Which of the following is not an organizational dimension of strategy execution

Dr. Stanley Omeike (Ph.D.)

Dr. Stanley Omeike (Ph.D.)

Data Science/Machine Learning | Data Scientist/Machine Learning Engineer | ML Security | Strategy Execution Management and Strategic Decision…

Published Apr 29, 2016

10 Things Strategy Execution Management is not and why. Part 1

Corporate executives spend relatively significant proportions of corporate resources and assets crafting and implementing strategies they consider necessary for achieving deliberate intent either within the organization or in their operating space. With so much resources invested in the strategy, top management teams are eager to see results and some justifiable returns for these investments. That said, the practice of strategy formulation and implementation is to a very large extent not guided by any single model. Literature from the scholarly space and practices in the practitioner space, often the result of diverse models propagated by a broad spectrum of management consultancies has made it increasingly difficult for corporate executives to share a common understanding of the very nature of strategy and the implementation process.

In this piece, we attempt to discuss a sample of misconceptions about strategy uncovered during one of our research study into how organizations develop and implement strategy.

1. Performance Measurement and Reporting: Strategy execution management is not just about strategic, tactical or even operational performance measurement and certainly not satisfied by the periodic generation of the so called “Strategy Reports” or performance reports. Measurement and reporting at best describe feedback mechanisms through which the organization seeks to understand the effectiveness of its instruments of strategy.  
2. Balanced Scorecard: Implementing the Balanced Scorecard is not a proxy for strategy execution. The balanced scorecard emerged out of an accounting need to provide a balanced view of performance and works best when organizations use it as a strategy communication and measurement tool. The strategy map is an imprecise view of strategy and the scorecard neither tells the strategy nor represents its implementation
3. Organizational Alignment: One of the key philosophies of contemporary strategy and even balanced scorecard implementation is the quest to align the organization to the strategy. The argument often presented to corporate executives is that the stronger the alignment of functions, structure and assets to the strategy the more effective the organization becomes at execution. On the surface this may appeal to rational thought. However, research points in a different direction. Organizations that are achieve functional, structural and resource focus on purpose and intent are better able to execute strategy when compared to organizations that are aligned to their strategy. Research shows that the strategy, environment and organizational capability are volatile and any alignment to these potentially creates a less adaptive organization

   Empirical studies show that in organizations implementing strategy, the operating environment of the organization is volatile, influencing the organization and its strategic intent. As organizations respond to these environmental changes, they tend to shift their internal configuration of capabilities. More specifically, environmental volatility (change), strategy focus (direction ) and capability (organization’s resources and related capabilities) are recursively organized and intertwined. The strategy context and environmental volatility all influence the strategy implementation effectiveness (Omeike and Lyytinen 2014).

4. Strategy Communication and Awareness Building: Strategy implementation is not just about communication and awareness building. These efforts are necessary to rally the organization and build momentum around a strategy but research shows that there is a gap between employee awareness of strategy and demonstrated employee commitment to implement. Strategy implementation challenges the organization’s ability to secure sustainable employee engagement and motivation. Any organizational effort at communicating the strategy and building awareness among stakeholders must be guided by an overarching intent to deploy mechanisms that ensure sustainable stakeholder motivation
5. Technology: Technology and its implementation is not the same thing as strategy execution. Technology at best facilitates execution and would certainly enable the accelerated delivery of a strategy especially in volatile environments. Technology provides the organization with specific capabilities to improve execution effectiveness. The organizations’ effectiveness at leveraging deployed technology as part of a strategy implementation effort is what makes the difference in execution.