The mid-1980s brought radical changes to the USSR. The ideology of social consciousness in relation to the social structure and property, the state and political system underwent profound transformations. The communist regime was crumbling.
New ideology
The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the formation of independent states on the basis of the former republics. Russia was no exception. The formation of the ideology of a new civil society, class layers and political pluralism took place. The beginning of these transformations in history is March-April 1985.
The country has taken a course called the "Acceleration Strategy", aimed at socio-economic development. The main theme of development was scientific and technological progress, combined with the technical re-equipment of mechanical engineering and the activation of the human factor.
M. Gorbachev called for the wide use of hidden reserves, the maximum utilization of production capacities, the organization of their multi-shift work, and the strengthening of labordiscipline, attract innovators, strengthen control over product quality, introduce and develop social competition.
In addition to making the acceleration strategy work effectively, an anti-alcohol campaign was introduced. Such measures were supposed to ensure social sobriety and increase labor productivity.
Control
In order to control and improve the quality of products, a new authority was created - state acceptance. Of course, this required an increase in the administrative apparatus and an increase in material costs. Although, to be honest, the quality of products from such measures has not improved much.
Time has shown that the acceleration strategy did not use economic incentives, but the traditional bet on the enthusiasm of workers, which did not bring much success. In addition, the increased operation of equipment, which was not supported by a new qualification level of specialists ready for technical innovations, led to an increase in accidents in production.
One of these catastrophic consequences was the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It was April 1986. Millions of people have been exposed to radioactive contamination.
What is an acceleration strategy?
This is the definition of the economic course of the country, which includes a rather complex set of measures aimed at the systematic and comprehensive improvement of the spheres of life of society. In order for everything to be carried out according to the plan, progress was needed.public relations. First of all, the forms and methods of work of ideological and political institutions had to be updated.
In addition, the acceleration strategy is the definition of such a state course, which is aimed at the decisive destruction of stagnation, conservatism and, as a result, the deepening of socialist democracy.
Any inertia holds back social progress. It was necessary to awaken living creativity among the masses, to force society to make the most of the enormous opportunities and advantages of the socialist system.
Failure
A year after the acceleration strategy was proclaimed in the country, it became clear that appeals alone, even very attractive ones, would not be able to improve the economic situation in the state.
The decision was made to work on a program of economic reform. Well-known economists who had long advocated reforms (L. Abalkin, T. Zaslavskaya, P. Bunin, and others) were involved in its development. It was 1987. Economists in a short time had to develop and propose a draft reform that included the following changes:
- more self-sufficiency for enterprises, the introduction of the principle of self-financing, self-financing;
- development of cooperatives as a way to revive the private sector in the economy;
- end monopolization in foreign trade;
- development of deep integration into the global market;
- reduction of ministries, departments and strengthening of partnerships;
- equalitycollective farms, state farms, agricultural complexes, tenants, cooperatives, farms.
New project
Given the apparent reasons for the failure of the acceleration strategy, the country's leadership approved a new developed project, however, with some adjustments. It was the summer of 1987. At the same time, a law regulating the work of state-owned enterprises was adopted. It became the key document of the new reform.
What are the reasons for the failure of the acceleration strategy aimed at deep transformation in the economic sphere? These include:
- decrease in the price of oil and oil products, which affected the filling of the country's budget;
- debt bondage on foreign loans;
- campaign called "anti-alcohol".
After the new reform of 1987 began, there were no real shifts in the economy again. The very proclamation of the acceleration strategy did not start the mechanism that was supposed to be turned on. But we can say that one of the results was the beginning of the reformation, which led to the emergence of the private sector. It is worth noting that this process was long and difficult. In May 1988, laws were created for private activity, which opened up the possibility of working in more than 30 types of production. Already in the spring of 1991, more than 7 million people were employed in cooperatives, and 1 million were self-employed.
Money laundering
One of the facts of that time was the legalization of the shadow economy. A special place in it was occupied by representatives of the nomenklatura, who accumulated funds through corruption and embezzlement. Even according toAccording to the most conservative estimates, then up to 90 billion rubles were “laundered” annually in the private sector. per year. How staggering these amounts can be judged by looking at prices that existed before 1992-01-01
Despite the failure, the acceleration strategy is a decisive course in the history of the post-Soviet state, which, thanks to the reforms that followed it, opened the way to a new economic world. As setbacks plagued the public sector, Gorbachev became more and more market-oriented. However, everything he proposed was not systemic.
Perhaps the choice was right from the start: the country needed an acceleration strategy. This in the history of the further development of the state should have played the role of a strong incentive for an economic breakthrough. However, the result was not only disappointing, but also led to fatal consequences. Echoes of this choice by Gorbachev are still felt.
Transition to a market economy
Let's return to the events of those times. June 1990 Supreme Soviet of the USSR. A resolution was adopted that approved the concept of transition to a regulated market economy. After that, relevant laws were adopted, providing for the transfer of industrial enterprises to rent, decentralization, the creation of joint-stock companies, the denationalization of property, the development of entrepreneurship and other similar areas.
However, the strategy of accelerating socio-economic development with subsequent reforms did not work as intended. The implementation of most activities was postponed: what until 1991, what until 1995, and whatand for much longer periods.
What got in the way?
Gorbachev feared the conservatives and the social explosion. Reformation of credit and price policy was constantly delayed. Everything led to a deepening crisis in the state economy. For a short time, the country followed the course proposed by the acceleration strategy. A year, just a year, of such an economic policy, and the whole structure was cracking at the seams.
Reformation was half-hearted. Agriculture was no exception. The lease of land involved the conclusion of contracts for 50 years with the ability to fully dispose of the resulting products. At the same time, the collective farms that owned the land were not interested in the development of competitors. For example, as of the beginning of the summer of 1991, only 2% of the land was cultivated under lease terms. Regarding cattle breeding, the difference was only 1%. Only 3% of livestock was kept. Moreover, even the collective farms themselves did not receive real independence. They remained under the constant care of the district authorities.
Better use of the human factor is an integral part of the concept of an acceleration strategy. Socio-economic development lagged behind. The basis of such a strategy should be the intensification of the entire social and production system.
The task, which is implied by the very concept of strategy on the way to finding its solution, passes through almost all levels of management. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the work of all departments. Exactlytherefore, the implementation of such a strategy is a very difficult and time-consuming work, especially when the state has such a scale.
There were many mistakes in managing the country's economy. Thus, none of the reforms initiated by the acceleration strategy has produced positive results over the years of perestroika.
Since 1988, production in agriculture has been reduced, and since 1990 a similar process has been observed in industry. Since 1947, people have not remembered what food rationing is. And here, even in Moscow, there was a shortage of basic food products, which led to the introduction of norms for their distribution.
The standard of living of the population began to fall rapidly. Under such conditions, people believed less and less in the ability of the country's administrative apparatus to solve the problems that had arisen. In 1989, the first strikes were already beginning. Such a phenomenon as the aggravation of national separatism began to be observed, which could not but affect the economic situation of the state.
Strategy concept
Today, students of economics, sociology and political science in order to answer the question: "Define the concepts of acceleration strategy", it is enough to point to a set of actions that contribute to increasing activity in the business, financial and organizational spheres, the development of appropriate policies, creation of motivational levers and social culture aimed at achieving the intended result to the maximum. These concepts are noware considered not only in the context of public administration, but also as the most important part of management in individual organizations.
It is clear that during perestroika and now different levers of strategy should be used. Acceleration then is Gorbachev's proclaimed motivational slogan. Today, this term is used much more widely, right up to the field of information technology and software.
The concept itself has different interpretations. Here are some of them explaining what the implementation of the strategy is:
- is the transformation of strategic results into an operational plan;
- this is directly related to marketing practice, organizational processes, to the development of specific marketing programs and their implementation;
- this is a management intervention that aims to ensure coordinated and coherent organizational activities, taking into account all strategic intentions;
- this is the totality of all activities, the choice of opportunities for the implementation of the strategic plan, taking into account the policy of the organization.
The task of any strategy implementation is to clearly understand what is needed to make everything work and meet the deadlines for the implementation of the planned actions.
The art of management is to correctly evaluate the actions to determine the place, professional performance and results. The work of implementing the strategy is initially an administrative area.
If we consider the times of perestroika from a modern position, then you begin to understandthat then the main reason for the failure of the acceleration strategy was the inconsistency of the actions of the main leadership of the country, its uncertainty in the right course taken, various fears and excessive caution. The course announced high-profile results, but did not have a well-coordinated work of each mechanism. In addition, as mentioned above, there was a significant shortcoming in the training of professionals: both managers and highly specialized specialists in various areas of production.
In those days, the acceleration strategy included not so much real instructions for action as motivating slogans of public consciousness. There was no clear plan of action. Economists were in suspense, looking for real ways out of the critical situation. The old was dying, and the new was not able to live and bear fruit. The transition to a market economy could be compared to a protracted and painful birth that was taken by ill-trained specialists.
Modern provisions of the strategy
Today, the accumulated experience, together with the analysis of information, makes it possible to identify the fundamental steps necessary to implement the outlined strategy. The main stages of its implementation are as follows:
- recognition of the fact that strategic changes are needed regarding the structure of the organization, the culture of society and the technologies used;
- identifying key tasks in management;
- managing the implementation of the objectives of the strategy, which include planning, budgeting, staff and manager actions and all policies of the organization;
- organizationstrategic control;
- assessment of the effectiveness of the results.
It is understood that leadership in any structure plays a decisive role, and not only in the development, but also in the very implementation of the conceived strategy. The top management bears full responsibility for response measures to external and internal conditions, as well as for the practical implementation of the goals set. Of course, sometimes senior management is forced to face the need to make difficult decisions and make difficult choices. At the same time, it is involved in the management of daily activities. And this, in turn, gives collectively a certain form to the entire structure of the organization and influences the nature and complexity of the problems and alternatives that arise.
The final result depends on how managers manage the entire process of implementing the strategy. In addition, some factors still influence it:
- their experience and expertise;
- leader - newbie or veteran in the field;
- personal relationships with other employees;
- skills for diagnosing situations and resolving problematic issues;
- interpersonal and administrative skills;
- the powers and the power they have;
- management style;
- seeing your role in the entire process of implementing the strategy.
Based on research, five main approaches have been proposed to ensure that the goal is realized. These approaches are selected in such a way as to choose from the simplest, whenemployees receive guidance, up to the most difficult, when it is necessary to prepare specialists capable of formulating and implementing the strategy itself.
In each of the approaches, the manager plays a different role and uses different methods of strategic management. The approaches have the following names:
- command;
- organizational change;
- collaborative;
- cultural;
- cressive.
In a team approach, the leader focuses on formulating a strategy using strict logic and analysis. After choosing an option, the manager brings the tasks to the subordinates with clear instructions for action. This approach helps to focus all actions on a strategic perspective.
The organizational change approach focuses on getting the entire structure of the organization to implement the strategy. Managers proceed from the fact that the strategy is initially formulated correctly. They see their task as guiding the organization towards new goals.
The collaborative approach assumes that the manager is responsible for the strategy, gathers a group of other managers to brainstorm in order to formulate and implement the goals.
Cultural empowers the collaborative by bringing in the lower levels of the organization.
The cross-cutting approach assumes that the leader is involved in formulating and implementing the strategy at the same time.
