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View attachments Responses #1 Hello All, Two implementation controls that organizations use to ensure they stay on the right path to long-term objectives are IT systems and culture. Advanced technology provides streamlined end-to-end supply chain operations, better communication throughout the organization, access to real-time data, and cost efficiency (Strategic Control, 2019). General Mills states that its mission to serve the world by making food that people love is collaborative and connected (Innovation, n.d.). The right technology effectively links its people to its innovative processes. General Mills employs highly qualified teams responsible for implementing superior IT solutions (News Releases, n.d.).  The culture of General Mills has a direct impact on the company’s success. Operating with integrity is the long-standing culture at the company where everyone performs under a strict code of conduct. The company’s numerous awards regarding its culture show that the team is united in implementing its strategic plans (Awards, n.d.). The awards also testify that General Mills genuinely believes in respecting and protecting human rights, that it thrives when its people and their communities prosper, and prove its commitment to “making food people love” (Awards, n.d.). Cynthia References: Awards. General Mills. (n.d.). https://www.generalmills.com/en/News/Awards. Innovation. General Mills. (n.d.). https://www.generalmills.com/Company/Innovation/. News Releases. General Mills: One of the Worlds largest food Companies. (n.d.). https://www.generalmills.com/en/News/NewsReleases/Library/2020/February/General-Mills-adds-leadership-in-digital-and-data-capabilities. Strategic control: Meaning, types, techniques, process and barriers. Your Article Library. (2019, November 20). https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/strategic-management/strategic-control/99745. #2 Strategic control is a way for a company to manage and execute their plan. Most companies will have their own strategic plan because every company is unique, whether that involves their funding, size or marketability. This is used as a management process that is meant to help the business when they are dealing with the unknown. The four types of strategic control are premise control, implementation control, special alert control and strategic surveillance. Each on provides a different perspective and method of analysis to maximize the effectiveness of the business strategy (DuBois, 2018). For this assignment, I am choosing two implementation controls that I believe General Mills employs. The two implementation controls that GM utilizes would be their budget control and employee retention. Budget control is a huge factor in General Mills success over the last 100+ years. GM has been able to stick around for a long time because they are always looking to expand their portfolio. The CEO, Jeff Harmening, outlined the companys three priorities for returning to consistent topline growth. These three priorities are to compete, accelerate and reshape. When GM is able to reshape their portfolio for growth, they are able to include new businesses that enhance the companys growth profile and divesting businesses that are growth dilutive (2018). Without maintaining budget control, GM would not be able to use funding to grow their business.  Employee retention was the other control that GM has consistently improved on. GM has been in business since 1928, and they are known for their impressive low turnover rate of 3 percent. Half of all GM employees have worked for the company for a decade, and 3,500 have been there for twenty years or more (Harkness, 2021). The reason why they are so successful with employee retention is because they offer many opportunities for growth within the company. Majority of their management roles are from internal hires and this gives the younger employees encouragement that if they work hard they can move up the ladder.  Derek References DuBois, J. (2018, April 5). What are the four types of STRATEGIC CONTROL? Your Business. https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/four-types-strategic-control-24352.html. General Mills OUTLINES keys to consistent growth AT CAGNY. General Mills, Inc. - General Mills Outlines Keys To Consistent Growth At CAGNY. (2018). https://investors.generalmills.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2018/General-Mills-Outlines-Keys-To-Consistent-Growth-At-CAGNY/default.aspx. Harkness. (2021, July 8). 4 global food & beverage companies that have cracked the code on employee retention. ForceBrands Newsroom. https://forcebrands.com/blog/global-food-beverage-companies-employee-retention/. Discussion: Strategy Implementation and Strategic Control    Week 1: In order to properly implement a strategic plan, organizations use structure, various control systems (budgets, variance analysis, policies and procedures, company rules), and culture.     Let us revisit General Mills and determine the relative effectiveness of the company’s strategic controls. Choose two implementation controls, and discuss whether or not you believe the controls youve selected effectively support the companys strategic choices. Be sure to defend your answer (critical thinking is required)! Be sure that you respond to the postings of your classmates. Week 2: Respond to the following: As you’ve learned from the background readings, a key strategic control is that of organizational culture. Culture must fit with an organizations strategic choices. Poor alignment between culture and strategic choice is a sure-fire way to doom any strategic choice. Of course, some organizational theorists would assert that an organizations culture cannot be managed in the truest sense of how one “manages the processes and activities and things that exist within an organization. David Campbell (2000, p. 28) says that an organization Is being constructed continuously on a daily, even momentary [italics added], basis through individual interactions with others. The organization never settles into an entity or a thing that can be labelled and described, because it is constantly changing, or reinventing itself, through the interactions going on within it. [At the same time, an organization] does have a certain character to it, such that, like driving on the motorway, not just anything goes (p. x). Do you agree or disagree with the above? That is, can culture really be managed? What might this interpretation mean in the context of our current discussion related to “strategic controls”? A few comments on the above: Many individuals believe that, while the notion of culture can be defined, no single individual (irrespective of his/her legitimate power) is capable of single-handedly moving an organization’s culture in one direction or another. These individuals suggest that the sheer number of formal and informal groups, structures, tasks, functional operations, and individual interactions that exist and occur within organizations (even moderate-sized ones) render the “management” of culture impossible (consider the potential number – and combination – of individual to individual, individual to group, and group to group interactions that are likely to occur within an organization at each and every moment (and then, there are endless numbers of contacts / interactions with external stakeholders as well). The possibilities are seemingly infinite -- or at least they are indefinite. In this view, an organization’s culture is abstract, fragmentary, fluid -- and even relative and momentary – how can such a thing be “managed” in the same sense that we “manage” people and organizational processes? Reference: Campbell, D. (2000). The socially constructed organization. London: Karnac Books