Collective Strategy: Organizational Needs and Methodologies Analysis

This report delves into the intricacies of collective strategy development, examining its application across various organizational contexts. The analysis begins by assessing the political, social, ethical, and operational needs that drive collaborative strategies between organizations and administrations, using the fight against illegal mining in Ghana as a primary case study. It explores how collective strategies are formed and implemented, emphasizing the importance of stakeholder commitment. The report then identifies methodologies for evolving and developing collective strategies internally and externally, using the challenges faced by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Ghana as an example. Furthermore, it highlights opportunities for the future development of collective strategies, focusing on enhancing the impact on component organizations and key stakeholders. The report also defines collective strategy, considers its formation from organizational policies, and identifies key policy and strategy issues, including a PEST analysis, that influence collective strategy.

Collective Strategy
Development

AC 1.1 Analyses the political, social, ethical and operational needs for common strategies
between organisations and administrations.
Collective strategy is defined as a collaborative effort among the people at various stages or
levels in the organisation. It is a process in which an individual having common concern at
different level in the organization collaborate with a view to identify the ways of approaching a
particular issue (Argatov, Jin and Keer, 2020)
Operational strategies refers to the methods organizations use to reach their goals and objectives.
By developing operational strategies, an organization can analyse and implement effective and
efficient systems for using scarce resources, financial and human and the work process.
Political strategies are formulated and implemented through institutions and administrations.
This requires the collaboration of the organizations in dealing with the social, problem.
An example of social, political and operational which requires the common strategy is the fight
against illegal mining otherwise referred to as galamsey.
Also, due to terrorist attack also affect the country in negative manner. Such that during this
time, entire political stability of the country is also affected and this in turn affect the range of
people as well. As entire company is run in the political stability of the country and if there is
any fluctuation in the company, then it affect the overall results in negative manner. But in order
to cope up with the instability in the political condition of the country, there are many ways
through which the issue is minimized.
On the other side, changes in the tax rate is also consider another problem that is related to
political issue and that is why, it is necessary for the business to make sure that it comply with
the necessary changes in tax rate so that it will not create any negative impact upon the success
of business. Therefore, in this way, company will easily develop strategy and increase the price
of the firm in order to meet the define aim.
Although Ghana has had a formalized process for engaging in small scale mining on legal basis
since the late 1980s, by the middle of the immediate past decade an estimated 85 percent of small
scale miners in the country were operating on illegal basis (Gilbert and et.al., 2020). Illegal
mining has had significant adverse implications in Ghana, ranging from revenue losses to the
state (as illegal miners do not pay taxes) to the pollution of important water bodies and a few
years ago, the situation came to a head. In March 2017, the Ghana Water Company warned that
the spate of water pollution by illegal small scale miners was approaching alarming levels, and
that the country risked importing water for consumption by 2030 unless illegal mining activities
were curbed. This revelation, along with widespread media campaigns, resulted in an
unprecedented national consensus against galamsey, prompting actions from among a wide range
of institutions, including the presidency, the judiciary, security services, and the Ministry of

Lands and Natural Resources. This led to the formation of inter-ministerial committee to lead the
fight against the menace (Bartley, 2020).
The military ,police and other relevant security agencies were commissioned to provide some
force in stopping the menace. The initial success of the operation was commendable owing to the
fact that this is the first time an operation on such a large scale was launched against illegal
mining and the national interest was high.
Unfortunately, the recent media reports indicate that the excavators confiscated from the illegal
miners somehow found themselves back to the forest this time commandeered by persons
affiliated to the government and the ruling party.
Collective strategy requires the total commitment of all the organizations involved in seeing it
through.
Consequently, the fight seems to be lost as a result of the political decision to give clearance to
the inter-ministerial committee tasked to stop the illegal activity to themselves engage in the
unethical practice.
So on Wednesday, 25th July, 2019, the President Nana Akufo Addo launched the Community
Mining Program at Wassa Akropong, in the Western Region as the start of a key program which
is now being extended to all the mining areas around Ghana.
The project is aimed at formalizing mining in selected communities across the country to ensure
that mining is carried out in an acceptable manner within the tenets of the law, in a way that will
not destroy the country’s natural resources that is yet to be seen.
This project will also trained some 4500 former illegal miners to mine sustainably without
destroying the environment.
AC 1.2 Identify methodologies by which collective strategy is evolved and developed
internally within an organisation and externally on a national and international
collaborative basis.
Collective strategy is defined as a collaborative effort among the people at various stages or
levels in the organization. It is a process in which an individual having common concern at
different level in the organization collaborate with a view to identify the ways of approaching a
particular issue (Bergman, 2020).
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) being the main opposition political party in Ghana is
faced with the challenge of wrestling power from the ruling New Patriotic Party. These require
the collaboration the entire membership at the various level of the party’s structure. But
currently, though the entire membership resolved the party must win the next election, the

grassroots are despondent because of the allegations of neglect leveled against the previous
regime. The leadership of the party must now do the needful in getting the grassroots to buy into
the strategy and put aside the differences and put their shoulders to the wheel.
Re-organisation at the grassroots level should be vigorously pursued leading to the organization
of the constituencies and the regional levels and reconciling the aggrieved persons or groups so
as to build some synergy within the rank and file of the party.
The Party must also liaise with the media and civil society groups to project the messages of the
party in a way that resonates with the generality of the population. When CSOs backed the views
of a political party with data and research the middle class and the educated citizen identify more
with organization. The media reportage could continually give credence to the message and
possibility of it. This change the discourse from whether it is doable to how beneficial it could be
to society.
The NDC could also align its strategy with other minority political parties who may not make
much impact in the election but could scuttle the chances of the ruling party by either making in
rows in their strongholds or creating apathy in those areas.
This collective strategy is aimed at ensuring electoral victory for the NDC come Dec7,2020.
The NDC leadership at the National level should liaise with branches in the Diaspora to create
disaffection for the ruling party at the international levels. This could be during international
travels by government officials or Presidential visits (Da Silva and Verschoore, 2020). These
activities affect the international image of the government and expose their misinformation of the
international community.
The party by virtue of belonging to international organizations that share the same ideological
leaning, such as the socialist forum,can seek strategic assistant in the areas of technological
backup and expert advice or even funding.
AC 1.3 Identify the opportunities for the future development of collective strategies so as to
enhance the impact on the component organisations, administrations and key stakeholders.
Through the development of a collective strategy, it creates a best opportunity for the
company in order to work together so that it help to understand the team working abilities among
the people. On the other side, it also allow all the organization to work together on the common
agenda in order to address the issue and also create deliberate as well as evidence based impact
that creates direct impact upon the firm. Moreover, it is also analyzed that with an emerging era,
company and country has to use collective strategies in which a firm should involve all the
stakeholder which in turn help to understand that they are also an important key element of the

company. Further, using this strategy, company will get an opportunity to solve many complex
issue and this in turn affect the results in positive manner as well.
On the other side, it is also analyzed that with the help of collective strategies, company’s
stakeholder provide their views in order to take better decision for the company and also, creates
positive impact upon the component of an organization as well (Gilbert and et.al., 2020).
Through this different department of the company are also run in better way and this in turn
assist to creates a collaboration between the employees and this is turn assist to increase the
customer satisfaction as well. Further, it is also analyzed that country uses this strategy in order
to make sure that it help to meet the define aim but with the help of collaboration. Thus, it is
clearly reflected that if company uses collective strategy then it will help to meet the define aim,
also creates a positive impact upon the business as well as upon its stakeholder too. Hence, there
are many NGO in Ghana which also uses this strategy in order to make sure that it create future
opportunity.
AC 2.1 Define what collective strategy is and consider how it is formed from the policies of
the component organisations, administrations and key stakeholders.
Collective strategy is defined as a collaborative effort among the people at various stages or
levels in the organisation. It is a process in which an individual having common concern at
different level in the organization collaborate with a view to identify the ways of approaching a
particular issue (Ardichvili, Jondle and Mitchell, 2009)
The collective strategy was demonstrated in the resistance against the compilation of a New
Voters’ Register when organizations and political parties opposed to the compilation pulled their
energies together to oppose the EC.
The Inter-party resistance against the compilation of the voters ‘register made up of The National
Democratic Congress, The All People ‘s Party, The People National Convention and supported
by the eighteen Civil Society Organisations led by IMANI Africa. Having agreed that the
decision by the EC to compile a New Register was wrong and an act of fraud on the state and a
deliberate action to disenfranchise some qualified electorates form doing their constitutional duty
(Howe, Stoddart and Tindall, 2020). The Resistant collectively took on the Electoral
Commission by organizing a series of public lectures which challenged and made a strong case
against the EC.
While the Political parties engage the EC both on substance and also on the streets through
demonstrations, the CSOs were also involved in providing scientific data and following same
with public education aimed at courting public sympathy.
The next line of action was going to be picketing at the ECs offices but that was not to be when
the COVID 19 pandemic broke.

In all these the electoral commission has remained resolute in its decision to compile a new
voters’ register insisting it has the backing of the constitution (Lopes and et.al., 2020). The
ruling New Patriotic Party has indicated and shown their collaboration with the EC.
What is succinctly clear is that, even if the EC succeeds in compiling the register the Resistance
led by the NDC and IMANI has succeeded in creating credibility problem for the Electoral
Commission and the public will see every action of the EC with suspicion.
AC 2.2 Identify the key policy and strategy issues which influence collective strategy.
(PEST)
The Environment is largely the determinant of organisational activity be it as an individual
organisation or collectively with other organisations within the value chain. Environment;
political, economical, social and technological forms the bedrock of organisational strategy
direction. The key policy and strategic issues which influence collective strategy are:
1. For an organisation to remain competitive and efficient in its operations, strategic
leadership must consider the political environment of the organisation vis-a-vis
government regulation and perceptions of the organisation and the legal framework
within which the organisation would have to operate. The more Democratic environment
will engender exciting competitive atmosphere for organisations to analyse their strength,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats clearly then identify organisations whose
collaboration will boost their competitiveness.
2. The economic environment of the organisation includes all the external factors that will
influences organisational decision directly or indirectly. Example; interest rates, taxes,
inflation, exchange rates, demand and supply, market size, competitors etc. The effect
could be triggered decisions as little as a firm’s decision on price to decisions that will
affect the economy of the entire country (Luedicke and et.al., 2017). For example the
decision of the central bank of Ghana to either increase or decrease the lending rate will
inadvertently cause the banks to watch the rate at which they lend to their customers.
Factors such as policy rate is the reason for the banking sector reforms that was embarked
on recently. These issues led to the merger of some banks and the liquidation of others.
3. The social environment is the totality of society’s beliefs, customs, practices and
behaviours. Societies construct their own social environment through the interactions
with nature and people they come into contact with. Some these customs, beliefs and
practices are the same irrespective of the society but others are peculiar to a particular
society. These social environment affects organizational strategy in achieving it goals and

objectives; the more complex the social environment the more complicated it is to
survive. Organisation operating within multicultural environment must formulate policies
that recognize the diverse sub-populations and their unique beliefs, values and customs.
Organisations are directly affected by the structure of the population, the size of the
population, taste of the population etc. The demands of a youthful population differ from
that of an aging on (Macneil, Bray and Spiess, 2020). The fertility levels of the
population should be considered in formulating collective strategy.
4. Technology is the platform that allows organisations to either control their environment
or to change it. A change in technology of an organisation can potentially transform the
operational processes of the organisation and enhance its competitiveness. The Ghana
water company in realizing the lapses in the collection of revenue decides to engage the
services of a software developer to enhance the efficiency of bill collection of the
GWCL. This collective strategy has transformed the billing system and an increase in
revenue.
AC 2.3 Explain how collective strategy is influenced by the reality of factors – political,
global, public interest, media impact, and social, cultural, religious - in the modern context.
Politics permeate every facet of life. Political activities along with cultural, social, religious
impact the activities of organizations forcing them to move in certain strategic directions which
may not have been in the absence of such factors.
Collective strategy in the face of media impact gives impetus to political machination and
collaborations. In the matter of the Electoral Commission’s decision to compile a new register
and the attendant resistance by the NDC and some CSOs at a point became clear the standoff has
reached the breaking point with each party refusing to back down (Martin and Tanguy, 2018).
The call on the peace council, the religious and faith based organizations became loud, with the
politicians making reference to their reaction in similar situations in the previous regime. Their
response came later but as it stands now, the impact of their meeting with the parties involved is
yet to be felt because even in the face of the current pandemic the electoral commission kept
announcing or rather reiterating their resolve to compile the new voter’s register.
Communications scholars have argued that institutions are highly influenced by different
communication structures and processes. Different authors have analysed the increasing

mediation of organizations and the influence that news media and other information
intermediaries have on organizations and on their relationship with external stakeholders (Renard
and et.al., 2020).The New media took center stage in the monitoring of the development and
reporting same to the sea of followers.
Organisations set out to achieve their objectives and plan activities that will enhance their
chances of attaining such goals. In politics, political parties set out to win elections so any action
that has the potential to threaten their resolve must be opposed either publicly or surreptitiously
the choice depends solely on which presents a strategic advantage.
AC 3.1 Assess how to resolve the tensions between the cultures and ethics of contributing
organisations, administrations and key stakeholders
In this era of growing competitive global environment, organisations are faced with issues of
diversity, and varied management and leadership styles which define who they are, what they do
and how they do it. In other words culture and business ethics which have the propensity to
either positively affect the organisation or otherwise. Tension between organizations involved in
collective strategy is often inevitable especially when it bothers on culture and ethics. To achieve
efficiency and effectiveness of the business or operational process, leadership must define clearly
what constitutes ethical issue and the culture of their organisation, administrations and key
stakeholders. According to Testa and et.al., (2017) PEST Analysis, which simply defines
political, economic, social and technological factors, organisation, administrations and their
various stakeholders must first or foremost scan their environment as an ecosystem to appreciate
and understand political, economic, social and technological ramifications in regards to ethics
and culture.
In perspective, my role as a strategic leadership is to do the following in consonance with the
PEST Model or PEST ANALYSIS:
1. Define and analyze the political environment and the level of competition that exist
amongst the players and its impact on operations. For instance a highly democratic
political environment can greatly affect the culture of the business(s) in that specific
environment likewise its stakeholders. It helps to deepen consultative processes, integrity,
accountability, business continuity, rules of law and administrative justice. To reiterate ,
an ethical issues that is not supported or defined by a political regime at a global, national
and local levels will paralyze and fail to create a climate that is defined and accepted by
all the players as a healthy culture (Valencia-Romero and Grogan, 2020). It therefore
imperative to define the political environment and inform various departments,
administrations and all other stakeholder to be in sync with the political ideological
philosophies before, during and after every business process. In Ghana for instance, it has
become almost a routine that, two major political parties, the National Democratic

Congress and the New Patriotic Party change hands after every 8years notwithstanding
the fact that, constitutional elections are held in every four years. In addition, The
Republic of Ghana runs a parliamentary system of governance which forms part of the
major arms of government where strategic legislations concerning how government
business(s) and the private sector operate. In the case of public private partnership or a
TURN-KEY project, the role of a political interference and strategic involvement cannot
be over emphasized hence the need for all players to be aware of the roadmap. As part of
leadership of the leading opposition Party, the NDC, it is my responsibility to do
stakeholder mapping and understand their various needs and expectations and
communicate same to my organisation in other to prevent ambiguity, information
overload, fake-news and clarify policy directions in our collective strategy to win an
election and successfully govern the nation (Wang and et.al., 2020).
2. Economic policies must be clearly defined in our manifestos as a political party. This will
help to reduce tension and the fear of the unknown that may arise within the business
environment and amongst other stakeholders. It reduces the level of uncertainties and
helps the businesses, administrations and stakeholders at large to forecast and project
trends, business growth, sustainability and profitability of their operations. In other words
builds confidence. It is not an over statement to say that, a single economic policy in
regards to tax or tariffs, could define an ethical business environment and affect growth.
If administrations and their leaders are aware of economic sanctions and ramifications on
their operations, it will help to create a culture of ethical business behaviour and attitudes.
It help them at strategic level to appreciate investment instruments and policy
intervention that will inure to their benefit.
3. On the Social stand point, the Ghanaian economic environment is largely considered as
Urban, Peri-urban and Rural made up of largely faith based population with the majority
believed to be Christians. These faith based organisations are key stakeholders in the
shaping of public opinion and socialization and operate within certain cultural
perspectives.
Formulation of policy within such socio-cultural environment, demands broad
stakeholder engagement and consultation in order to have a collective stance on the
particular issue without which the policy will most likely generate tension (Wei, -Ha and
Mohezar, 2020). A typical example is the recent attempt by Ghana Education Service and
Ministry of Education to introduce a comprehensive sexuality education into the
curriculum of Basic schools in Ghana. The move was interpreted to mean an introduction
of LGBT to the Ghanaian Students.

Being a largely religious(Christian 71.2%, Muslim 17.6%, traditional 5.2%, other 0.8%,
none 5.2% ) and culturally centric society it was not surprising the effort by the Christian
Councils, Muslim Councils and the Traditional councils led by the various Traditional
Houses of Chiefs resist and eventually stop the move.
As a strategic leader, within the political sphere it worthy of note that the PNDC which
metamorphosed to become the NDC in avoidance of such deficiencies ensured the
inclusion of the council of state in the 1992 constitution as the highest advisory body to
the President in matters of policy. With the membership of people with diverse cultural,
social, religious, professional and academic backgrounds, the councils of state are
positioned to represent the diversity and bringing same to bear on the counsel they give.
4. The growth technology has brought new challenges which require apt strategy
approach .The emergence of the digital high speed and the New media platforms has
changed the approaches to business and have created new parameters of opportunities
and threats. The social media has enhanced the speed at which information spreads, has
to a large extent breached the sanctity of privacy organisations (Argatov, Jin and Keer,
2020). As strategic leaders there is the need to redefine the extent of disclosure of
collective strategy. This calls for the formulation of strategy that encapsulates ethical and
cultural undertones.
The Ghana Government through its agent the National Communications Authority has
introduced or caused to be introduced a legislation which allows the security agencies to
monitor the data and have access to personal data usage. This has culminated to the
perception the government and its assigns could through the legislation be spying on the
populace this could lead to tension that could only be solved if there is stakeholder
consultation on the matter.
Furthermore, the Ghana government in order to ensure efficiency in the billing system of Ghana
Water Company had contracted Soft tribe an IT company to develop software to monitor water
production, distribution and generating bills of customers of the Ghana Water company. The
contract suffered a snag with national security invading the offices of the IT firm with the excuse
they suspected the firm would either hack or pulled down the system. On why they terminated
the contract, The GWCL said that its decision to terminate its contract SOFTtribe Limited long
overdue because of challenges with SOFTtribe's e-billing system that were purportedly leading
to revenue loses. IT firm denied these claims and also alleged that since the inception of the
contract till the termination, some persons at GWCL had been trying to extort money.

The company felt that the contract was terminated because the firm fought off the extortion
attempts. Founder of the company, Herman Chinery-Hesse, has also come out to say he suspects
that evidence of the extortion was on the electronic gadgets seized by National Security.
GWCL said it lost millions in revenue due to incidences like billing with wrong tariffs and
disparities between water consumed and bills.
This dynamics has led to the extension of the PEST model changing it to PESTLE that’s
including legal environment within which organisation operates and how conflicts such this
could be resolved. The Government later set up a committee to resolve the brouhaha.
Ethical issues arise if organizations with varied cultural backgrounds collaborate to achieve a
particular strategic goal without satisfying the clear spell out of rules of engagement and
integration (Bartley, 2020).
Leadership of Organisations involved in collective strategy can resolve the tension between
cultural and ethical identities through the following:
Training and capacity Building; creating models and platforms the establishes the culture and
ethical mix within the organisation is key in resolving tension that arise in those areas as a result
of collective cultural implementation.
Ethical questions such as:
a. When does office friendship constitute sexual harassment?
b. When a gift does become a bribe?
c. How should such matters be resolved?
This clears all ambiguity and establishes good inter-personal culture leading to increased
productivity.
Cross-cultural Match
Cultural differences are grounds for tension in collective strategy implementation, it is
imperative therefore for leaders to create models for cultural matching so as to identify the
elements that are useful to the development of the collective strategy.
AC 3.2 Evaluate how strategic intelligence is used in the development and formulation of
strategy

Strategic intelligence can be viewed as what a company needs to know of its business
environment to enable it to gain insight into its present processes, anticipate and manage change
for the future, design appropriate strategies that will create business value for customers, and
improve profitability in current and new markets. Strategic intelligence as consisting of the
aggregation of the various types of intelligentsia, which creates a synergy between business
intelligence, competitive intelligence, and knowledge management to provide value-added
information and knowledge toward making organisational strategic decisions (Bergman, 2020).
This implies making the right information available to decision makers at the right time so they
can make the appropriate decision that would move the fortunes of the organization from point A
to B.
Strategic intelligence provides strategic decision maker with information on eminent future
challenges and opportunities in the area of operation and then formulate strategy to mitigate or
maximize it.
Strategic Intelligence is the basis of political decision making; it is always important to anticipate
the impact of the decisions of the opponent on the electorates and on your own strategy and then
develop policies that will brighten your chances.
To be able to evaluate how strategic intelligence is used in the development and formulation of
strategy,to employ Michael E.Porter’s five competitive forces of analysis business
competitiveness outlined in his book "Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing
Industries and Competitors" in 1980.
The five forces are often used to assess competition intensity, attractiveness, and profitability of
an industry or market.
Michael Porter's five competitive forces are:
1. Competition in the industry
2. Potential of new entrants into the industry
3. Power of suppliers
4. Power of customers
5. Threat of substitute products
The first of the forces refers to the number of competitors within the market. To analyse the
competitive edge of an organisation is dependent on the number of organisation offering the
same product or service within the industry. The more organisations along with equivalent
product or services, the lower the power of the organisation in terms of control. In the political
arena, a large number of political parties does not necessarily amount to lesser competition since
the dynamics may differ to some extent. There are several political parties in Ghana but only
NDC and the NPP has the competitive edge and the potential of forming a government. In the
last election the two political traditions divided 98.3% of the valid votes among themselves (Da
Silva and Verschoore, 2020). ThoughWith NPP emerging victors. The strategic intelligence in
this regard is directed at identifying the causes of the lost and how to overturn it.