CPM Strategic Planning for Public Organizations 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A city government uses a Balanced Scorecard to track strategic performance. Which perspective focuses on how the organization must improve its internal processes?
- Financial perspective
- Customer/citizen perspective
- Internal process perspective (Correct answer)
- Learning and growth perspective
Correct answer: Internal process perspective
The internal process perspective of the Balanced Scorecard examines the key processes the organization must excel at to serve citizens and achieve financial goals.
Question 2: When a public agency faces competing values such as efficiency versus equity in strategic decision-making, this is best described as:
- A resource allocation problem
- A values conflict requiring deliberate trade-off analysis (Correct answer)
- An operational inefficiency to be corrected
- A political problem to be resolved by elected officials only
Correct answer: A values conflict requiring deliberate trade-off analysis
Competing public values often require explicit trade-off analysis because maximizing one value may reduce another equally legitimate value.
Question 3: Which term describes the process of translating high-level strategic goals into specific departmental objectives and individual performance targets?
- Strategic alignment (Correct answer)
- Policy formulation
- Environmental scanning
- Gap analysis
Correct answer: Strategic alignment
Strategic alignment ensures that all levels of the organization—from agency-wide goals to individual work plans—are coherently connected.
Question 4: A public manager discovers that a strategic initiative has achieved its output targets but failed to produce intended outcomes. This most likely indicates:
- Insufficient budget was allocated to the initiative
- The theory of change underlying the initiative was flawed (Correct answer)
- Performance metrics were not collected properly
- Staff lacked sufficient technical training
Correct answer: The theory of change underlying the initiative was flawed
When outputs are achieved but outcomes are not, it often signals that the assumed causal logic linking activities to results was incorrect.
Question 5: In strategic planning, 'horizon scanning' is used to:
- Monitor competitors' strategic plans
- Identify emerging trends, threats, and opportunities before they become critical (Correct answer)
- Review past strategic plan performance
- Scan employee horizons for career advancement planning
Correct answer: Identify emerging trends, threats, and opportunities before they become critical
Horizon scanning is a forward-looking activity that helps organizations detect weak signals of change early enough to respond strategically.
Question 6: Which of the following BEST describes a 'wicked problem' in public sector strategic planning?
- A problem caused by unethical behavior within the agency
- A complex, interconnected problem with no clear solution and where attempts to solve it can create new problems (Correct answer)
- A budgetary problem that requires legislative approval to resolve
- A technical problem requiring specialized expertise
Correct answer: A complex, interconnected problem with no clear solution and where attempts to solve it can create new problems
Wicked problems are characterized by complexity, interdependency, contested values, and the tendency for solutions to generate new problems.
Question 7: A public agency conducts an annual 'strategic review.' The PRIMARY goal of this review is to:
- Replace underperforming managers
- Assess progress against strategic goals and adapt plans based on changing conditions (Correct answer)
- Produce the annual report for the legislature
- Reallocate the agency's entire budget
Correct answer: Assess progress against strategic goals and adapt plans based on changing conditions
Strategic reviews assess implementation progress, evaluate whether assumptions remain valid, and enable course corrections to keep strategy relevant.
CPM Strategic Planning for Public Organizations 3
A city government uses a Balanced Scorecard to track strategic performance.
Which perspective focuses on how the organization must improve its internal processes?