Module 2

Local Networks
In this module, you will be able to:
• Define strategic analysis and intuitive thinking,
• Explain strategic analysis and intuitive thinking:
• Attain facility in strategic analysis;
• Use intuitive thinking in dealing with varied activities;
• Differentiate key components in strategic analysis
and intuitive thinking; and
• Examine how the map of social networks can be used
to introduce creative solution to a particular problem in a
community using intuitive thinking.
A network is a particular type of
relation that links certain sets of people,
events, or objects. This module
discusses a local network, which
refers to interconnected processes
internal to the individual person’s mind,
mental faculty, or thoughts such as
strategic analysis and intuitive thinking
that are ultimately demonstrated in
decision-making.
Strategic Analysis and Intuitive
Thinking
Strategic analysis is the process of examining, using one’s
rationality or reason, the organization’s surroundings and resources,
and how they relate with each other to formulate a strategy to meet
objectives and improve performance. It is the understanding of an
organization’s external and internal environments to create a
strategy for better utilization of resources in the pursuit of the
organization’s objectives and priorities. Such understanding is drawn
from facts, data, and instructions at hand.

Intuitive thinking is sensing or knowing without using rational

processes such as reading facts and instructions. According to the
dictionary, intuition is “something that is known or understood
without proof or evidence.”
In doing conducting strategic
analysis, one must employ rationality
and critical and logical thinking in
arriving at certain decisions. The
strategy will be used to solve
problems, utilize human and material
resources, and attain objectives of the
organization in accordance with its
mission and vision. Mission refers to
the organization’s main task that it
wants to perform, while vision refers to
what the organization foresees itself to
be (for example, a school’s mission is
to provide world-class education for all
its students, while its vision is to
become a leader in academic
A critical or analytical
mind usually exercises
strategic thinking. Samantha
Howland (2013) identified six
elements of strategic thinking
designed to encourage
strategic leadership among
today’s executives, drawn
from a study of more than 20
000 executives in more than
175 countries. The six key
elements are abilities to
anticipate, challenge, decide,
1. The ability to anticipate enables the executives to not only focus on
the current situation but also to look at the future. They should monitor
the environment to foresee significant changes in the industry to prepare
them for possible threats as well as opportunities. For instance, an
executive who keeps abreast with trends and engages in trendspotting is
more likely to be open to product changes or to beef up the company’s
product strength in anticipation of a trend.

2. The ability to challenge involves raising questions instead of merely

accepting information as it comes. The purpose of raising questions is to
trace the root causes of problems, to challenge existing beliefs, and to
find out biases and possible manipulation of the situation. Probing and
investigation may also be employed.

3. The ability to interpret is shown by testing a variety of hypotheses as

well as comparing and contrasting certain data prior to making decisions
on particular issues. The executive avoids jumping into conclusions
4. The ability to decide enables the executive to make a stand with
courage and conviction despite incomplete information at hand. The
executive combines speed and quality in doing this, and avoids indecision
or “analysis paralysis” which prevents a leader from acting fast, thereby
missing chances of opportunities.

5. The ability to align enables the executive to have different divergent

viewpoints, opinions, and agenda to attain common goals and to pursue
mutual interests. Open communication and dialogue will help address the
problem of misalignment and build trust leading to consensus and
agreements.

6. The ability to learn is demonstrated by an executive who accepts

feedback, constructive criticism, and even failure which are altogether
viewed as sources of critical and valuable insights. He or she shows
willingness to immediately return to the right course when going off
Intuitive thinkers do certain things which others do not. Carolyn
Gregorie (2014), a senior writer of The Huffington Post, provided in
her article “10 Things Highly Intuitive People Do Differently” some
activities that intuitive thinkers do. Presented here are six activities.
1. Listening to an inner voice. They pay attention to intuition and allow it to guide
them.
2. Taking time to be alone and to reflect. Spending time in solitude is their way of
engaging in deeper thoughts and creative thinking. It is also called “mindfulness” which
is looking into one’s current experience without making judgment.
3. Listening to their bodies. They tune in to their bodies for gut feeling and physical
sensation or emotion associated with intuition.
4. Observing everything. They take note of the occurrence of odd things and keep an
eye on the frequency of coincidences, unexpected connections, and instantaneous
decisions or actions done.
5. Paying attention to their dreams. It is their way of getting in touch with their
“unconscious thinking process” and of capturing information on how to live their lives.
6. Connecting deeply with others and staying in a positive mood. They can read
a person’s mind through his or her words, feelings, and actions. Avoiding negative
emotions helps boost their intuitive judgment.
Legal practitioner and mediator Charles B. Parselle
(2005) believes that combining analytical and intuitive
abilities leads to holistic thinking abilities which are
essential “to move people out of a rights/obligation/win-lose
mindset into a needs/interests/mutual gain mindset.” This
means the concern for individualistic, legal, and predictable
aspects is balanced by the concern for cultural, flexible, and
mutual or communitarian aspects.

For Francis Cholle (2011), an international business

consultant, “we need both instinct and reason to make the
best possible decisions for ourselves, our businesses, and
our families.” Intuition plays a good part at it as it is
“bridging the gap between the conscious and nonconscious
parts of our mind, and also between instinct and reason.”
Facility in Strategic Analysis.
Strategic analysis is commonly applied through a process
called strategic planning. Strategic planning may be divided
into I:three
•Phase phases.
Establishing the identity of the organization.

This covers the questions who or what the organization is, where it wants to be, and
where it is now. It concerns the organization’s core values, mission and vision, objectives
or strategic priorities, members and stakeholders, and partners and competitors. Both
the internal and external environments are taken into consideration.

•Phase II: Developing and implementing an action plan or strategy to attain

priorities.

This answers the question, “How will the organization get to where it wants to go?” It
concerns the goals and outcomes, structural and financial changes, and other initiatives
of the organization.

•Phase III: Evaluating how the organization manages its actions toward its
priorities.
Analytical Tools
A variety of analytical tools can be employed in the conduct of
strategic analysis. The purpose of an analytical tool is to sharpen
the focus of the analysis and to ensure a methodical and balanced
approach. This means that the analysis will center only on the
questions being raised by the organization and will follow step-by-
step, logical, and integrated procedures.

The tools are also used in making strategic decisions. Two of the
most commonly used analytical tools are the SWOT Analysis and the
PEST Analysis. Another popular analytical tool is the Value Chain
Analysis, developed by Michael E. Porter, which is based on the
principle that organizations are created to produce value for their
clients.
SWOT Analysis is applied particularly in phase 1 where
situational scanning is undertaken. The internal and external
factors which are favorable and unfavorable for the
attainment of objectives and priorities are identified. It
focuses on the organization’s strengths and weaknesses and
the opportunities and threats it faces.
Strengths-These are the internal attributes of the organization
that can contribute to the attainment of its objectives and priorities.

Weaknesses – These are the internal attributes of the organization

that can obstruct the attainment of its objectives and priorities.

Opportunities –These are external factors that can contribute to

the attainment of its objectives and priorities.

Threats – There are external factors that can obstruct the

attainment of the organization’s objectives and priorities.
The SWOT Analysis can be represented visually as
thus:
Strengths :The strengths of the business included the equipment
and manpower the shop already has. Felix has contacts with various
visual artists, mostly his friends, to help him with the new designs
that he wants. The shop has regular patrons who can be its customer
base.
Weaknesses: To pursue the digital printing side of the business, the
shop has to invest in buying new equipment like computers, printers,
and heat press machines.
Opportunities: The popularity of online shopping gives the shop a
venue to market its services, designs, and new apparel line to more
customers. The shop can expand its silkscreen printing services,
which means it is not only limited to customers visiting the physical
shop. It can take orders from many parts of the country, provided
that it sets up an easy cashless payment scheme.
Threats: This new venture is a huge risk in itself, as much as being a
success. It is up to the marketing arm to get a considerable number
of new customers to keep the business running smoothly.
Additionally, there are many competitors offering the same services.
Felix has to think of ways to minimize, if not eradicate,
the weaknesses and threats. He needs to keep track of
weekly and monthly reports to check if the new venture
is working together with the old silkscreen printing
business. With the help of this analysis, Felix can plot
new goals, set out plans, gather resources, and arrange a
time frame. In addition, he can gather his resources to
work on the expansion of the family business.

A gap assessment or gap analysis should be conducted

to determine what has been achieved so far by the
present state of the business, and what else ought to be
done in the attainment of the new goals. The aim of gap
assessment is to reduce or eliminate the gaps between
the target goal and the actual performance.
Personal SWOT Analysis can also be conducted by an individual.
Such is applicable to senior high school graduate looking for a
job or pursuing goal. Here is an example.
PEST Analysis surveys the bigger environment where the
organization operates. It scans the political, economic, sociocultural,
and technological factors in the environment affecting the existence
of the organization. For a business enterprise, PEST Analysis is
conducted to evaluate its standing in the market, whether it
experiences growth or decline and what direction the business is
Political
heading to.factors include the rules, regulations, laws, and policies
imposed by a government which all affect the organization. Political
factors also include political stability and peace and order in the area
where the organization operates.
Economic factors cover purchasing power, capital outlay, interest
rates, tariff rates, inflation, currency exchange rates, and
employment-unemployment rates, among others.
Sociocultural factors include people’s preferences, needs,
demographics, attitudes toward using a product or service, and
cultural backgrounds and diversity, among others.
Technological factors cover those related to technological
innovation as well as their positive and negative impacts on the
organization. Technological factors also include incentives for
Take the case of a newspaper publishing
company.
The PEST factors can be classified as opportunities or threats in
SWOT Analysis. For a better understanding of a situation, it is
recommended to accomplish the PEST Analysis first before
conducting the SWOT Analysis.

Another popular analytical tool, especially among business firms, is

the Value Chain Analysis (VCA). It promotes the idea that an
organization exists to produce value to its clients; that the
organization’s reason for being is creating something of worth to its
customers. The VCA is concerned with understanding how the
organization’s sets of activities produce added value and satisfy
clients. Each activity that adds value serves as a source of
competitive advantage, which is being able to maintain
performance superiority over rivals. The competitive advantage
may be in terms of product, cost, niche, or sustainability. A
company that offers products or services that, for example, have
lower cost, better quality, unique features, or outperforming
attributes is usually preferred by customers over the rival
Conducting a VCA involves the following
steps.
1.Categorize the operations of the organization into
primary activities and support activities.
Primary activities are those involved in the production, marketing,
sale, and delivery of a product. Tasks that facilitate primary
activities comprise the support activities such as promotion,
advertising, customer service, and other post-sales activities
(repair and maintenance, for instance). Usually, the procurement
office buys the materials for the products to be manufactured; the
quality control office makes sure that the products are made
according to specifications; and the packaging section takes care
of the preparation of the products before delivery to outlets and
clients to ensure that the items are in good condition. The
company fleet, including the drivers, has a particular role too,
without which the company operation will not be successful.
Conducting a VCA involves the following
steps.
2.Provide budgetary allocation for each activity.
Cost information allows the manager to assess the internal capabilities
and strengths of the company. If the company can afford to produce
high-end products and still remain profitable, its stability is guaranteed.
A manager who lacks knowledge of the declining financial standing of
the company may propose a project that will involve quite an amount
such as buying new air-conditioning units, refrigerators, and custom-
made chairs for the officials. Instead of cost-cutting measures, the
manager goes on a spending spree which will eventually leave the
company in a financial crisis.
3.Determine which activities are vital to customer satisfaction
and the success of the market.
Perceived as important to market success are the
company’s mission, which affects the choice of activities to
undertake; the nature of the industry to where the company
belongs (educational, banking, industrial, medical, etc.); and
the value system of the company which covers, among others,
Strategic planning, therefore, is concerned with
making the organization function well in its field, and
in maximizing its resources in the pursuit of its
objectives. It is concerned with reducing, if not
eliminating, the perceived weaknesses and obstacles
while boosting identified strengths and opportunities.
For those in the business sector, strategic planning is
positioning the business in the market effectively.
This can be facilitated by conducting a thorough
analysis of the business and the market.
Keep in mind that a thorough analysis of both the
organization and its clients is essential. To reiterate, strategic
planning can be utilized for renewing your organization,
leading to the enhancement of the organization in the next
years. Remember the summary of procedures using the
acronym SPADE:
S- Start by organizing to plan and to engage commitment of
affected parties.
P – Purpose, objectives, targets to guide everyone involved.
A – Analyze the organization’s strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats and lay down options.
D- Decide and choose strategies from the options or
alternatives.
E - Execute, evaluate, and monitor the strategies.
Using Intuitive Thinking in
Situations
Once perceived as unscientific for not being
backed up by hard facts, data, and careful
planning, the body of literature and
documentation on intuitive thinking as a
process of decision-making is now growing.
Intuitive thinking can be applied in a variety
of activities and for different clientele.
1.Interpreting the meaning
of one’s body language or
facial expression
At a high school prom that
Annie was attending,
everybody was engrossed
in merriment. The boys and
girls were dancing,
laughing, eating, and
making fun. Nobody, except
Annie, noticed that one girl
was feeling so
uncomfortable that she was
almost crying. She was
actually the subject of jokes
because of her attire. Annie
2. Saving lives in the battlefield
Two soldiers, Phil and Justin, were fighting the rebels.
They were buddies for a long time at the camp and had
fought together in the past. They did not leave each
other no matter what. This time, however, Phil felt that
they were in extreme danger of losing their lives as
the fighting intensified in an unfamiliar terrain.
Reinforcement was one to two hours away and the
situation was getting worse. Phil, following his
intuition, pushed Justin on a trench and he himself
ducked swiftly. Bullets passed above them as they
remained in their positions. Phil’s intuitive thinking
saved them.
3. Coming up with a new or a more efficient way of doing things
Mercy is a music library assistant. She was asked to sort out the
piles of music sheets that have been in storage. Since she had
only the whole day to do this task, she thought of a way to
optimize her time. First, she made four groupings to which she
would alphabetize the music sheets: A-F, G-M, N-S, and T-Z. For
the first round of sorting, she put all music sheets starting with
the letters A, B, C, D, E, and F under the A-F group, and so on, not
minding yet the correct alphabetized order. Then she recorded the
titles on the computer spreadsheet program including all details
such as composer, lyricist, and arranger. She used the
alphabetizing function of the spreadsheet to help her do the
second round of sorting the music sheets. After this, she put them
in the music sheet cabinet and labeled each drawer accordingly.
She accomplished the task before the working day ended.
4. Hiring the head of the human resource department
Jal was starting a small company, and he needed to hire a manager for the
human resource (HR) department. Jal shortlisted the applicants to two and
later interviewed each one. Cindy has a master’s degree in sociology and
Maxine has a master’s degree in psychology. Cindy had a two-year experience
as assistant head of a personnel department while Maxine was the head of
the HR department in his previous company. Both applicants presented good
scholastic records and high performance evaluation ratings. But Jal could
sense that Cindy was better suited for the job given her pleasant disposition,
humility, and positive outlook which stood out during the interview. She also
showed the capacity to look beyond the physical appearance of a person and
was not overly conscious of her position. When Jal gave a hypothetical
situation to both, only Cindy was willing to do the cleaning chores when
necessity arises, while Maxine answered in the negative. Because of her good
attitude and work ethics which supported Jal’s hunch, Cindy got the job.
5.Choosing a song for a
competition
Nico was one of the finalists in
a provincial singing
competition. He chose “My
Way” by Frank Sinatra to be
his final song. He practiced it
daily and did vocal exercises to
improve his diction and deep
breathing. A week before the
event, his aunt brought her a
recording of the song “This Is
the Moment” and insisted that
he sing this song as his final
song in the competition.
Without hesitation and using
his gut feeling, Nico agreed.
There are other situations where intuitive thinking
is preferred in making decisions. You may hear
stories like not taking an attractive job because
the work environment is not pleasing; choosing to
hold information that might hurt someone; or
voting for a candidate which one senses to have
the disposition of being a good leader despite
lacking credentials. These are examples of letting
intuitive thinking affect decision-making.