Making Strategy Work : Leading Effective Execution and Change

by Hrebiniak, Lawrence G.

• ISBN13: 9780131467453
• ISBN10: 013146745X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-01-05
• Publisher: Pearson Prentice Hall

Summary

Formulating strategy is one thing. Executing it throughout the entire organization... well, that's the really hard part. Without effective execution, no business strategy can succeed. Unfortunately, most managers know far more about developing strategy than about executing it-and overcoming the difficult political and organizational obstacles that stand in their way. In this book, Larry Hrebiniak offers a comprehensive, disciplined process model for making strategy work in the real world. Hrebiniak shows why execution is even more important than many senior executives realize, and sheds powerful new light on why businesses fail to deliver on even their most promising strategies. He offers a systematic roadmap for execution that encompasses every key success factor: organizational structure, coordination, information sharing, incentives, controls, change management, culture, and the role of power and influence in the execution process. Making Strategy Work concludes with a start-to-finish case study showing how to use Hrebiniak's ideas to address one of today's most difficult business execution challenges: ensuring the success of a merger or acquisition. The advice on making M&A strategies work justifies the addition of this book to any execution toolkit. bull; bull; Building the capabilities and culture you'll need to execute bull;How to align your organization's skills, resources, and culture around the strategies you're pursuing bull; Integrating long-term strategy with short-term operations bull;Why managing the short-term is crucial to the success of long-term strategy bull; Ensuring robust coordination... up, down, and sideways bull;Effective information sharing and cooperation: bringing coherence and focus to execution bull; Managing change, including culture change bull;Avoiding "speed traps," resistance, and other change-related problems that hurt execution About the AUTHORLawrence G. Hrebiniak is a professor in the Department of Management of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been a member of the Wharton faculty since 1976 and currently teaches courses in competitive strategy and strategy implementation in the Wharton M.B.A. and Executive Education programs. He held managerial positions in the automobile industry prior to entering academia, and is a past president of the Organization Theory Division of the Academy of Management. For over two years, he was one of five Wharton faculty members providing commentaries on the Wharton Management Report, a daily TV program on the Financial News Network. His consulting activities and executive development programs focus on strategy execution, the formulation of strategy, and organizational design-both inside and outside the U.S. Dr. Hrebiniak's clients have included Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, Chemical Bank, Isuzu, Dun & Bradstreet, DuPont, the Social Security Administration, First American Bankshares, General Motors, Chase Manhattan, Studio Ambrosetti, Microsoft, Aventis, and GE. Dr. Hrebiniak's current research is concerned primarily with strategy execution and organizational design. He is also interested in strategic adaptation as organizations manage change and execution efforts over time to remain competitive. He coAUTHORed Implementing Strategy (PHPTR 1984) and AUTHORed The We-Force in Management (Jossey-Bass, Inc. 1994), two other books, and numerous articles in professional journals. A Comprehensive Roadmap and Process Model for Executing Strategy bull; bull; Beyond "war stories": detailed, integrated solutions for delivering on strategy bull;&l

Author Biography

Lawrence G. Hrebiniak is a professor in the Department of Management of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Strategy Execution Is the Key

Execution Is a Key to Success

Making Strategy Work Is More Difficult Than the Task of Strategy Making

Sound Execution Is Critical-A Focus on Making Strategy Work Pays Major Dividends

Managers Are Trained to Plan, Not Execute

Let the "Grunts" Handle Execution

Planning and Execution Are Interdependent

Execution Takes Longer Than Formulation

Execution Is a Process, Not an Action or Step

Execution Involves More People Than Strategy Formulation Does

Additional Challenges and Obstacles to Successful Execution

Wharton-Gartner Survey

Wharton Executive Education Survey

Panel Discussions

The Results: Opinions About Successful Strategy Execution

Poor Execution Outcomes

Making Sense of the Data and Going Forward

The Execution Challenge

Having a Model or Guidelines for Execution

Strategy is the Primary Driver

Managing Change

The Power Structure

Coordination and Information Sharing

Clear Responsibility and Accountability

The Right Culture

Leadership

Controls, Feedback, and Adaptation

The Next Step: Developing a Logical Approach to Execution Decisions and Actions

Summary

Endnotes

Overview and Model: Making Strategy Work

Common vs

Unique Execution Solutions

A Need for Action

A Model of Strategy Execution

Corporate Strategy

Corporate Structure

Need for Integration

Executing Business Strategy

"Demands" of Business Strategy

Integrating Strategy and Short-term Operating Objectives

Incentives and Controls

Incentives

Controls

Context of Execution Decisions

The Execution Context

Managing Change

Culture

The Organizational Power Structure

The Leadership Climate

Need for a Disciplined Approach

Summary

Endnotes

The Path to Successful Execution: Good Strategy Comes First

Is the Impact of Strategy Overrated?

The Need for Sound Planning and a Clear, Focused Strategy

Corporate-Level Planning

AT&T: Bad Corporate Strategy?

Business Strategy

The Importance of Integrating Corporate and Business Strategies

The Role of the Business Is Unclear

Inappropriate Performance Metrics

Battles Over Resource Allocations

Assessments of Business Performance Create Additional Problems

The Strategy Review

The Need to Define and Communicate the Operational Components of Strategy

Integrating Strategic and Short-Term Objectives

Need for Measurable Objectives

Understanding the "Demands" of Strategy and Successful Execution

Low-Cost Producer

Differentiation Strategies

Developing the Right Capabilities

The Demands of Global Strategy

A Final Point

Summary

Endnotes

Organizational Structure and Execution

The Challenge of Structural Choice

General Motors

Johnson & Johnson

Citibank and ABB

The Critical Structural Issues

Structural Issue #1: Measuring Costs and Benefits of Structure

Structural Issue #2: Centralization vs

Decentralization

Structural Issue #3: The Strategy-Structure-Performance Relationship

Summary

Endnotes

Managing Integration: Effective Coordination and Information Sharing

The Importance of Integration

Boeing

Royal Dutch/Shell Group

Dell Computers

Interdependence and Coordination Methods

Types of Interdependence

Coordination Processes and Methods

The GE "Work Out"

Facilitatin

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION This book focuses on a critical management issue: Making strategy work or executing strategy effectively. Theories and advice about the requisites of good planning and strategy formulation abound in management literature. A vast array of planning models and techniques has been paraded before managers over the years, and managers for the most part understand them and know how to use them effectively. The problem with poor performance typically is not with planning, but with doing. That is, strategies often aren't implemented successfully. Making strategy work is more difficult than strategy making. Sound plans flounder or die because of a lack of execution know-how. This book focuses on execution--the processes, decisions, and actions needed to make strategy work. What differentiates this book from others, beyond its emphasis on a critical management need? I'm excited about the present approach to execution for the six following reasons. Learning from Experience This book is based on data. It borrows from the experiences of hundreds of managers actually involved in strategy execution. There are multiple sources of data, which ensures complete coverage of execution-related issues. This book doesn't rely on the armchair musings of a few people relating unconnected anecdotes; it is based on real-world execution experiences, problems, and solutions--including mine over the last two decades. What You Need to Lead The focus of the book is on the knowledge, skills, and capabilities managers need to lead execution efforts. Its content is action- and results-oriented. Most organizations recruit, train, and retain good managers; they are staffed by good people--even great people. Most managers are motivated and qualified people who want to perform well. Even good people, however, can be hampered by poor incentives, controls, organizational structures, and company policies or operating procedures that inhibit their ability to execute and get things done. Even great leaders, in top management positions, will fail if they're not well versed in the conditions that affect execution success. Managers need to understand what makes strategy work. Intuition and personality simply aren't sufficient, given such a complex task. This book focuses on this knowledge and the capabilities and insights leaders need for execution success. The Big Picture In this book, I develop a unifying, integrated approach to execution. I focus on the big picture, as well as the nitty-gritty of the execution process and methods. I spell out a logical approach to execution and the relationships among key execution decisions. This book not only identifies these key factors and their relationships, but also goes into detail on each of the factors needed for execution success. It provides an important, integrated approach to execution and dissects the approach to focus on its key elements, actions, or decisions. This book then provides both an overview of the execution process and an in-depth reference manual for key aspects of this process. Effective Change Management Leading successful execution efforts usually demands the effective management of change, and this book integrates important change-management issues into its treatment of execution. This book discusses power, influence, and resistance to change. It focuses on real and practical change-related issues--such as whether to implement execution related changes quickly, all at once, or in a more deliberate and sequential fashion over time. I tell you why "speed kills" and explain how large, complex changes can severely hurt execution outcomes. I focus on the details of