Assignment on Strategic Management for Telstra

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Strategic Management for Telstra
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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Abstract
The major objective of the report is to learn about the entire concept of strategic management for
the popular as well as significant company in Australia, Telstra Corporation Limited. The
various strategies in any particular business is well planned and monitored with the help of
successful implementation of strategic management. The organization gets the opportunity to
identify all types of strategies, so that it becomes easier for them to identify the issues present in
their existing strategies. This critical essay has highlighted all the vital aspects of strategic
management in Telstra with proper literature review and analysis of their current position.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Discussion....................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Brief Description of the Organization of Telstra Corporation Limited.................................5
2.2 Critical Literature Review of Key Theories of Strategy being developed and implemented
with the Relationship between Strategy, Innovation and Change...............................................5
2.3 Critical Analysis of the Selected Strategic Processes in Telstra Corporation Limited........12
2.4 Proper Assessment of the Extent to which People in Telstra Corporation Limited getting
engaged with and Contributing to a Selected Strategy..............................................................17
2.5 Recommendations about Strategic Processes in the Company to be improved..................20
3. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................23
References......................................................................................................................................25

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1. Introduction
Strategic management can be referred to as proper formulation as well as distribution of
the most significant initiatives and goals, considered by the top management of the organization
on behalf of the owners (Ansoff et al. 2018). It is on the basis of major consideration of different
resources as well as an evaluation of the external and internal environment, where the company
is operating. Strategic management is responsible for providing overall direction to the
organization and also involves specifications of these company goals, allocation of the resources
for implementing the plans and proper development of the policies and plans for obtaining the
objectives. It is need to develop several models and frameworks for the core purpose of assisting
in the decision making procedure for maintaining complicated environments or competitive
dynamics (Rothaermel 2016). It is not at all static in nature and the respective models involve a
proper feedback loops for the major purpose of checking execution or informing the next rounds
of planning.
There are 3 vital principles that underlie strategic management and these principles
involve formation of the most unique as well as valuable market positions, making trade-offs by
selecting the requirements and also creation of the best aspect by alignment of the organizational
activities with one another for providing support to their selected strategy (David and David
2016). A corporate strategy is responsible for highlighting the basic attributes of a business and
the business strategy includes the process of competing within the market. Management theory
and practice makes a proper distinction in operational management and strategic management
with subsequent operational management being concerned with improvising effectiveness as
well as managing costs within the boundaries set by the strategy of organization (Ginter, Duncan
and Swayne 2018).

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A strategy could be referred to as the determination of the most basic longer term
objectives of a company as well as the core implementation of the courses of several actions and
the resource allocation that is required for carrying out these goals and objectives. Various
strategies are being established for setting direction, emphasizing on efforts, defining or
clarifying the company as well as providing guidance or consistency in the response to the
environment. Strategic management includes the associated concepts of strategic thinking and
strategic planning (Lasserre 2017). This type of distinct planning is highly analytical in nature
and also refers to the formal processes for producing the data and analyzing them for strategic
thinking. As a result, it helps in synthesizing the data resulting within the strategy. Moreover,
strategic planning even refers to controlling of different mechanisms that are being utilized for
implementing the strategic as soon as it is determined.
The formulation of strategy is done by analyses of the environment, in which the
company is operating and then ensuring a series of different distinct strategic decisions about the
procedure of company competitions (Moutinho and Vargas-Sanchez 2018). This type of
formulation ends with the major series of goals or measures for the company for pursuing.
Environmental analyses involve remote external environments, internal environment as well as
industry environment. The strategic decisions are based on of insights from proper
environmental assessments. The following critical essay outlines a detailed description on the
strategic management for the popular and significant organization in Australia, namely Telstra
Corporation Limited with relevant details and recommendations.
2. Discussion

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2.1 Brief Description of the Organization of Telstra Corporation Limited
Telstra Corporation Limited is one of the most significant and important organizations in
the entire Australia that provides telecommunications services to their customers. It builds and
even operates major telecommunications networks and market voice, mobile, internet
accessibility, pay television and any other product or service (Telstra.com.au. 2020). The
organization was founded in the year of 1975 and they had been doing business for almost 49
years successfully. The headquarters of the company is in Melbourne, Australia and they are
serving in entire Australia as well as in few parts of the world.
The major products and services of this specific organization include fixed line and
mobile telephony, Internet connection, pay television, network services and data services. More
than twenty thousand employees are working in this company at present time and the
management ensures that the employees are highly satisfied under every circumstance. Telstra
Corporation Limited has around 150 subsidiaries with Foxtel and Sensis (Telstra.com.au. 2020).
One of the major and the most significant reasons that Telstra has got success in their business is
that the strategies in this particular organization is extremely effective and are responsible for
providing several advantages to a high level.
2.2 Critical Literature Review of Key Theories of Strategy being developed and
implemented with the Relationship between Strategy, Innovation and Change
2.2.1 Defining Strategy
A strategy can be referred to as the high level plan that is being used for achieving one
and more goals under certain conditions for uncertainty. It eventually involves several subsets of
skills that includes logistics and tactics. Strategies are important as the resources available for
achieving them are extremely limited (Hill 2017). It involves setting of goals, determination of

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the actions for achieving the goals as well as mobilizing resources for successful execution of the
actions. It helps in describing the process of goals being achieved by the respective means or
resources and the process of strategy to be emerged or intended as the activity pattern, since the
company gets adapted to the environment or competing background (Frynas and Mellahi 2015).
As a result, it becomes easier to include strategic thinking as well as strategic planning.
A strategy is a pattern in the stream of several decisions in the contrast with an overview
of planning. Different activities are present that perform eventually, in comparison to
competitors. A proper strategy is responsible for ensuring that desirable goals and objectives are
being achieved with the system to find out, formulate as well as develop the doctrine towards
long term success (Morden 2016). The complexity theories subsequently define strategy as the
unfolding of the external and internal features of a specific company, which can result in action
in the socio economic context. A good strategy comprises of three parts, which include an
analysis, which defines and clarifies the natures of the issues, a proper guiding policy to deal
with the issue and comprehensible activities that are being designed for carrying out the
respective guiding policies (Meyer, Neck and Meeks 2017).
2.2.2 Proper Strategy Formulation
Strategy formulation can be done by analysis of the external environment as well as
situation, by making a detailed analysis and even developing various guiding policies. It involves
several activities like strategic planning as well as strategic thinking (Bryce 2017). On the other
hand, strategy deployment refers to different action plans, undertaken for achieving the goals that
are being established by the specific guiding policy. A strategy is dependent on the capability to
foresee all types of futuristic consequences of the current initiatives. The most basic
requirements of this development of strategy involve extensive knowledge regarding the

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organizational environment, competitors and market, capability for examining the knowledge as
the interactive dynamic systems and finally the resourcefulness as well as logic for selecting
within the specified alternatives (Trigeorgis and Reuer 2017). There are several finite resources,
uncertainty regarding the intention and capability of the adversary, necessity of the coordination
activity over distance and time, irreversible resource commitment and even the uncertainty
regarding proper controlling of the initiatives.
An organizational strategy is the summation of different actions that a company intends
in taking to achieve long term activities (Certo et al. 2016). These distinct actions subsequently
make up the strategic plan of the organization and these plans take minimum of 1 year to take
part in the competition as well as needing inclusion from the levels of company (Engert, Rauter
and Baumgartner 2016). The top management creates the proper organizational strategy and the
middle and lower management adopt different objectives or plans for fulfilling the entire strategy
sequentially. Such unified effort is to be considered for the entire organizational journey. Hence,
daily challenges are to be eradicated successfully for reaching to the final destination.
2.2.3 Working Principle of a Strategy in a Business
This organizational strategy should arise from the organizational mission that explains
the reason of a company been in a business. Each and every vital activity within the organization
must seek to fulfill the major purpose (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson 2016). Moreover, the
organizational mission would be providing guidance to the respective strategic decisions. This
organizational vision eventually describes the achievement of the organization to fulfill the
mission and hence a vision of long term objectives are being obtained. To ensure that the
strategy is working, it should be successfully converted into short term and small plans and goals
(Hanson et al. 2016). The respective middle management is responsible for adopting goals and

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then creating plans, so that they are able to compete within the respective market place. Several
tactical goals take up lesser time than a year to become successful and hence becoming several
distinct blocks of the organizational plans and strategies.
However, at the low levels of the company, several functional managers have the concern
about taking active participation in the daily operations of the organization, plans and objectives
(Zhao et al. 2017). The major elements of the organizational strategy are extremely vital for a
company and they involve resources, core competencies and scope. Since these resources are
finite in nature, it often becomes significant to allocate them. The major resources involve
equipment, facilities as well as people and they divert them from any place else in the company
(Baumgartner and Rauter 2017). Proper quantification of the scope of strategy is needed for
ensuring that the business is achieving some of the most significant and noteworthy advantages
without any type of complexity.
2.2.4 Different Key Theories of Strategic Planning for Innovation and Change in Business
Chamberlain’s theory of strategy is extremely specific and also attempts in covering the
major areas that they did not address (Peppard and Ward 2016). Chamberlain has analyzed the
strategy construction by treating it as the amalgamation of 4 different factors, which are defining
the strategy, forces shaping the strategy, processes forming the strategy and major mechanisms
by which strategy can take up effect. On the other hand, other authors like Audretsch 2015 have
stated that strategy formation does not require any specific factors; however require the major
goals and objectives of the respective organization. Various companies have been able to reduce
the complexities and issues for employee management and hence ensure that in house training is
being offered to the employees, so that they are able to enable the staff in adjusting roles on the
basis of interests and strengths (Vishnevskiy, Karasev and Meissner 2016). It had been a major

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opportunity for the organization to ensure that they are reducing the complexities for strategic
analysis and planning.
The second vital and significant theory of strategy for understanding strategic
management is the 5P’s strategy by Henry Mintzberg. These 5P’s include plan, pattern, position,
perspective and ploy (Theriou 2015). These 5 components eventually enable the organization to
deploy an extremely effective strategy, which aims at the future and is concerned about the long
term plan with successful involvement of various facets of the company. Major competition has
always been a vital factor, however it can be referred to as a mistake for development of
strategies (Cosenz and Noto 2016). The organizational culture is also highlighted in the same
manner for understanding the best strategy. The description of these 5P’s are provided in the
following paragraphs:
i) Plan: The first and the foremost aspect of the 5P’s theory of Mintzberg is plan. A
strategy is a specific plan to deal with all types of situations in the business (Loon, Evans and
Kerridge 2015). This type of plan is to be made before any possible action is being undertaken
and is also vital that the respective plan is being followed effectively and efficiently. Different
objectives could even be achieved by a proper planning and they allow the managers in giving
their teams’ proper clarity and work towards the interim evaluations as well as finalized results
(Dogan 2015). However, a clearer organizational strategy needs other aspects, apart from a
proper planning.
ii) Pattern: The second important and noteworthy aspect of the 5P’s theory of Mintzberg
is pattern. These patterns are regarding strategies, which are deployed previously. On the
contrary, the strategies, which are being already achieved, helps to retain the intended result
(Dzhandzhugazova et al. 2015). There are certain strategies, which are needed to be worked out

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in major details. The earlier patterns are referred to as the most vital part of the development of a
new strategy. As a result, the decision making procedure is impacted to a high level. The
previous behavior is a pattern that is being included in the development of strategy and the
unintentional or intentional consistent behavior should be displayed by teams and employees.
These patterns are being accepted without informing other members of the team (Carlsson-Wall,
Kraus and Lind 2015). By becoming aware of these patterns in the company, the respective
organization could easily and promptly involve the aspects for development of a strategy.
iii) Position: The third important and noteworthy aspect of the 5P’s theory of Mintzberg
is position. It is regarding the vital position of the company within the market place for learning
about the major interaction within the external and internal contexts. It is vital to consider
carefully in advance the process of the company requiring to position itself (Gallus and Frey
2016). It is also needed to match the idea of the stakeholders within the company, so that the
organizational members are able to contribute in development of the long lasting competitive
benefit. It is quite effective for an organization to consider their strategic position to work against
the competitors and then providing the company a strong place in the existing market.
iv) Perspective: The next important and noteworthy aspect of the 5P’s theory of
Mintzberg is perspective. The strategy is regarding a selected position with the help of a larger
perspective. As a result, it is vital to find out the process of different target audiences perceiving
the company successfully (Rosenberg Hansen and Ferlie 2016). The various perspectives of
different employees and customers are needed to be taken into consideration on the highest
priority for making their targeted strategic choices. It is being done through a valuable source of
information for the company.

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v) Ploy: The final important and noteworthy aspect of the 5P’s theory of Mintzberg is
ploy. It is also referred to as a strategic choice for using a ploy in the business. The respective
competitors in the business does not expect of such distinct part in the strategy and hence issues
get raised (Peppard and Ward 2016). The companies could easily surprise the respective
environment by proper implementation of a plan, which is not being considered by the work. As
a result, the potential competitors of the respective business or organization are being highlighted
and the business gets the opportunity to be the part of the team.
The competition theory by Michael Porter has mentioned that a proper interaction
between different companies is required for ensuring that the strategies undertaken by the
company are accurate and effective and would be able to deal with difficult situations easily and
promptly (Trigeorgis and Reuer 2017). As a result, the strategy helps to gain competitive
advantages without any complexity. The organizational resources are also saved in the process
and the business gains maximum effectiveness. Moreover, there exists a healthy conflict between
the competitors and other businesses and business failure issues are eradicated. The strategic
theory of competitive advantage attempts in correcting the issue by stressing on maximization of
the scale economics both in services and goods for garnering the most premium prices (Hitt,
Ireland and Hoskisson 2016). Hence, it would be becoming beneficial to outperform the
competitors eventually. The issues related to competition in products and services are also
eradicated with such steps and the business gets international standards for acquiring or
developing an attribute or combination of various attributes.
Another distinct strategic theory is core competency theory. It is the core concept of
management theory that is a harmonized combination of several resources as well as skills,
which distinguish the firm within the respective market place (Rosenberg Hansen and Ferlie

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2016). As a result, it is considered as the foundation of the major competitiveness of the
organization. The respective organization can easily deal with all types of issues and
complexities with the help of this effectiveness and also reduce the chance of employee issues to
a high level. Hence, high innovation and changes are included in the business and the
organization obtains maximum efficiency without any complexity. The few main competencies
gained by the business include professionalism, care of business, proper knowledge, system
based practice, interpersonal and communication skills and even proper effectiveness and
efficiency towards work (Frynas and Mellahi 2015). Innovation is well included in the business
and different vital changes are included successfully to ensure that high competitive advantages
are being obtained.
2.3 Critical Analysis of the Selected Strategic Processes in Telstra Corporation Limited
A strategic process is mainly concerned with taking subsequent decisions. These
decisions are being made only after data from several sources, to ensure that the data is being
received from both within the company and from the environment outside the company (Hitt,
Ireland and Hoskisson 2016). Few of the most top level processes are present in a company,
which involve tasks, which require a high level of intellectual capability and would comprise of a
wide spread impacts in the overall functioning and structuring of the respective company. Hence,
the nature of these procedures could be eventually compared to those of the organizational
performances. A strategic process is mainly concerned with making of several decisions (Engert,
Rauter and Baumgartner 2016). As a result, the entire decision making process is considered on
top priority for dealing with the organizational strategies. It is quite possible that a company
might comprise of the data that is related to the decision, however does not have any expertise to
make sense of the data.

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A proper strategic process is required in a business to ensure that the organization
comprises of every relevant skill in the form of artificial intelligence or human intelligence for
successful conversion of data into distinct actionable information (Trigeorgis and Reuer 2017).
The strategic management procedure is the major methodology by which several managers
conceive of and then deploy a strategy, which could eventually lead to a sustainable competitive
benefit within the company. Such process of strategic planning is the systematic or emerged
method to perform proper planning within the business via initial evaluation, complete analyses,
formulation of strategies as well as its implementation and assessment (Frynas and Mellahi
2015). It is the ongoing planning, monitoring, analyses as well as assessment of every aspect,
which is required for a company to fulfill the objectives and goals. Major changes in the business
environment need organizations to continuously assess their vital strategies for getting success.
The entire procedure of strategic management is helpful for the companies in taking stock of the
current situation, chalking out of strategies, deploying them and even analyzing the overall
effectiveness and efficiency subsequently.
Telstra Corporation Limited is the most popular and significant organization in the entire
Australia and hence they have gained maximum success in their business without much
complexity (Meyer, Neck and Meeks 2017). They are using and implementing procedures of
strategic management for ensuring that the respective strategies, undertaken by them are accurate
and would not increase any type of issue in the business. There are several methods, by which
the management of Telstra is creating their strategies. The process models are varying within the
departments, on the basis of organizational culture, leadership style and the experience they have
in creation of successful strategies (Ginter, Duncan and Swayne 2018). The main components of
this particular process of strategic management in Telstra are being spread through certain vital

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steps and there are four common phases, which include strategic analyses, formulation of
strategies, deployment and finally monitoring.
They are working to fulfill the requirement of their business after successful
identification of the vision and mission and even assessing the current situation in the market. It
involves evaluation of the organizational internal and external environments and then analysis of
the competitors (David and David 2016). In the external environmental analysis, the
organizational management has taken into consideration few distinct and important external
forces, such as competition and macro and micro environments. They have been dealing with
high competition in their business for ensuring that the company is well influenced (Ansoff et al.
2018). The major and the most significant processes of strategic management in Telstra are
provided below:
i) Clarification of the Vision: The first and the foremost process of strategic management
in Telstra is clarification of their vision and mission. As they are dealing with telecommunication
services, it is extremely vital for them to ensure that the organizational members are absolutely
sure about the issues and complexities to be faced and which strategies should be implemented
for ensuring successful execution of the business processes (Bryce 2017). As a result, the long
term as well as short term objectives are also highlighted by them successfully. This particular
stage comprises of three vital facets, which include defining both long term as well as short term
objectives, identifying the procedure of accomplishing the objective and finally modifying the
procedure that the staff provide every person a task with which he or she could get success in the
work. It is also needed to be kept in mind by the organizational management of Telstra
Corporation Limited that this particular process of goals should be realistic, detailed and
matching the values of the vision (Certo et al. 2016). The final phase of the step is to write a

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proper mission statement, which can communicate the goals to both the shareholders and their
employees in the business.
ii) Gathering and Analyzing Information: The second process of strategic management
in Telstra is gathering as well as analysis of the vital information or data. This analysis is the
major stage as the information obtained in the stage would shape the next two phases (Hanson et
al. 2016). In this vital stage, gathering data and information, associated to the accomplishment of
the organizational vision. The emphasis of this analysis must be on understanding the
requirements of the business as the sustainable entities, its specific strategic direction as well as
recognition of the initiatives, which can support the business to develop eventually. The
organizational management of Telstra is needed to examine the internal and external issues,
which could majorly impact on their objectives and goals subsequently (Zhao et al. 2017). It is
also needed to ensure to identify both the weaknesses and strengths of the company, so that they
become successful in highlighting the threats and opportunities as present in the business.
iii) Formulation of a Strategy: The next process of strategic management in Telstra
Corporation Limited is successful formulation of a strategy. The 1st step in formation of the
strategy is reviewing the information gathered from completion of the analyses (Aguinis,
Edwards and Bradley 2017). It is needed to regulate the resources that the business is presently
comprising of, so that they could help to reach out to the defined objectives and goals.
Identification of major areas of which the company should seek different external resources in
Telstra. Moreover, the issues faced by the organization would be kept on priority by their
significance towards success. As soon as prioritization is done, it is needed to formulate the
strategy (Chen, Delmas and Lieberman 2015). Since the economic as well as business situations

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are fluid in nature, it becomes critical in the phase to develop various initiative approaches,
which could easily target every phase of the plan.
iv) Implementation of a Strategy: The fourth process of strategic management in Telstra
Corporation Limited is successful implementation of a strategy. Successful implementation of
strategy is important for ensuring the success factor of the specific business ventures. It is the
subsequent action stage of this process of strategic management (Gallus and Frey 2016). When
the total strategy does not work with their current structure of business, a completely new
structure must be installed at the initiation of the stage. Each and every individual of the
company should be absolutely clear of their respective duties and responsibilities and the process
of every aspect fitting in the specific goal of Telstra (Vishnevskiy, Karasev and Meissner 2016).
Moreover, any of the resources or even funding for the business venture should be safe and
secured at the subsequent point. As soon as funding is done properly and the staff are ready, it
becomes easier to execute the plan.
v) Evaluation and Control: The final process of strategic management in Telstra
Corporation Limited is successful evaluation as well as control. Proper strategic evaluation and
management actions involve measurement of performances, making correct actions whenever
required as well as constant reviewing of the external and internal issues (Evans 2015). A
successful assessment of this strategy initiates with defining the major parameters that are
needed to be measured. These distinct parameters must enhance the objectives in the first stage
of clarification of the vision. Determination of the progress in the business through measurement
of the actual results becomes subsequent in understanding the plan (Loon, Evans and Kerridge
2015).

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Proper analysis and observation of the external and internal issues would also allow the
management of Telstra in reacting to the substantial changes within the respective business
environment. When the management determines that the strategy is not moving the respective
organization towards the goal, they would take up certain corrective actions (Carlsson-Wall,
Kraus and Lind 2015). However, when these actions are referred to as unsuccessful in nature, it
is needed to repeat the entire process of strategic management. As the external and internal issues
are continuously evolving, the respective data gained within the stage must be retained in helping
with the future strategies.
The above provided processes of strategic management in Telstra can be analyzed and
understood with the theories of strategies, namely, Mintzberg’s 5Ps of strategy and
Chamberlain’s theory of strategy. The management of Telstra would be able to plan for the
business in the most effective and efficient manner (Bergh et al. 2016). As a result, the planning
phase becomes easy and a strong and successful strategy is being developed eventually
(Dzhandzhugazova et al. 2015). They also would be able to employ the respective aspects in the
initial stages of their new strategy development. As soon as the strategy is being implemented in
the business, they would be able to test, evaluate and even make possible adjustments easily and
promptly.
2.4 Proper Assessment of the Extent to which People in Telstra Corporation Limited
getting engaged with and Contributing to a Selected Strategy
The employees or people are considered as the most valuable assets in any particular
organization that are responsible for becoming the key to success (Evans 2015). In the
competitive world of present situation, the main key towards success within a business would be
dependent on major customer satisfaction (Dogan 2015). The organizational management of

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Telstra Corporation Limited require to understand that a content and motivated staff has a high
probability to make the most significant contributions to the company. However, they often fail
in acting upon the employee satisfaction, who are the internal customers of the company. The
organizational service would ensure the requirements of the customers properly for satisfying the
needs of the internal customers (Theriou 2015). More than twenty six thousand employees are
working in this particular organization and being the leader of Australian telecommunication
sector, they have ensured that all the employees are highly satisfied.
Employee management is highly required for ensuring that the organization is having
subsequent control on their employees and they would be able to deal with any type of difficult
situations easily and promptly (Aguinis, Edwards and Bradley 2017). The entire concept of
employee management is responsible for providing a variety of different strategies and
processes, which could be helpful for measuring, monitoring as well as interacting with the work
force within the business. The failure of every employee could easily make up a major impact on
the respective business, irrespective of the size. It plays a significant role in every distinct part of
the employee life cycle, starting with the employee recruitment and training (Rosenberg Hansen
and Ferlie 2016). Telstra has always focused on their unique style of employee management with
the involvement of proper communication with the staff and employees eventually. It has been
helpful for the organization to ensure that the employees are following each and every step
related to communication and being transparent. Visibility and open to criticism is present within
their business, so that all the staff and employees are able to deal with complex situations and
issues without much complexity or issue (Chen, Delmas and Lieberman 2015).
The remuneration strategy in the business of Telstra is quite effective and important as
compared to other organizations in the entire Australia. It is the main factor for determination of

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the longevity of the employee within a company. Interpretation in opportunities is the major
factors, which lead to attrition of the staff. Moreover, the relationship of the employees with their
supervisor would play a major role or responsibility (Cosenz and Noto 2016). Prejudicing as well
as suppressing the development of an individual leads the staff for searching for an option. The
management of Telstra Corporation Limited has involved employees in execution of strategy is
quite vital for proper formulation of a successful strategy. Effective formulation as well as
deployment of strategy needs subsequent involvement and commitment of the managers or
employees at every level (Baumgartner and Rauter 2017). A failure in involvement of the main
employees would results in the implementation failure. As a result, the organizational members
have been able to develop themselves in getting better effectiveness and efficiency.
In the entire phase of formation and execution of the strategy, it becomes quite important
for involving the low level and middle level manager within the decision making procedure
regarding the strategy as well as its execution. Formulation of a successful strategy and
deployment needs such participation (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson 2016). In the end, these staff
are the ones, who have to perform the strategies. The top level management in Telstra might
even develop the strategy, however requires to spend major amounts of time deliberating it with
the employees and management in the low level in the respective organization. The management
of Telstra Corporation Limited has also ensured that any type of erroneous decision is not being
undertaken by them and they are able to eradicate the probable issues successfully.
The failure in involvement of the key people might even result in the deployment failure
(Engert, Rauter and Baumgartner 2016). One of the most important and significant aids in
implementation is to include different individuals early in strategy development. The strategy
process should invite the inclusion of those affected by the changes (Gallus and Frey 2016). It is

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needed that the leaders would stimulate constant participation within the procedure of every
person, who has the capability to contribute in the business. The employees of Telstra are
involved in their decision making process for getting better advantages, such as better quality of
decisions, better understanding of their strategy and high commitment to the strategy (Trigeorgis
and Reuer 2017).
One of the major strategies of this particular organization is to remain innovative and
creative in their business. Since, they are involved in the telecommunication business, it becomes
quite vital for them to ensure that innovativeness is prevailed in the business with proper
effectiveness (Meyer, Neck and Meeks 2017). It would help them in distinguishing from the
other rivals and ensuring that maximum success is obtained without much issue. Telstra has
included their employees in the business, as any type of innovative step can only become
successful with the involvement of employees and staff. The management has kept a divergence
between the natures of jobs of different employees and their working capabilities. As a result,
they had been able to get maximum success with subsequent strategies (Frynas and Mellahi
2015).
Hence, employees or people play the most significant roles in strategy development,
especially for the selected strategy of being innovative and creative in the business processes
within the company of Telstra Corporation Limited (Engert, Rauter and Baumgartner 2016).
Moreover, the issues and complexities related to employee management and strategy
development are completely eradicated without much complexity. The challenges that are
generally faced by the management of Telstra during developing the strategy are completely
removed from the system and the company gets new opportunity towards management of

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business processes and operations. Furthermore, major complexities towards employee retention
are also resolved and the company is able to retain their employees to maximum limit.
2.5 Recommendations about Strategic Processes in the Company to be improved
Strategic planning is the organizational process to define the strategy, direction as well as
making of decisions for allocating resources, so that it becomes easier to pursue the strategy. It
involves procedures to formulate and implement for better coordination (Bettis et al. 2016). The
organization of Telstra should involve few of the most vital and noteworthy strategic processes
in their business for ensuring that the existing issues and complexities are well eradicated and the
business becomes quite effective, as compared to others. These processes are required for
understanding the current position of the company and how to deal with complex situations
easily and promptly. It is the need of the management for ensuring that the respective data is
highly credible as well as relevant in nature.
As a result, it becomes extremely easier for the management to gain maximum advantage
and benefit without any type of complexity or issue. These involve tasks, which require a higher
level of intellectual capability and would also have wider spread impacts in the structure or
function of the company. The distinct nature of such procedures could be eventually compared
with the information to be shared and hence gaining maximum effectiveness and efficiency for
the entire management of Telstra Corporation Limited. The recommendations about the strategic
processes in Telstra Corporation Limited for business improvement are provided in the following
paragraphs:
i) Administrative Consolidation and Realignment: The first and the foremost
recommendation to Telstra Corporation Limited for improving their strategic processes is
administrative consolidation and realignment. It is extremely vital and significant for ensuring

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that the business procedures and operations are aligned properly and the organization is able to
maintain a balance between organizational processes and strategies successfully. Moreover, they
are also able to identify the major weaknesses and gaps and the business administration is able to
take up all types of vital steps in the business eventually. It would help them in identifying the
vital issues to a high level and without much issue or complexity.
ii) Development of a Decision Making Framework: The second important and
significant recommendation to Telstra Corporation Limited for improving their strategic
processes is to develop a proper framework for decision making. This particular framework is
responsible for serving to clarify the process and time different actors would get involved in the
decisions for understanding the scope of the decisions as well as the terms utilized for evaluation
of the decisions with the kind of decision support system to become beneficial. With a successful
framework for decision making process, the organization would get the major opportunity to
understand the requirements in the business and what strategies should be implemented in their
business for obtaining success.
iii) Conversion of Data to Information: The third distinct and important
recommendation to Telstra Corporation Limited for improving their strategic processes would be
successfully converting data to useful information. There is a high possibility that a company
might have all the confidential data associated to the decision at hand, however, it might not have
the distinct expertise for making sense of the respective data. For an instance, within hindsight,
each and every employee checks the sub prime mortgage crisis to be inevitable, however few of
the brightest managers within the world cannot see it coming; in spite of the subsequent signals
within the data. Strategic processes; hence should even make sure that the most relevant skills
are already present within the system in the form of artificial intelligence, which would be

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helping to convert data into actionable information. Major leap forward is the idea of business
intelligence systems.
iv) Proper Evaluation and Controlling of the Data: The next suitable and effective
recommendation to Telstra Corporation Limited for improving their strategic processes would be
proper evaluation as well as controlling of the data. Strategic evaluation or controlling actions
involve subsequent performance measurements, constant reviewing of the external and internal
issues and even making of proper and effective actions, whenever needed. Such distinct
parameters must check the significant goals that are being set in the first aspect of strategic
planning. These distinct strategies are being developed for an organization to ensure that the
various threats are eradicated and opportunities are identified in the business without much
complexity or issue. It is needed to determine the progress of work by simple measurement of
the original results and plan. Hence, it is being ensured that the organization gains maximum
effectiveness and efficiency. As a result, this particular recommendation would reduce the
chance of strategy failure to a high and the organization of Telstra would be able to deal with all
types of complexities and issues in the most effective manner.
3. Conclusion
Hence, a conclusion could be drawn that strategic management includes setting of
different aims, analyses of the respective competitive environments, analyses of the internal
company, evaluation of the strategies as well as ensuring that the management is rolling out
different strategies across the entire company. A proper prescriptive approach to strategic
management helps to outline the process of strategies to be developed and a descriptive approach
is responsible for focusing on the strategies to be put into practice. Major guiding principles are
being highlighted in the session, so that the company gets better opportunity for work. Business

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culture, competencies and the skills of the employees are referred to as the vital factors that
influence on the process of a company achieving their stated objectives.
The most inflexible companies find it quite difficult to succeed in the changing business
environment and also creating a barrier within the development of strategies as well as their
deployment for making it quite difficult for the managers to determine whether the objectives are
being fulfilled. As soon as the top management of an organization is responsible for its strategy,
these strategies are being sparked by ideas and actions from the low level managers as well as
employees. The organization might even have numerous employees, who are devoted to the
strategy and not only on depending on the chief executive officer for guidance.
The organizational leaders are responsible for identifying all types of complicated
decisions, so that it becomes quite easier for them to take up accurate decisions in the business.
The collective knowledge is being utilized for developing the future strategies and guiding the
employee behavior for ensuring that the company is moving forward. As a result, an effective
strategic management needs both outward and inward perspectives. Strategic management
extends to the external and internal communication practices for tracking, so that it becomes
easier to ensure that the organization is fulfilling different objectives as defined in the plan of
strategic management. The strategic decisions are on the basis of the insight from proper
environmental assessment as well as for the responses to different strategic questions regarding
the process of an organization competing eventually. The above provided critical essay has
properly outlined a detailed analysis of the strategic management effect on the organization of
Telstra with subsequent details related to relation between strategy, innovation and change,
different strategic processes and many more.

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