Tactics and strategy. It seems that these concepts are so far from the life of an ordinary person that there is no point in delving into their features, looking for similarities and differences.
In fact, each of us has long and consistently been both a strategist and a tactician. Remember how, as a child, you decided that you absolutely had to become, for example, a doctor or an engineer, and then you worked long and hard towards this goal, overcoming obstacles, carefully thinking through your every step.
Tactics and strategy are closely interconnected. In fact, tactics have no meaning in the absence of strategy, and strategy will never be implemented without well-thought-out tactical moves. Moreover, the same idea can act as both a tactic and a strategy, depending on from what height it is perceived. If tactics are considered in relation to subordinate tactics, then in this case it should be called strategy. The same situation applies to a strategy relative to a higher strategy. It becomes a tactic. This means that tactics and strategy are not only interdependent concepts, but also interchangeable.
Scale
Both tactics and strategy are a kind of plan with the help of which one wants to achieve a goal. Only a strategy is a plan without going into details of implementation. Tactics can be called the way of implementing strategy. Each strategy includes several tactical decisions.
Time interval
Since strategic ideas are larger in scale than tactical moves, their implementation takes much more time.
Significance
The success of an enterprise depends not only on the correctly chosen strategy, which is of course important, but also on the ways of its implementation. Even the best, potentially successful strategy will be doomed to failure if the tactical steps are not thoroughly thought out or poorly executed.
Thus, TheDifference.ru identifies the following differences between tactics and strategy:
Tactics is integral part strategies, a path to achieving a goal.
Without a good strategy, tactics will not produce results, and vice versa.
Tactics require less time than strategy.
Tactics goes into more detail than strategy.
For a correct understanding of many processes occurring in military affairs, politics, business and some other areas of human activity, it is important to adequately use concepts such as tactics and strategy.
What is meant by tactics
In the art of war, tactics is usually understood as a set of measures that determine theoretical and practical training to battle. It involves analyzing the situation, working out the details of the operation, and measures for preparing and carrying out combat operations. This takes into account their dynamism and mobility in the conditions of offensive and defensive operations, tactical maneuvers, direct combat contact with the enemy, etc.
This may apply to military formations and units various types armed forces. The place for the implementation of tactical ideas can be spaces on land and sea, in space and air, as well as in information space. Tactics must take into account the methods of action accumulated by experience, taking into account the weapons, military equipment, reconnaissance and electronic countermeasures available, and the experience of commanders.
Examples of competent tactics have been known since ancient times. They are largely related to high level culture in general, the physical and spiritual condition of the troops. One of the ancient tactical traditions was the beginning of hostilities with a fight between the best fighters of the parties. Then small armies appeared to attack with cavalry on the flanks, which delivered a powerful blow along the entire front. Over time, the armies grew larger and began to be divided for ease of control. Specialized units appeared for the start of the battle, breakthrough, and reserve. Tactics underwent significant changes with the development of firearms.
Marked by serious tactical achievements early XIX century, when Napoleon Bonaparte creatively rethought and implemented the best tactical ideas of his predecessors. He managed to combine into one whole competent organization order of battle, his powerful reserves, delivering a strong blow at the decisive moment of the battle. They massively used cavalry, infantry, and artillery. The Guard was used in critical areas of the main attack. Each attack began with artillery preparation carried out at a distance. It turned into salvo and single infantry fire.
Had a huge influence on the development of tactics tactical art of Russian and Soviet army . They were distinguished by freedom of maneuver, a combination of various forms and methods of combat operations, and the effective use of artillery and armored vehicles and other types of weapons. A feature of modern battle tactics is to minimize losses from enemy fire, counteract his reconnaissance and effective management units and subdivisions. In this case, the main role is given to protecting one’s troops with the help of engineering means. Here special attention focuses on the competent use of tactical features of terrain, sea, air, space or cyberspace.
Why do you need a strategy?
Unlike tactics, which is used to organize and conduct individual battles and battles, strategy represents general action plan for a long period. The strategy is aimed at achieving a large-scale goal of military or other activity. It helps win wars and is the subject of activity higher authorities states. This involves the systematic implementation of a complex of military, organizational and economic measures.
To implement it, it is organized strategic intelligence, development of necessary geographical maps and other documents. A prerequisite for any strategy is a military-strategic forecast and strategic planning organized on its basis. An appropriate command is created, which, in order to ensure superiority over the enemy, ensures the concentration of forces and means, their concentration in the strategic direction, and the communication of troops with command and control agencies. Stealth is ensured by strategic camouflage measures. A prerequisite for any military strategy is the formation of military-strategic reserves.
Not just for war
IN recent years The concept of “strategy” is increasingly used in politics and business, the development of economic sectors and the implementation of large-scale social projects, in computer games, and sports. In general terms, strategy is the art of economic, political and social leadership of people, which determines the main direction, their method of action, behavior, line of behavior.
In business, strategy means integrated action system, aimed at achieving the goals of the company, the essence of which is a package of rules for making management decisions. The concept of investment strategy refers to the establishment of a set of financial measures in order to achieve long-term strategic business goals. Market strategy means a system of actions of an enterprise to expand sales of its products and services. Operational strategy means a set of ways and means of implementing the company's long-term goals in its current activities. It sets the parameters for standardization and integration of processes necessary for the creation and sale of manufactured goods and services.
To prevent dependence on one division of the company or group of goods (services), a diversification strategy is developed. Marketing strategy is taken to implement measures aimed at the company identifying its products (services) as different from competitors. In sports, game strategies are developed that provide interconnected combinations, techniques and moves, subordinated to a pre-developed plan for achieving victory. There is a political science called geographic strategy, the subject of which is the implementation of a national strategy taking into account the characteristics of this space.
What's the difference
In general terms, strategy involves using all opportunities to achieve the main goal. There is an urgent need for it in situations where available resources are not enough to immediately achieve the final result.
With tactics subordinate main task, intermediate tasks are solved to achieve the main goal. Tactics involve the development of a set of specific activities, indicating the performers, deadlines and organization of control. Without such events, in any field of activity, strategy turns into a declaration. In military terminology, tactics are the means to win a battle, and strategy is what wins the war.
Tactics and strategy. It seems that these concepts are so far from the life of an ordinary person that there is no point in delving into their features, looking for similarities and differences.
In fact, each of us has long and consistently been both a strategist and a tactician. Remember how, as a child, you decided that you absolutely had to become, for example, a doctor or an engineer, and then you worked long and hard towards this goal, overcoming obstacles, carefully thinking through your every step.
Tactics and strategy are closely interconnected. In fact, tactics have no meaning in the absence of strategy, and strategy will never be implemented without well-thought-out tactical moves. Moreover, the same idea can act as both a tactic and a strategy, depending on from what height it is perceived. If tactics are considered in relation to subordinate tactics, then in this case it should be called strategy. The same situation applies to a strategy relative to a higher strategy. It becomes a tactic. This means that tactics and strategy are not only interdependent concepts, but also interchangeable.
Scale
Both tactics and strategy are a kind of plan with the help of which one wants to achieve a goal. Only a strategy is a plan without going into details of implementation. Tactics can be called the way of implementing strategy. Each strategy includes several tactical decisions.
Time interval
Since strategic ideas are larger in scale than tactical moves, their implementation takes much more time.
Significance
The success of an enterprise depends not only on the correctly chosen strategy, which is of course important, but also on the ways of its implementation. Even the best, potentially successful strategy will be doomed to failure if the tactical steps are not thoroughly thought out or poorly executed.
Conclusions website
- Tactics are an integral part of strategy, the path to achieving a goal.
- Without a good strategy, tactics will not produce results, and vice versa.
- Tactics require less time than strategy.
- Tactics goes into more detail than strategy.
Strategy is a term that is most often used in military affairs, but can be used in any other human activity. This is a general, large-scale plan drawn up for a specific purpose over a long period of time. This is used when describing the plans of commanders during war: for example, there is a strategy of crushing, a strategy of attrition, intimidation, indirect action and others. This term can be used in any field: in winning love, in achieving career heights, in economic planning, in organizing a business.
When developing a strategy, only a specific, large-scale goal is set, which is not divided into small tasks. The strategy does not include a detailed description; it only builds a rough plan, or rather, a direction of action.
A strategy is necessary when the available resources are insufficient to quickly and easily achieve the goal. Therefore, it is necessary to think over an action plan in order to spend these resources economically and efficiently and get the desired result depending on the situation.
What is tactics?
Tactics differs from strategy in its narrower focus. Essentially, it is part of a strategy that has a specific, closer and more precise goal. Tactics solve one of the tasks necessary to achieve the desired result. It is also called a strategy implementation tool. In military affairs, tactics is the theory and practice of combat by various units in different conditions. But it is also used in any other areas.
Tactics are always more specific, detailed and short-term compared to strategy, but in fact these two concepts exist only in relation to each other. The differences are best seen in time intervals. For example, when organizing a week, a plan for the day will be a tactic in relation to the strategy, but at the same time, things to do for the next two hours are a tactic compared to the strategy of the day.
Also, these two concepts can be specified according to the degree of their specification. For example, a woman sets a goal to attract the attention of a man. Analyzing the situation - her resources (appearance, intelligence, strengths and weaknesses), the surrounding conditions (the situation, the behavior of a man, his preferences), she develops a strategy for achieving her goal, for example, with the help of beauty.
And the tactics in this case will be her specific actions: the use of certain cosmetics, attention-grabbing clothes, a set of measures to improve her figure. But if we consider the last task as a separate goal - for example, you need to lose weight, then the strategy in this case will be the chosen direction: through diet or
Article last updated: 10/16/2018The origin of the concept of “strategy”
We often use the concept of “strategy” in the most different areas of your life. But the more I interact with different people, the more I understand that they put very different meanings into it. Therefore, I decided to explore this issue in more detail and determine the difference between these words. Naturally, this article does not claim to be the ultimate truth.
<…>We need a Strategy when we understand that our Picture of the World is definitely not complete or inadequate, we more or less understand what information we lack, but we must act despite this lack. Strategy is the scenario of our actions in which we expect their greatest success or least loss. And we make a decision with obviously incomplete information: with will and intuition we try to compensate for the lack of knowledge.
By acting, thanks to successes or failures, we clarify the Picture of the World to the level where it can be considered more or less adequate. Now Tactics comes onto the scene, for which, in principle, logic and experience are sufficient.<…><…>You have lost your house key and are trying to open the locked lock yourself. First, you choose a strategy: either insert a knife into the gap between the door and the jamb, or try to use a wire in the keyhole, or even remove the door from its hinges...
Once you have decided on a strategy, tactics begin.<…>
Von Clausewitz says the same thing, only in different words.
<…>Strategy is the use of combat for the purposes of war, therefore it must set military actions as a whole a goal that would correspond to the meaning of the war. It draws up a war plan and connects with the goal set for military action a number of actions that should lead to its achievement; in other words, it outlines projects for individual campaigns and gives instructions for individual battles in them. Since most of these actions can only be planned on the basis of assumptions that are partially not justified, but a whole series more detailed definitions cannot be made in advance at all, then it obviously follows that strategy itself must enter the theater of war in order to manage the particulars on the spot and introduce into the whole those changes that will always be needed. Thus, she cannot tear herself away from military action for a minute.<…>
As a result, a strategy is a scenario of achievement in which you know for sure that your picture of the world is incomplete and your behavior pattern may change.
I will try to express Clausewitz's thoughts in my own words.
“Our goal is to win the war. We cannot know which of the campaigns will be successful, and which of the battles will become the control one and lead us to victory. However, we begin to act based on hypotheses about the success of a particular campaign. If, step by step, our forecasts come true, then we continue to implement the initially developed strategy; if not, we make changes to the plan and change our behavior accordingly.”
What is tactics
Tactics are a scenario of action in which you know exactly what the result will be when implemented. The more tactics you own, the more multivariate strategies you can build.
The implementation of a specific strategy is a course of action in a specific time period - between the beginning of the implementation of the forecast and the achievement of an understanding that the forecast was/was not justified. If the forecast is justified, tactics begin. If it is not justified, a new strategy is created based on new inputs.
Let's imagine small child, who was seated in the corner of the room and given toys. Having played enough, he decides to explore the vast world of his home. And after a few steps, he notices that there is candy on the table. Yes, it appears TARGET. As soon as the target appears, the movement towards the desired candy begins. So, the child uses the first TACTICS. They simply approach the object and reach up for the candy. Namely, it is a tactic, since the child believes that his picture of the world is adequate. When he is faced with surprise and the understanding that this is not enough, his brain and research instinct begin to build ways, models of how to achieve the goal. So the child proceeds to search STRATEGIES. So he begins to choose between the tactic of “moving the candy with a toy stick” and the tactic of “building a pyramid with objects.” He's totally pursuing one of these tactics. If it doesn't work, he tries another one. But we can talk about a child’s thinking this way only when his brain has an understanding that a goal can be achieved in different ways.
As a result, strategy appears when we realize that we do not know what methods and methods will exactly lead us to the goal. In essence, when building a strategy, a person works with the calculation of probabilities and is the deployment of certain forecasts of the future in our brain. Tactics is technical performance necessary actions that will predictably bring results. As a result, there are 3 important conclusions.
- Any successful strategy eventually turns into a tactic for the one who successfully implements it.
- The difference between strategy and tactics is not measured by the scale of action.
- What is a strategy for you may be a routine activity for another person.
What is strategic thinking
Strategic thinking is the process of constructing several scenarios for achieving a goal with the understanding that only one of them will be realized, and time spent on the rest will be wasted. I also first heard the essence of this definition on a video recording of Vladimir Tarasov’s lecture on Henry Ford. Ford said that strategic thinking inevitably comes with a willingness to do wasted work. That is why I focus on the second part of the sentence. Let's think about the definition in more detail.
Understanding that new input will constantly make changes to our plans, why should we waste time thinking and building several ways to achieve a goal each time, if in the end we choose only one path? Such mental activity may seem wasteful, unnecessary, and ineffective to many.
The answer is simple. The constant presence of different scenarios for achieving a goal makes you more invulnerable and more effective. Moreover, efficiency is a derivative of invulnerability. This invulnerability stems from two elements:
- Actions with the awareness that no unexpected situation can unsettle you are significantly different from actions without such awareness.
- Constant exercise in building different ways to achieve a goal develops the skill of predicting the future in small and detailed ways. high accuracy. This means avoiding troubles in advance and looking only at emerging opportunities.
Sun Tzu, in Chapter IV of his treatise, speaks of invulnerability as follows:
<…>In ancient times, those who fought well first of all made themselves invincible and in this state waited until they could defeat the enemy. The invincibility of confinement lies in oneself, the possibility of victory lies in the enemy.<…>
<…>Therefore, one who fights well stands on the basis of the impossibility of his defeat and does not miss the opportunity to defeat the enemy. For this reason, an army that is supposed to win first wins and then seeks battle; an army condemned to defeat first fights and then seeks victory.<…>
Sun Tzu, “The Art of War / Sun Tzu. Moscow: AST Publishing House, 2017., p. 40
