The visionary perspective
The strategy an organisation follows can also be seen as emerging from a vision which
represents the desired future state of the organisation,“ and which is initially and primarily associated with an individual (for example its leader or a past leader). This
might be especially so if the organisation is dominated by a leader: such leaders may
exist, particularly in organisations which they have founded, or in situations where
an organisation has reached a crisis point. Less commonly, perhaps, a vision could
be associated with a small group of individuals, rather than one individual.
One explanation for the source of this vision is that it results from the intuition and
innovation of its originator. Here the vision is based both on intuition and a rational
understanding of the organisation’s strategic problems. This understanding is developed through exposure to, and experience of, the important strategic issues of an
organisation and enables innovation to be made through the adding of new, to the
well understood, and certainty of the old. The vision generated is often based on radical ideas and may challenge accepted norms, contradict established principles and
paradigms,37"38 and go beyond familiar experience and knowledge.”
However, visionary management might also be seen as the capacity of managers
more generally to envisage, rather than plan, the future of their organisation. It can
be argued that some market environments are so turbulent that trying to forecast, predict or plan what they will be like is futile. On the other hand experienced managers
‘have a feel’ for what makes sense in these markets (again there are links here with
the notion of the paradigm) and can make decisions about the future on this basis.
In this case, the notion of visionary capacity is not limited to the leadership role of
the organisation, but is seen as a more general aspect of management.
Regardless of how it emerges, for a vision — however appropriate to the organisation — to develop into strategy it must be effectively articulated and communicated.
The transformation of a vision into strategy is not unidirectional: a vision must be
shared and receive assistance if it is to be realised. The authorisation for a vision’s pursuit comes from its acceptance by the organisation’s members“) who ‘contract in’ to a
vision, and so provide the authority for its realisation, concentrating resources to facilitate the vision’s enactment.“ A visionary alone cannot turn a vision into strategy.
While an individual may gain visionary status for himself [or herself] within the
organisation, an organisation’s structure and history may be such that it endows an
individual with this power, position and authority. Whether the position is achieved
through the generation of an idea and vision, the syntheses of existing visions, the
communication of a vision, or through the organisation’s history, it inevitably places
enormous control and power in the hands of the visionary who gains the ‘capacity to
translate intention into reality and sustain it’.