Structure Follows Strategy, in Strategy Driven Enterprise Organizations

Introduction
Strategy execution represents a disciplined and systematic process of directing and controlling actionable/decisive decisions and activities that make an implemented strategy work resulting in the transformation of the organization and its institutions to strengthen it, and lead to sustainable growth and improved performance. Strategy execution requires the effective interplay of cooperation between strategic management and operations management in combining deliberate and purposeful actions demanded by the intended strategy from the strategic plan, and emergent strategy - as-needed reactions to unanticipated developments and fresh competitive pressures to realize the actual strategy.

Factors Influencing Execution Success/Failure
Strategies may fail at execution for a myriad of factors including the following:

1. Complexity - Organizations are by definition complex adaptive systems with several independent and interconnected factors that influence each other as well as the decision-making of several independent and interconnected stakeholders.
2. Poor Leadership - The vision and mission as well as the organization's values are not clearly articulated and communicated.
3. Bad Strategy - The strategy does not align with well diagnosed strategic issue and basic problem.
4. Poor Implementation - Strategic initiatives that define major efforts required to close identified strategic gaps so the organization can make progress towards its strategic goals.
5. Bad Strategic Decisions - Decisions result in the wrong outcomes.
6. Poor Planning - This results in inefficient utilization of resources such as time and labor as well as lack of capacity to managing change.

All these factors are interdependent and their influences are non-deterministic, this typically, makes it very difficult for managers to comprehend the contribution of these factors to successful outcomes of strategy execution. If an organization fails to pay proper attention to one of these factors, it can result in execution failure, therefore an organization needs a system and approach to support management in successful execution.

How The Factors Influence Execution
Each of the factors influences execution success/failure in a different way; the following describes the myriad of ways these factors influence execution:

Complexity
Complexity in the context of strategy execution refers to challenges/obstacles to understanding an issue due to lack of information and lack of insight into the problem domain due to:

• Uncertainty - This may derive from:

1.  lack of complete knowledge about the organization's external environment and the impact of environmental factors on the performances of potential strategies/strategic choices; e.g., launching a new innovative product into existing/new market; 
2. Doubts about how organizational values should guide the decision or choice of action.

•  Decision Complexity - This may derive from: the inter-relationship among choices. For example, the strategic decision to enter a new market will require a major allocation of resources across different parts of the organization such as marketing, finance, operations, etc. This in turn will lead to the consideration of other strategic choices associated with the primary strategic decision, resulting in cascading decisions which is a source of complexity..
• Social Complexity - This may derive from:

1. Differing Mental Models - Managers and decision makers having differing individual mental models (or mindsets) influence how people approach resolving the issues constituting a problem; how these issues relate and impact perceived implications in relation to the strategic choices open to them.
2. Cognitive conflict - Cognitive conflict among decision makers due to possible differences in the individual manager's interpretation of issues is reflected in disagreements among decision makers and/or individual managers' about the strategic choices to pursue.  

Poor Leadership Style
Poor leadership is manifested in the failure of leadership to clearly communicate the reasons for the new strategy and garner the appropriate support to create consensus and enthusiasm/motivation in order to overcome any pockets of doubt and resistance to change resulting from successful strategy execution.  In addition, poor leadership can be manifested in failure of leadership to orchestrate the processes and major initiatives as well as coordination of management and staff in properly performing their tasks to accomplish work.

Bad Strategy
A strategy may be defined variously as an approach to overcoming an obstacle; or a response to a challenge. A bad strategy is a strategy that does not define an approach/means to respond to a challenge (opportunity/threat) or solve a known problem. It reflects an organization's failure to face the problem. A good strategy is a mixture of policy and action designed to surmount a challenge/problem.

Poor Implementation
Poor implementation may result in weak strategic assets that do not close the strategic gap, and since execution takes place within the context of the implemented strategy, successful execution is unlikely.

Bad Strategic Decisions
Bad strategic decisions are strategic decisions whose outcomes result in business failure/decline. Bad decisions may result from incomplete or short-circuited decision processes.

Strategic decisions are among the main means through which management choices are actually realized. They are difficult or expensive to reverse because they substantially alter (and irrevocably so in the short run) the relationships between the decision makers' organization and customers, competitors, etc. The decision's outcomes are usually contingent on effects - the behavior of other actors affected by the decisions and outcomes. These recursive relationships between decisions, decision outcomes, and effects on other actors' behavior make strategic decisions messier and more complex than operations decisions.

Poor Planning
Poor planning may lead to strategy execution failure resulting from: bad or unrealistic schedules for project team members resulting in waste of time and poor time management; lack of clear definition of strategy and project objectives; lack of budgetary controls leading to misuse of funds, etc. 

Strategy Execution Model
The actual strategy of an organization is realized through combined execution of the intended strategy - what managers have set out in advance and intend to do - as part of some important strategic plan, and as-needed reactions to unanticipated developments and fresh competitive pressures to realize the actual strategy New circumstances always emerge, whether important technological developments, rivals successful new products introductions, newly enacted government regulations and policies, etc., that create enough uncertainty about the future that makes it impossible for managers to plan every strategic action in advance and pursue their intended strategy without alteration. Organizations need a system to support managers in influencing the effectiveness of planned actions (top-down) and as-needed adaptive reactions to unforeseen conditions ("unplanned" bottom-up strategy responses) in order to improve the likelihood of successful execution:
  

Introduction
Strategy implementation is one of three co-incident processes involves in the strategy management. Strategy implementation provides the connecting loop between formulation and execution and control; Strategy implementation is key to any organization's survival; and requires the collaboration of everyone inside the organization, and on many occasions parties outside the organization. It is the responsibility of top, middle and lower/line managers focused on the creation of new strategic assets (capabilities and core competencies) and/or enhancing and strengthen existing strategic assets in order for the organization to maintain its ability to achieve future outcomes. 

Challenges and Pitfalls to Successful Strategy Implementation
Strategy implementation presents an organization with challenges in effective strategic decision-making, and competencies in strategic management in a number key areas including:

1. Leadership - This is a capability the management of the organization must possess at decent levels to enable the organization's leaders and management to effectively organize, coordinate and communicate the organization's direction and vision to the workforce and keep them motivated and committed to achieve the mission and strategic objectives and goals.
2. Information Availability and Accuracy - This is the organization capacity to provide information System of processes and information flows that link the organization together and make accurate information available in a timely manner to support effective decision-making, communication and learning.
3. Uncertainty - Uncertainty is a state of having limited knowledge of current conditions or future outcomes. Uncertainty deals with possible outcomes that are unknown; and is a major component of risk (the likelihood or scale of negative consequences). Risk is a certain type of uncertainty that involves the real possibility of loss.
4. Organizational Structures - Organization structure provides an explanation of the decision-making process and clarifies the roles and responsibilities, allocation of human resources (the way people and tasks/work are organized and roles and responsibilities are assigned to people), and the enabled level of flexibility to respond to unexpected circumstances. The organization structure design and the degree to which it effectively enables managing complexity, coordination and control of organizational behavior is critical to effective decision-making as the decision rights cascade during strategy implementation and execution grows. Within the structure, rules, policies, and procedures are uniformly and impersonally applied to exert control over organizational members’ behaviors. .
5. Organizational Culture - Organizational culture is the collective behavior of humans who are part of an organization, and the meanings they attach to their actions. Culture includes the organizational values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs and habits. Culture manifests itself in the particular way things are done in an organization including how decisions are made. It affects who gets hired, how they get trained (formally or informally), what behaviors get rewarded, who gets promoted, and virtually all organizational procedures and administrative protocols. Execution requires supportive culture and demands ownership at all levels in the organization including management and workforce. People must commit to and own the processes and actions central to effective execution.
6. Human Resources - Human resources are the people that comprise the workforce including managers of an organization, and the adequacy of their competencies, knowledge and skills. Human resources represent one the category of assets employed by an organization to create and deliver products and services to customers. Human resource management is a function concerned with ensuring that the organization obtains and retains the skilled, committed and well-motivated workforce it needs.  Strategic Human Resource Management is particularly focused on the alignment of human resources as a means of gaining competitive advantage.
7. Technology - Technological trends include not only the glamorous invention that revolutionizes the lives of the actors in the organization and its environments, but also the gradual painstaking improvements in methods, in materials, in design, in application, unemployment, and the transportation and commercial base nd their diffusion into new industries and efficiency. The rate of technological change varies considerably from one industry to another. Changing technology can offer major opportunities for improving goal achievement, or threaten the existence of the firm due to unpredictable problems

All these challenges reflect factors that are interdependent and influence each other and, to varying degrees,  the success/failure of strategy implementation.

Factors Supporting Effective Strategy Implementation
Effective strategy implementation and execution involves managing change in the organization's internal environment which then allows the organization to successfully adapt to the changing external environment in which it operates but cannot control. The key factors that support successful implementation and execution are the following internal environment elements:

1. People - "Do you have enough people to implement the strategies?" and "Do you have the right people in the organization to implement the strategies?" This core issues area relates to the knowledge, experience, and skills of the people (workforce) in the organization, and .is a determining factor in implementation success. Organizations invest in recruiting and training to build this capability critical to successful implementation.
2. Resources - Do you have adequate funding (financial strength) to support implementation, covering the costs and expenses that must be incurred in the execution of the strategies?" and "Do you have enough time to see the strategy throughout its implementation?" Financial strength is a factor in its won right that influences other internal environment factors. 
3. Structure - Is the structure clear-cut with lines of authority and responsibility defined and underlined in the "chain of command?" "Are the lines of communication throughout the organization clearly defined by management?" Organization structure is essentially defines how the work needed to carry out the mission is divided among the workforce/people.
4. Systems - What systems, tools, and capabilities are in place to facilitate the implementation of the strategies? What are the specific functions of these systems? Hopw will these systems aid in the implementatio? The availability of the appropriate systems can significantly impact the implementation and execution performance. If the right systems are not available,or the available systems are not up to expected standards then workers and management may be hindered in the performance of the duties. If the inadequate systems are used by customers then customer satisfaction will suffer.   
5. Culture - Organization culture is influenced by the values and beliefs of the organization, and manifested in the attitudes of employees and partners, and their ability to "go the extra mile". Negative attitudes can severely and adversely impact the organization's capacity to successfully implement and execute its strategies. 
6. Management - The capability of the management team and the leadership styles employed by managers will also have a major impact on employee morale and motivation, and organizational culture.

These factors are generally in agreement with the key success factors or prerequisites for effective strategy implementation as identified by the McKinsey.  


Factors That Support Successful Strategy Implementation 
An organization must develop the capacity to effectively meet the challenges of successfully implementing a strategy due to influencing factors such as:

Leadership Style
Failure to properly perform the leadership functions can lead to the following:

1. Lack of emphasis on the interfaces within the organization
   
2. Failing to get employees buy-in in the new strategy
   
3. Failing to direct employee capabilities toward the new strategy
   
4. Failing to keep employees motivated and committed to the strategy implementation
   
5. Lack of controls in terms of progress reviews and appropriate corrective actions.
   

Information Availability and Accuracy
Inadequate information systems capacity leading to poor Information Flows and availability of accurate information to support fast and accurate progress tracking, timely intervention, and corrective action at the right time and place.may result in obstacles to successful implementation because of the degradation in certain management functions such as:

1. Poor Coordination
2. Poor Strategic Decision-making such as late and/or timely decisions.
3. Bad Strategic Decisions

Uncertainty - Effects of Uncertainty
Uncertainty creates obstacles such as limited knowledge in current conditions and gaps in future outcomes, to decision-making such as:

1. Managers delaying decisions until data becomes more accessible and reliable; of course delaying some decisions can bring its own set of risks of failure.
2. Managers lacking the skills and judgment to identify and analyze the factors that can affect outcomes which would enable them to identify likely risks (e.g., strategic, financial, operational, legal, etc.) and potential impacts.
3. Managers having no idea in the short-term how much value their investment decisions and projects have created in some future situation. Typically, the value delivered by enhanced and/or strengthened assets is causally and temporally separated from the successful completion of the strategic initiatives that produced these assets through cause-effect relationships that may involve two (2) or more stages making it difficult for managers to fully comprehend the contribution of these assets to the strategy execution success or failure. 

​Organization Structure
The structure and operating principles as well as governance of the organization becomes more complex and critical to manage. Structure Alignment problems - the overall strategy not properly aligned (i.e., working) with the current structure; the way people and tasks/work are organized, and roles and responsibilities are assigned to people not aligned with strategy would lead to implementation problems. Weak structure can create obstacles to successful implementation manifested in the following ways::

1. Poor or inadequate information sharing
2. Unclear accountability of positions and roles
3. Working against the organizational power structure
4. Unclear roles and responsibilities
5. Motivations of employees not aligned with organizational purpose,

The structure enables strategic alignment which enables effective cascading of objectives, goals, and decision rights to the appropriate people (actors) in the organization with the capability and capacity to perform the actions at the right time and place to accomplish the requisite goals and objectives.

Organizational Culture
Organization culture defines the particular way the organization solves problems of survival through adaptation to external environment and internal integration which is supportive of the strategy. Weak culture is by definition not supportive of the new strategy and leads to organizational behavior and performance problems that present obstacles and challenges leading to implementation failure manifested in the following ways:

1. Employees behavior prevents learning and development; they are unable to adapt to new mind sets (adopt new mental models).
2. Employees behavior is inconsistent with organizational values and principles. 
3. Organizational culture not supportive of the principles and values.
4. Unable to change and adapt to new processes and practices

Organizational culture can be supportive of the following: Learning and Development (Growth), Participatory Decision-Making, Power Sharing, Support and Collaboration, Tolerance for risk and conflicts.

Human Resources
Strategic Human Resource Management is particularly focused on the alignment of human resources as a means of gaining competitive advantage in terms of the adequacy of their knowledge competencies, and skills. Poor Human Resource Management is manifested in the following ways:

1. Poor human resource policies and practices may lead to decreased productivity and poor quality.
2. HR systems inhibit the mobilization of new competencies and/or destroy existing competencies, contributing to organizational vulnerability.
3. Inadequate skills and misalignment
4. Lack of motivation and personal ownership.

Technology Trends
Technological trends include not only the glamorous invention that revolutionizes the lives of the actors in the organization and its environments, but also the gradual painstaking improvements in methods, in materials, in design, in application, unemployment, and the transportation and commercial base nd their diffusion into new industries and efficiency. The rate of technological change varies considerably from one industry to another. 

Changing technology can offer major opportunities for improving goal achievement, or threaten the existence of the firm. Lack of organizational capability to adapt to technology changes is reflected in the conditions and gaps:

1. Forecast and identify relevant developments – both within and beyond the industry
2. Assess the impact of these developments on existing operations,
3. Define opportunities and threats
4. Lacking capacity development strength in creating technology strategy which deals with choices in. technology, product design and development, sources of technology, and R&D Management and Funding.

Conclusion
The factors that influence the successful implementation of a strategy are interdependent and their influences are non-deterministic it is typically very difficult for managers to comprehend the contribution of these factors to the successful outcomes of strategy implementation making strategy implementation very hard.