The mid-80s of the twentieth century brought radical changes to the USSR. The ideology of social consciousness in relation to the social structure and property, state and political system underwent profound transformations. The communist regime collapsed.
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 strata and political pluralism took place. The beginning of these transformations in history is considered March-April 1985.
The country has taken the course, which was 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 engineering and the activation of the human factor.
M. Gorbachev called for the widespread use of hidden reserves, the maximum loading of production capacities, the organization of their multi-shift work, the strengthening of labor discipline, the attraction of innovators, the strengthening of product quality control, the introduction and development of social competitions.
In addition, in order for the acceleration strategy to work effectively, an anti-alcohol campaign was introduced. Such measures were supposed to ensure social sobriety and increase labor productivity.
The control
In order to control and improve product quality, a new authority was created - state acceptance. Of course, this required an increase in the administrative apparatus and an increase in material costs. Although, if you face the truth, the quality of products from such measures has not become much better.
Time has shown that the acceleration strategy did not use economic incentives, but the traditional stake 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 who are ready for technical innovations, has led to an increase in the number of accidents at work.
One of such 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 a definition of the country's economic course, which includes a rather complex set of measures aimed at the systematic and comprehensive improvement of the spheres of society’s life. In order for everything to be carried out according to the plan, the progress of social relations was needed. First of all, the forms and methods of work of ideological and political institutions were to be updated.
In addition, the acceleration strategy is the definition of a state course that is aimed at decisively destroying stagnation, conservatism and, as a result, deepening socialist democracy.
Any inertia holds back social progress. It was necessary to awaken lively creativity among the masses, to force society to make maximum use 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 only appeals, even very attractive ones, could not fix the economic situation in the state.
It was decided to work on a program of economic reform. Famous economists who had long advocated for transformations (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 reform project, which suggested such changes:
- more independence for enterprises, introduction of the principle of cost accounting, self-financing;
- the development of cooperatives as a way to revive the private sector in the economy;
- cessation of monopolization in foreign trade;
- development of deep integration into the world market;
- reduction of ministries, departments and strengthening partnerships;
- equality of collective farms, state farms, agricultural enterprises, 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. Then they adopted a law regulating the work of state enterprises. It has become a key document of the new reform.
What are the reasons for the failure of the acceleration strategy aimed at deep transformations in the economic sphere? These include:
- reduction in the price of oil and oil products, which affected the filling of the country's budget;
- debt bondage on external loans;
- campaign called "anti-alcohol."
After the new reform of 1987 began, real changes in the economy did not happen again. The proclamation of the acceleration strategy itself did not bring about the mechanism that was supposed to be included. But we can say that one of the outcomes 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 activities that 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 was engaged in individual labor activity.
Money laundering
One of the facts of that time was the legalization of the shadow economy. Representatives of the nomenclature, who accumulated funds through corruption and embezzlement, took a special place in it. Even according to the most conservative estimates, then up to 90 billion rubles were “laundered” annually in the private sector. in a year. How much these are staggering rumors can be judged by looking at prices that existed before 01/01/1992.
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, has opened the road to a new economic world. As failures haunted the public sector, Gorbachev increasingly focused on a market economy. However, all that he proposed was not of a systemic nature.
Perhaps the choice was initially right: the country needed an acceleration strategy. This in the history of the further development of the state was to play the role of a strong stimulus for the economic breakthrough. However, the result not only disappointed, but also led to fatal consequences. Echoes of this choice of Gorbachev are still being felt.
Transition to a Market Economy
Let's return to the events of those times. June 1990 Supreme Council of the USSR. A resolution was adopted approving the concept of transition to a regulated market economy. After that, the relevant laws were adopted, providing for the transfer of industrial enterprises on lease, decentralization, the creation of joint-stock companies, the privatization of property, the development of entrepreneurship and other similar areas.
However, the strategy to accelerate social and economic development with subsequent reforms did not work as intended. The implementation of most activities was postponed: what until 1991, what until 1995, and what for a much longer time.
What got in the way?
Gorbachev feared conservatives and a social explosion. The reformation of credit and pricing policies was constantly delayed. Everything led to a deepening crisis in the state economy. Not long the country followed the course proposed by the acceleration strategy. A year, just a year of such an economic policy, and the whole structure crackled at the seams.
The reform was half-hearted. Agriculture was no exception. The lease contract for the land involved the conclusion of contracts for 50 years with the ability to completely dispose of the products received. 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 conditions. Regarding cattle breeding, the difference was only 1%. Only 3% of the livestock was kept. Moreover, even the collective farms themselves did not receive real independence. They remained under the constant care of the district authorities.
A more active use of the human factor is an integral part, which implies the concept of acceleration strategy. Social and economic development lagged. The basis of such a strategy should be the intensification of the entire social and production system.
The task, which the concept of strategy implies 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. That is why the introduction of such a strategy is a very complex and laborious work, especially when the state has such a scale.
There were many mistakes in managing the country's economy. Thus, not one of the reforms initiated by the acceleration strategy has yielded positive results over the years of perestroika.
Since 1988, agricultural production has been reduced, and since 1990 a similar process has been observed in industry. Since 1947, people did not remember what the normalized distribution of food is. And here even in Moscow there was a shortage of basic food products, which led to the introduction of standards for their distribution.
The standard of living of the population began to plummet. In such conditions, people believed less and less in the ability of the country's administrative apparatus to solve the problems that arose. In 1989, the first strikes began. A phenomenon such as exacerbation of national separatism began to be observed, which could not but affect the economic situation of the state.
Concept of strategy
Today, students of economic, sociological and political science specialties in order to answer the question: “Define the concepts of acceleration strategy”, just point to a set of actions that contribute to increasing activity in the business, financial and organizational spheres, developing appropriate policies, creating motivational levers and social cultures aimed at maximizing the achievement of the intended result. Nowadays, these concepts are already considered not only in the context of public administration, but also as an essential part of management in individual organizations.
It is clear that at the time of perestroika, different levers of strategy must be used now. Acceleration then is the proclaimed motivational slogan of Gorbachev. Today, this term is used much wider, up to the sphere of information technology and software.
The concept itself has various interpretations. Here are some of them explaining what a strategy implementation is:
- this is the transformation of strategic results into an operational action plan;
- this is a direct relation to marketing practice, organizational processes, to the development of specific marketing programs and their implementation;
- this is a management intervention that aims to ensure a coordinated and coordinated organizational activity, taking into account all strategic intentions;
- it is a combination of all types of activities, the choice of opportunities for implementing the strategic plan, taking into account the organization’s policies.
The task of any strategy implementation is to clearly understand what is needed for everything to work and the deadlines for fulfilling the planned actions to be respected.
The art of management is to correctly evaluate the actions to determine the place, professional performance and the results obtained. Work on the implementation of the strategy is initially an administrative field.
If you look at the times of perestroika from a modern perspective, you begin to understand that then the main reason for the failure of the acceleration strategy was the inconsistency of the actions of the country's top leadership, his insecurity in the right course, various fears and excessive caution. The course announced high-profile results, but did not have clearly coordinated work of each mechanism. In addition, as mentioned above, there was a significant drawback in the training of professionals: both managers and narrowly focused specialists in various fields 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 tense, looking for real ways out of a critical situation. The old was dying, and the new was not able to live and produce. The transition to a market economy could be compared with a protracted and painful birth, which was taken by poorly trained specialists.
Current provisions of the strategy
Today, the accumulated experience, together with the analysis of information, makes it possible to highlight the fundamental steps necessary for the implementation of the planned strategy. The main stages of its implementation are as follows:
- recognition of the fact of the need for strategic changes regarding the structure of the organization, the culture of society and the technologies used;
- definition of key tasks in management;
- management of the implementation of the tasks of the strategy, which include planning, budgeting, actions of the staff and the leader and the entire policy of the organization;
- organization of strategic control;
- evaluation 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 planned strategy. The highest level is fully responsible for the response to external and internal conditions, as well as for the practical implementation of the goals. Of course, sometimes top management is forced to face the need to make difficult decisions and make difficult choices. At the same time, it is involved in managing everyday activities. And this, in turn, gives in the aggregate a certain form to the entire structure of the organization and affects the nature, complexity of the problems and alternative options.
The outcome depends on how managers manage the entire process of strategy implementation. In addition, it is still influenced by several factors:
- their experience and knowledge of their craft;
- leader - a novice or a veteran in this field of activity;
- personal relationships with other employees;
- skills in diagnosing the situation and resolving problematic issues;
- interpersonal relations and administration skills;
- the powers and authority that they possess;
- leadership style;
- vision of their role in the entire process of implementing the strategy.
Based on the research, five main approaches were proposed in order to achieve this goal. These approaches are chosen in such a way as to choose from the simplest, when employees receive instructions, to the most difficult, when it is necessary to prepare specialists who are able to formulate and implement the strategy itself.
In each approach, the leader plays a different role and uses different methods of strategic management. The approaches have the following names:
- command;
- organizational change;
- collaborative;
- cultural;
- escorted.
In a team approach, the leader focuses on formulating a strategy using rigorous logic and analysis. After choosing the option, the manager brings the tasks to subordinates with clear instructions on the actions. This approach helps to focus all actions on a strategic perspective.
The organizational change approach places emphasis on how to get the entire organization structure to implement its strategy. Managers assume that the strategy is formulated correctly from the very beginning. They see their task in the direction of the organization to achieve new goals.
The collaborative approach assumes that the manager is responsible for the strategy, gathers a group of other managers to conduct a brain attack in order to formulate and implement the tasks.
Cultural expands the possibilities of the collaborative through the inclusion of lower levels of organization.
A crescent approach assumes that the leader is simultaneously formulating and implementing the strategy.