Strategic Thinking

In the light of various studies carried out in various socio-economic areas, scientific and cultural development has been introduced as a prerequisite and fundamental factor for sustainable development of the societies. Obviously, universities, as a "scientific and intellectual command center of the society" have a fundamental and unique role and function. In order to achieve this, the most significant and fundamental problem or challenge of universities is the lack of a comprehensive and long-term plan that can clarify the prospects for university development, providing a reasonable and reliable framework for different types of activities such as educational, research, technology and support-staff activities. Since the strategic thinking in the management and planning of universities can be used as a solution to the challenges of the present age and to the strategic requirements of higher education institutions both inside and outside the country, so: The present study aims to "compare comparative strategic thinking in the management and planning of universities inside and outside the country "with the aim of identifying the main and subcomponents of management and strategic planning. This research is a comparative study in the field of university management.The research data have been analyzed to extract the main and subcomponents of strategic management using "factor analysis". The research findings showed that there are 6 main components and 6 sub-components in the comparative comparison of the strategic thinking in the strategic management and planning of universities inside and outside the country.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of scenario planning on strategic innovation considering the mediating role of strategic thinking and strategic flexibility. This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive survey in nature. The statistical population of the study is the manufacturing companies of Bushehr province. In order to determine the sample size, the test-software method (G-Power) was used. Based on this, 222 observations were calculated. Using a simple random sampling method with the online survey, 176 questionnaires were finally received by the researchers. Data analysis was performed using the structural equation method and Smart PLS 3 software. Research findings showed that scenario planning has a positive and significant effect on strategic innovation. The mediating effect of strategic flexibility and strategic thinking in the relationship between scenario planning and strategic innovation is also significant. The present study expands the management literature by filling in research gaps. Organizations today need to change their past strategies to be able to understand and meet customer needs faster and more competitively than other competitors.

Purpose: The current research, which is of the grounded theory type, was carried out with the aim of designing a model for developing strategic thinking of Islamic Azad University administrators. Methodology: The statistical population of this research is academic experts who have experience and education related to research in Azad University. The snowball method was used for sampling and the number of samples increased until reaching theoretical saturation, and finally 25 people were selected as the sample. To analyze the data obtained from the (semi-structured) interviews, the coding method was used in the grounded theory. In such a way that the data obtained from the interviews have been used in the three-step process of open, central and selective coding in accordance with the grounded theory process. Findings: The findings of the research indicated that the causal conditions include 1. Individual factors, 2. Organizational factors, 3. Discourse creation. The central phenomenon includes the development of managers' strategic thinking, which includes 1. Individual dimension, 2. Intuitive dimension, 3. Systemic view. Contextual factors include 1. Cultural platform 2. Learning context 3. Psychological factors 4. Organizational independence. And intervention factors include environmental factors in two dimensions a) within the organization and b) out of the organization. The strategies include talent management in two dimensions a) (talent acquisition) b) recruitment and retention. Conclusion: As a result, human resource empowerment activities, job satisfaction and performance of employees increases because the role of employees in realizing the organization's goals increases as a result of their empowerment.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of strategic thinking skills on the effectiveness of strategy creation process of team sport federations in Iran. 57 questionnaires distributed among the managers of team sport federations to collect the required data. Strategic thinking skills questionnaire and effectiveness of strategy creation process questionnaire adapted from Moghimi and Ramezan questionnaire (2015). Structural equation modeling with partial least squares (PLS) approach was employed for data analysis. The results indicated that strategic thinking skills of managers had a significant effect on the effectiveness of strategy creation process in team sport federations. According to the findings, improving the strategic thinking skills of managers in sport federations, is critical in the process of creating effective strategies.

Purpose: With the increase of problems and the complexity of organizations, the need to provide better solutions and use more powerful tools of strategic planning is evident because managers with strategic thinking and a better understanding of the strategic plan will perform more effectively. It can be said that strategic thinking is considered as a supplement to strategic planning, a suitable approach to "leadership" of the organization and can help in systematically dealing with problems, understanding opportunities, optimal allocation of scarce resources and achieving the desired results. In view of this importance, the current research aims to design a strategic thinking competence assessment model with the approach of developing organizational flexibility in National Gas Company of Iran.Method: This research is applied in terms of purpose and was done with qualitative approach based on grounded theory method. Sampling of the research was done using snowball method (chain reference). For this purpose, qualitative data was collected, which led to the identification of many aspects of the phenomenon and the possibility of developing a conceptual research model. The data collection method is library studies, perusal of high-level documents, and in-depth and open interviews. The statistical population of this research consisted of specialists and experts in the field of management and strategic thinking, of whom 12 people were investigated. In the process of conducting this research, the interviews continued until theoretical saturation was observed.Findings: The findings showed that six main categories are effective on the evaluation of strategic thinking with an organizational flexibility approach, which are: foresight, strategic determination, systemic attitude, innovation and creativity. The results show that the validity of the model is confirmed and the six obvious variables (six dimensions) explain the latent variables of strategic thinking competency assessment. According to the direction of all the relations between the manifest variables and the latent ones, , all the relations are aligned and direct.Conclusion: According to the amount of standardized factor loadings, the dimension "Foresight (AN)", with a factor loading of 0.88, is the most reliable indicator belonging to evaluation measurement.