Assignment Strategy & Organization

Assignment 6                 Strategy & Organization                          01/12/2014

Group members:        Eline Eggermont         10283331
WG 2                        Romina Benfatto        10260226
                        Jonathan Dul                 10003517
                        Mitchell Bakker        10884467
Word count: 902

I

According to Kaplan and Norton (2000), understanding strategy is an organization-wide activity. Organizations need tools that can communicate their strategy so that it can be effectively understood and implemented throughout the whole organization. Therefore, Kaplan and Norton developed a Strategy Map framework to help organizations map out the quintessential elements of their strategy to get a clear insight of the important aspects of the strategy and aspects of how to realize their strategy as well as what is missing from their strategy. On the basis of a balanced scorecard organization members can see from a financial, customer, internal process and learning & growth perspective how to attain the desired outcomes. It shows them what opportunities are open to them and how to exploit them.

Burgelman (1983) illustrates two types of strategic behaviour of firms in his article. One, which represents the existing activities of the firm and fits within the planned strategy (induced strategic behaviour), the other which represents a renewal of strategy through entrepreneurial activities that lead to diversification and innovation (autonomous strategic behaviour). Like Kaplan and Norton, Burgelman considers strategy creation and implementation an organization-wide activity. Also, he states that innovation and internal development can come from everywhere within the firm, but the whole organization needs a clear understanding of the resources to understand new ways to combine the resources. Therefore, systems need to be designed to optimize organizational learning and communicate to the entire organization.

The above-mentioned authors emphasize the importance of involving the entire firm in strategy. However, the five process approaches of Bourgeois and Brodwin (1984) show that not all organizational models are capable of this. Most models lack the overall involvement in strategy making, though some engage lower managers in formation and implementation more than others. Only the Crescive model relates to the corporate entrepreneurship approach and the entire firm’s potential for identifying, formulating and implementing its strategy (Burgelman, 1983; Kaplan & Norton, 2000).

II

The punctuated equilibrium model discussed by Romanelli and Tushman (1994) portrays organizations as evolving through long relatively long periods of stability (equilibrium periods) in their basic patterns of activity that are punctuated by relatively short bursts of fundamental change (revolutionary periods). Revolutionary periods disrupt stable activity patterns and build the foundation for new equilibrium periods. This model serves as a theoretical framework for explaining how organizations typically accomplish fundamental transformation.
        According to Romanelli and Tushman (1994) a series of small changes in individual domains of organizational activity is not likely to accumulate incrementally to produce organizational transformations. Rather, fundamental organizational transformations tend to occur in short, discontinuous bursts.