Management Theories: Strategic Choice vs Determinist Approaches

This essay delves into the core concepts of management theory, specifically focusing on the strategic choice and determinist perspectives. It examines the pivotal role of managers in shaping organizational outcomes through strategic planning and decision-making, as well as the influence of external and internal environmental factors. The discussion highlights the relevance of both strategic choice theory, emphasizing managerial influence, and deterministic theories, which underscore the impact of external forces. The essay explores the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, providing real-world examples to illustrate their application in diverse organizational contexts. The analysis concludes that both theories are valuable, with their applicability varying depending on the specific circumstances and challenges faced by the organization, emphasizing the importance of a balanced understanding of managerial actions and environmental influences. This comprehensive analysis aims to provide a deeper understanding of how different management theories impact organizational success.

Running head: MANAGEMENT THEORY AND PRACTICE
Management Theory and Practice
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The managers play an important role in the management of the organizational outcomes.
The leadership and the management activities are instrumental in initiating motivation,
inspiration and effective functioning of the organization. The managers are the organizational
leaders who shape the proper decision-making process of the organizations (Hill, Jones and
Schilling 2014). They are also instrumental in shaping up organizational culture, which is
responsible for achieving the organizational success. The strategic choices and the determinist
theories are important for understanding the managerial courses of action that affect the
organizational outcomes. This topic is important as the understanding of the theories is important
in understanding of the facts that lead to organizational success.
The essay would discuss about the importance of both the strategic choice of the
managers and the determinist theories of them in an organization setting. There are different
situations in an organization, in which both the theories would be relevant. This essay would
discuss about the arguments regarding both the choices and strengthen the fact that both the
theories are compelling as far as managerial actions and organizational outcomes are concerned.
Discussion
The managers of the modern organizations are expected to make strategic choices in their
day to day functioning of the organizations (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). The strategic
planning of the managers includes the ability to make good choices about the various operational
aspects of the firm. The strategic planning is considered to be one of the most important job
roles of the managers.

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As opined by AM Vermeulen et al. (2016), the strategic choice theory of the
organization determines the fact leaders play an important role in the organizations by making
important choices in an environment, which is considered as a dynamic environment. This theory
provided an alternative to the fact that the individuals are required to make particular choices in
their tenure in the organization, that have a direct as well as indirect influence on the smooth
functioning of the organization (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). The strategic choices of the
organization form an important part in the organizational learning process, which needs to adapt
to the external environment as well as internal political condition of the organization. This theory
focuses on the manager’s responses to the everyday disputes to the organization. There are
several examples of strategic choices being made in the day to day functioning of the
organizations (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). The senior executives of the firm have strong
influence on the decision-making process of the organization. The strategic choice theory
considers the relevant forces present in the external environment of the firm that has a direct
influence on the employee relationships (Whittington 2014). There has been a huge change in the
external environment of the organizations that enforces the managers to adapt their business
strategies. The various options are filtered and checked if they are consistent with the beliefs,
values as well as philosophies of the organization. The managerial choices are embedded in the
institutional as well as historical structures of the organization. The managers need to determine
the strategic feasibility of the various options and check whether they are actually possible in the
organizational context (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). The strategic choices of the firm also
depend on the organizational decisions as well as the current power distribution in the firm. The
relationship nature between the government agencies, unions and external organizations also
determines the nature of the strategic choices in the organization.

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The strategic choices of the organization are determined by the industrial relations
processes as well as outcomes that are continuously evolving as well as responsive to the
organizational responses (Burke 2017). The relative importance of the environmental factors as
well as responses does vary over a consistent period of time, but they always have an impact on
the organization. The labor or the market changes have an independent effect on the effect on the
organizational choices (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). The broader conception of the
institutional framework relating to the various aspects of the industrial relations corresponds to
the various activities of the management, government organizations and the labor (Hill, Jones
and Schilling 2014). The managers need to make effective strategic choices regarding the day to
day affairs of the government. The middle level management needs to take care of the collective
bargaining process in the organization, which would help in better decision-making of the firm
(Foss and Hallberg 2016). The strategic choice theory helps in the determination of the inter-
relationships between the different activities of the firm and maintains consistencies between all
work levels. This theory focuses on the various levels of strategic decisions that influence the
smooth functioning of the firm (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). There can be changes in the
competitive environment of the firm that can also have a changing consumer demand, in which
the managers need to take adequate organizational decisions (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014).
There can be a sharp increase in the competitive pressures of the firm and the various production
processes of the firm.
The strategic choice theory holds great importance for the various operational processes
of the firm. The strengths of this theory are concerned with the fact that the organizations can
have different kind of alternatives when they have to undertake crucial organizational decisions
(Tokman, Richey and Deitz 2016). This kind of theory operates in the self-regulating as well as

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negative feedback pattern in which the organization is being able to achieve the organizational
goals. The organizational analysis is often done to the macro level of the organization so that
there is maximum micro-diversity.
As commented by Cicmil et al. (2017), the deterministic theories of management focus
on the relationship between the organizations and their external as well as internal environments.
The different deterministic theories such as institutional theory, resource dependency theory or
the different versions of the neo-institutional theory helps in explaining the fact those
organizations are molded by various institutional environments (Floudas 2013). For example, the
population ecology theory helps in the examination of the fact why the organizations are failing
and why there are some organizations that succeed. This also explains the fact all the
organizations are not exposed to the same factors and hence they have different growth patterns
in the organization (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014).
The institutional theories of the management emphasize on the fact the organizations
need homogeneity, continuity and consent are important for the creation of informal as well as
formal relations within the organizations (Geisler and Wickramasinghe 2015). Despite this fact,
the organizations need to respond to the different institutional environment of the organization.
The managers need to take care of the various factors in the institutional environment such as
internal activities of the organization as well as the various activities of the external groups (Hill,
Jones and Schilling 2014). The managers need to focus on the grass roots democratic structure of
the company management and various immediate effects. This is important for making important
decisions for the firm (Murphy, Soroudi and Keane 2016). The managers need to abide by the
various regulation, rules and norms so that there is effective team work (Hill, Jones and Schilling
2014). This would also help in the early accomplishment of the organizational goals. This theory

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focuses on the fact that the organizational change is due to the coercive pressures from the
various institutional environment (Dubey, Gunasekaran and Ali 2015). The institutional
cooptation can occur through both formal as well as informal mechanisms. The formal
cooptation may occur through the process, which would effectively solve the issues of absorbing
new elements into the leadership process of the organization (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014).
The strength of this theory lies in the fact that organizations can take part in their own
functioning, which is often independent of the willpower of the managers.
The population ecology theory emphasizes on the fact that there are certain factors which
are relevant context due to which there are some organizations which fail and there are other
organizations that succeed (Naveh and Lieberman 2013). This theory analyses the effect of
population characteristics on the organizational outcomes. This theory specifies the fact that the
organizations are usually determined by the level of their external environment. This theory
specifies on the fact that the organizational functioning are determined by the external
environment. The successful organizations are said to be best fitting in the environment while the
opposite is true for the organizations which fail (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). The
organizations are said to be passing through several stages such as variation, selection and
retention (Rockwood 2015). For example, the independent wine production can be related to the
survival rates of the population. The variation stages of the organization are dependent on the
fact that the organizations try to implement various new processes within the population. This
stage of the organization is characterized by the fact that the organization is made up of flexible
and loose relations (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). The organizations are said to be developed
over tome and with time they become more tightly together and they are also adaptable to change
(Merow et al. 2014). The selection process is considered as the process in which the

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organizations are being selected by the environment. This process favors the organizations which
would be developing into solid organizational structures which become difficult to change over
time (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). The retention is considered as the stage in which the
organizations with certain structures flourish while the others end. When the organizations reach
this stage, then they are characterized by inflexible relationships (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014).
The organizations face different kinds of constraints which limit them from changing their
structures as well as adapt them to the external environment. In such cases, there is a
considerable reduction in the individual organizational change as well as adaption.
The strengths of the deterministic theory lies in the fact that the organizations can best
utilize the positive trends of the external environment as well as internal organizational
environment (Gibson 2014). This theory emphasizes the fact that the organizational outcomes
are not dependant on the direct actions of the managers and instead they depend on the
organizational environment. The organizational context is not only related to the situational
factors in the outside environment, but the internal dynamics of the organization also affects the
organizational actions (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). For example, if the organization
witnesses the fact that there is an increase in the consumer demand for special brand of soft
drinks, then the company would be automatically launching more products in this range.
Conclusion
The analysis of the above strategic choice theories of management as well as
deterministic theories of the organization specializes in the fact that both these theories are
applicable to different circumstances. There are instances when the organizations depend a lot on
the strategic actions of the managers and there are cases when the organization needs to give

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least attention to the attention of the managers. There are situations in which the actions of the
managers have ultimate effect on the smooth functioning of the organization. There are other
instances when the managers have a limiting effect on the organizational outcomes. In these
cases, there are a lot of contributing factors in the external environment, which affect the
functioning of the firms. There are also institutional factors, which can be attributed to the
internal factors that affect the organizational functioning. It can be concluded that depending on
the situation, either of the two above theories can be implemented.

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