Week 13 : Implementing Strategies Flashcards
Management and Operation Issues (23 cards)
THE NATURE OF STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
Successful strategy formulation does not guarantee successful strategy implementation.
It is always more difficult to do something (_____________)
than to say you are going to do it (___________________).
strategy implementation
strategy formulation
________________________-
In all but the smallest organizations, the transition from strategy formulation to strategy implementation requires a shift in responsibility from strategists to divisional and functional managers.
Implementation problems can arise because of this shift in responsibility, especially if strategy-formulation decisions come as a surprise to middle- and lower-level managers.
Managers and employees are motivated more by perceived self-interests than by organizational interests, unless the two coincide.
Therefore, it is essential that divisional and functional managers be involved as much as possible in strategy-formulation activities.
MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVES
are essential for strategy implementation because they
(1) represent the basis for allocating resources;
(2) are a primary mechanism for evaluating managers;
(3) are the major instrument for monitoring progress toward achieving long-term objectives; and
(4) establish organizational, divisional, and departmental priorities.
ANNUAL OBJECTIVES
Considerable time and effort should be devoted to ensuring that annual objectives are well conceived, consistent with long-term objectives, and supportive of strategies to be implemented.
ANNUAL OBJECTIVES
_____________ serve as guidelines for action, directing and channeling efforts and activities of organization members. They provide a source of legitimacy in an enterprise by justifying activities to stakeholders. They serve as standards of performance
Annual objectives
Changes in a firm’s strategic direction do not occur automatically. On a day-to-day basis, _______ are needed to make a strategy work.
Policies
___________ facilitate solving recurring problems and guide the implementation of strategy.
Broadly defined, ______ refers to specific guidelines, methods, procedures, rules, forms, and administrative practices established to support and encourage work toward stated goals.
Policies
Policy
is a central management activity that allows for strategy execution.
In organizations that do not use a strategic-management approach to decision making, resource allocation is often based on political or personal factors.
Resource allocation
_______________ enables resources to be allocated according to priorities established by annual objectives.
Nothing could be more detrimental to strategic management and to organizational success than for resources to be allocated in ways not consistent with priorities indicated by approved annual objectives.
Strategic management
Interdependency of objectives and competition for limited resources often leads to conflict
MANAGING CONFLICT
__________ can be defined as a disagreement between two or more parties on one or more issues.
Establishing annual objectives can lead to conflict because individuals have different expectations and perceptions, schedules create pressure, personalities are incompatible, and misunderstandings between line managers (such as production supervisors) and staff managers (such as human resource specialists) occur.
Conflict
- also called downsizing, rightsizing, or delayering
Restructuring
Restructuring - also called
downsizing, rightsizing, or delayering
involves reducing the size of the firm in terms of number of employees, number of divisions or units, and number of hierarchical levels in the firm’s organizational structure.
This reduction in size is intended to improve both efficiency and effectiveness.
Restructuring
is concerned primarily with shareholder well-being rather than employee well-being.
Restructuring
In ______________, a firm uses information technology to break down functional barriers and create a work system based on business processes, products, or outputs rather than on functions or inputs.
reengineering
____________ are decentralization, reciprocal interdependence, and information sharing.
Cornerstones of reengineering
Resistance to change can be considered the single greatest threat to successful strategy implementation.
MANAGING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
regularly occurs in organizations in the form of sabotaging production machines, absenteeism, filing unfounded grievances, and an unwillingness to cooperate.
Resistance
People often resist strategy implementation because they do not understand what is happening or why changes are taking place. In that case, employees may simply need accurate information
MANAGING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
Successful __________________ hinges upon managers’ ability to develop an organizational climate conducive to change.
strategy implementation
__________ must be viewed as an opportunity rather than as a threat by managers and employees.
Change
Firms that offer such benefits as elder care assistance, flexible scheduling, job sharing, adoption benefits, an on-site summer camp, employee help lines, pet care, and even lawn service referrals.
New corporate titles such as work/life coordinator and director of diversity are becoming common.
BALANCING WORK LIFE AND HOME LIFE
