Abstract

The strategic choice is considered one of the important stages of strategic management. The strategic choice is formed as a result of several stages that take place prior to the suitable strategic choice. The most important stage among these stages is the stage of making the strategic choice. It is one of the stages that come before the implementation of the strategy. It is usually said that the most difficult stage of strategic planning is the performing of the process of strategic choice (by the organization in question) that ends with determining the strategic courses of the organization. The determining of these courses is made via the role of the organization concerning the balance between its strong points and weak points, as well as the opportunities and challenges in its external environment. This environment is characterized by complexity and dynamics.

The study includes the administrative, the organizational, and the technical components that the organization has and on which the strategic planning depends.

The study aims at diagnosing the nature of the relationship between the organizational structure and the strategic choice. The importance of the organizational structure lies in its role as one of the effective means of achieving the proper flow of work through:

1.guaranteeing and integrating the organizational activities for the subsidiary systems.

2.the effect it has on the organization and on its ability to achieve its aims.

          Due to the importance of understanding the relationship between these two variables, the present study has depended on the descriptive, analytical procedure and its role in the determining and the processing of its variables: the strategic choice as an independent variable and the organizational structure ((with its three dimensions: centralization, formality, complexity) and the type of the structure (mechanistic or organic)) as a dependent variable depending on various measures that, in turn, have been developed according to the aims of the study and the nature of the studied environment.

          The problem of the present study has been dealt with through two perspectives: theoretical and practical. The theoretical part has been conducted depending on the literature and the accumulation of knowledge. As for the practical part, (5) main hypotheses have been posed, (3) of them are concerned with the relationship between the process of strategic choice and the type of the organizational structure (with its three dimensions). The rest of the hypotheses are concerned with the expected effect of strategic choice process on the type of the organizational structure (with each one of its dimensions).

          The study diagnoses the reality of the process of strategic choice concerning the organization in question, then the study determines:

1.the degree of the structural dimensions that are diagnosed in its organizational structure (of the organization).

2.the nature of the structural type that features this organizational structure.

          The population of the present study includes: general managers, executive managers, and department managers in the sector of woven fabrics industries in Iraq.Their total number is (135) managers.

          The data of the present study have been collected by using: questionnaire format, personal interviews, non-systematic observation, and the publications and official reports of the organization in question.

          The following statistical procedures have been used:

1.Pearson’s correlation coefficient and the t-test to test the validity and reliability of the hypotheses of correlation.

2.The simple linear coefficient of regression and F-test to test the validity and reliability of the hypotheses of effect.

3.Alfa-Cronbach coefficient (reliability coefficient) r_tt .

4.Interpretation Coefficient (R₂) to determine the ratio of the changes in the variable (Y). These changes are explained by the variable (X).

According to the results of the study, the subsidiary hypotheses have been validated, though in various degrees. Also, the design of the study has been accepted.

The most important conclusion from the present study is that the organizational structure in general participates in the activation of the process of strategic choice due to the increase in the levels of centralization and formality. Also, there is a correlation (but to a lesser degree) between the process of strategic choice and the dimension of structural complexity. The study also concludes that there is increase in the effective power of the process of strategic choice over the organizational structure, a matter that confirms the researcher’s diagnosis of the problem of the present study.

As for the distinguished recommendations achieved is the limitation of clear movements for the companies throughout the suitable choice of the strategic choice . Furthermore , the strategic choice should be clear .

More other recommendations are the necessity of depending on textural industries as limited structure for making the strategic choice according to the scientific analysis of the elements of its external environment especially the competitive ones of it .    

In the light of the results of the study, a number of theoretical and practical recommendations and suggestions are put forward.