Tactic | Meaning & Concept [Explained]

We explain what a tactic is and the use of the term in sports, military and business. Also, differences between tactics and strategy.

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What is tactics?

When we talk about tactics, we mean a specific method with which we can achieve a goal. It also designates the art or practical discipline that teaches, in a specific area of life or knowledge, to choose the appropriate method for a specific purpose.

In other words, when talking about tactics, we refer to the possible methods to obtain a result, generally based on the evaluation of the conditions at the time. But when we talk about tactics, in the singular, we can also refer to the ability to choose or apply such methods .

Thus, there are tactics in numerous different contexts, such as the military, sports or even business, as we will see later, but always with the same meaning. Someone who specializes in a tactic, for example, learns to apply a specific method for something, but someone who knows tactics has many possible methods to deal with a given situation.

The word tactics is of Greek origin, coming from taktikoscoming in turn from the verb tassein“order”. Hence, a tactic generally involves an ordered set of steps or actions to deal with something.

Tactics and strategy

Tactics and strategy are two terms often used interchangeably, but whose meanings are easily differentiated. As we have seen, a tactic is a method to obtain a result, generally applicable to the concrete, to the perceptible.

Instead, A strategy is a plan, a way of applying a set of preconceived notions which can be, in themselves, tactics. In this way, strategies are usually global, comprehensive, complete, while the tactics are usually concrete and specific .

We may have to, for example, apply a set of tactics to comply with what a strategy dictates. On the other hand, if our strategy fails, it is possible to improvise some tactics that give us time to think of a new plan: distraction tactics, in that case.

sports tactics

In the world of sports, it is common to talk about tactics to refer to the methods used by different athletes or players to deal with a situation based on their own capabilities. So, different tactics can be part of a sports strategy and athletes may use them at their discretion.

For example: in a soccer match, each team has a strategy defined in advance that has to do with its strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of its rivals. But each player knows some individual tactics, and the technical director himself has prepared them to execute some collective tactics. Depending on the occasion, they may put them into practice, such as looking for a free kick, wasting time, etc.

military tactics

The military field is not very different in terms of tactics from the previous case. With the exception that military tactics constitute a discipline in itself, part of military strategy. The tactic in this case has to do with the use of the means of action necessary to defeat the rival in a war, that is, in war.

To do this, tactics take into consideration the given situations: the situation of the army, its available resources, the position of the enemy, and therefore disposes of its own army or a part of its own army, in a specific way.

In this it is distinguished from the strategy, which is carried out by the planning ranks in the rear: Soldiers have learned and practiced tactics to face a specific situation victoriously.

Business tactics

Taking military tactics as a metaphor, in the business world tactics are the methods put into practice in a given situation as part of larger planning (that is, business strategy). For example, a business strategy may include aggressive tactics (unfair competition, subliminal advertising, dumping).