An assessment of excellence in formulating strategic plan: a case study of Dubai government's strategic plan United Arab Emirates

RADAR is an excellence self-assessment tool which is commonly used to assess results and approaches in excellence models. It could also be used successfully in assessing the strategy formulation process in Dubai' s government. The Thesis is a qualitative research that deploys a case study approach to understand the role of RADAR techniques and practices, and how these can be used in assessing the Dubai Government's strategy formulation process, focusing on the justice and security sectors in general and the Dubai Police Force in particular. The researcher always attempts to answer particular questions about why and how RADAR informs and helps in assessing and controlling the strategy formulation process. The study obtained valid information from semi-structured interviews with 17 senior and middle government, security and Police staff members working in the Dubai Police Force, Civil Défense and Immigration Departments. Generally, the findings indicated that: Firstly, RADAR can be used successfully in these researched organisations and can be seen to be important in security assessment function when taking into consideration the cultural aspects of Dubai which are based on Arab and Islamic cultural values. Secondly, the strategy formulation process in Dubai Government is affected widely by Islamic and Arab culture. Thirdly, the definition of 'citizen' is very complex as Dubai is a cosmopolitan city. This makes it difficult to cater to the stakeholders' needs in the strategy formulation process due to the diversity of the cultures of the different nationalities. Fourthly, the bureaucratic nature of managers in the public sector makes it difficult to deploy the excellence self-assessment tools as they tend to believe that assessment is merely criticism rather than that it supports continuous improvement. Finally, the leadership of Dubai Government plays a crucial role in leading the strategic thinking and quality drive in both public and private sectors. The leadership vision is to cater to the cultural needs of the different nationalities living in Dubai and translate them into sound strategies.