team based" strategy change process in your organization
Week 2 & 3: Environmental Analysis + SWOT Evaluation
Build on the foundation of Week 1 by outlining and describing the process of environmental assessment, the essential prerequisite for the development and implementation of an effective organization strategy.
Topics include:
- Conducting an environmental scan "external" analysis of the operating environment
- Conducting an environmental scan "internal" analysis of the organization
- Conducting a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
- Designing a continuous strategic analysis system
- Evaluating the results of the strategic analyses
Week 4 & 5: Strategic Direction + Strategy Identification and Selection
Build on the analyses and evaluations of Week 2 and 3 to develop an overall strategic direction and a set of preferred strategic alternatives and chart a course sufficiently explicit to guide and motivate the board, management and staff of an organization.
Strategic direction includes:
- Defining vision - destination
- Defining mission - purpose
- Articulating values - beliefs
- Clarifying policies - guidelines
- Developing goals - key themes of the plan
Once elements of strategic direction are defined, proceed with:
- Compiling and screening strategic alternatives
- Evaluating feasible alternatives
- Selecting preferred alternatives
- Integrating current strategic initiatives with newly proposed strategic initiatives
Week 6 & 7: Strategic Planning + Strategic Operating Plan
Develop a written strategic plan and strategic operating plan with the strategies time-phased and sequenced over your organization's long-term planning horizon.
Strategic plan topics include:
- Identifying relationships between strategic planning and operational planning
- Identifying the prerequisites of effective strategic planning
- Selecting the appropriate organization structure for each strategic initiative
- Evaluating the organization's existing strategic plan
- Developing a revised strategic plan
- Developing ancillary strategic planning processes
- Discussing an illustrative strategic plan
Strategic operational plan topics include:
- Identifying the strategic operating plan as defined in the strategic plan
- Assessing compatibility of the strategic operating plan with current planning processes
- Deploying the strategies into the organization via a balanced set of objectives across functions
- Learning to use a strategy deployment map
- Identifying key performance measures and performance targets
- Formatting strategies for implementation
- Obtaining approvals and authorizations for the strategic operating plan
- Distributing and communicating the strategic operating plan to members of the implementation team
Week 8: Implementation Management
Focus on how to align the team and integrate the strategic implementation plan with on-going operations.
Implementation is considered in two phases:
- Short-term Implementation Phase - Coinciding with the annual (or equivalent) operating cycle
- Long-term Implementation Phase - When implementation becomes the responsibility of line management
This session outlines and describes management implementation roles and responsibilities and improving organization capability to establish strategic management as a continuous process by addressing important considerations:
- Reassessing the current strategic management capability
- Developing a framework for evaluating the current strategic management capability
- Using the developed framework to evaluate the current strategic management capability
- Providing on-going strategic management capability building
- Designing and maintaining an effective continuous improvement system for strategic management
- Identifying system operating guidelines
Week 9: Ongoing Strategic Management
Discuss the dynamics of achieving team alignment and managing expectations and feedback on the results of implementation management.
Topics include:
- Practical application/ next step use of strategic management skills, tools and processes to install and integrate a strategic implementation plan
- Group discussion of the human dynamics to implementation management and what to watch out for when working with an organization
- Challenges to rolling out implementation
- Instructor feedback and recommendations based on organization types and scenarios offered by students
Week 10: Pathway to Professional Certification
An overview and information session on industry professional certification offered by the Association for Strategic Planning.
- Overview to Association for Strategic Planning (ASP) certifications
- The certification process
- Individual requirements and expert recommendations for preparation to sit for one or more of the ASP certification examinations
Frequently Asked Questions
Click here for the DePaul University Continuing and Professional Education Departmental Student Policies.
Are books and materials included in the tuition fee?
Yes, the textbook, "Strategy in the 21st Century: A Practical Strategic Management Process" by Randall Rollinson and Earl Young, is included and will be distributed in advance of the program. All other materials will be made available online.
Yes, the textbook, "Strategy in the 21st Century: A Practical Strategic Management Process" by Randall Rollinson and Earl Young, is included and will be distributed in advance of the program. All other materials will be made available online.
Will I get certified by taking this program?
No, this is a certificate program, not a professional certification. This program can be used to prepare for certain ASP certification examinations, but the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP) handles all certification. See the ASP Certification Program for requirements and instructions.
No, this is a certificate program, not a professional certification. This program can be used to prepare for certain ASP certification examinations, but the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP) handles all certification. See the ASP Certification Program for requirements and instructions.
Can I earn PDU's with this program?
Yes, you can earn Professional Development Units (PDU's) through the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP) that can be applied toward certification and credential renewal requirements as specified in the ASP Family of Credentials. You must be an active member of the Association for Strategic Planning to qualify for / earn PDU credits.
Yes, you can earn Professional Development Units (PDU's) through the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP) that can be applied toward certification and credential renewal requirements as specified in the ASP Family of Credentials. You must be an active member of the Association for Strategic Planning to qualify for / earn PDU credits.
Will there be quizzes or tests?
Yes, there are four quizzes (each covering two weeks of content) and a comprehensive final exam, all of which are made available online and completed outside of class sessions.
Yes, there are four quizzes (each covering two weeks of content) and a comprehensive final exam, all of which are made available online and completed outside of class sessions.
Online Registration Information
Course Section 1
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Course Section 2
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For more information contact:
Eilish McDonagh-Hermer
- E-mail: emcdonag@depaul.edu
- Telephone: (312) 362-5295
- Fax: (312) 362-8764