Design School

Slide 2.
Session 2
The Design School:
Strategy Formation as a Process
of Conception
Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel, Strategy Safari, 2nd Edition, Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand and Joe Lampel 2009
Slide 2.2
Origins of the design school

Selznicks Leadership in Administration (1957)
Introduces notion of distinctive competence
Links an organizations internal state with its
external expectations
Chandlers Strategy and Structure

Study emergence of American big business
Strategy dictates structure
Harvard Business Policy Course

Pioneers use of business case
Creates focus on formulation
Encourages prescription
Slide 2.3
Figure 2.1
Basic design school model

Slide 2.4
Table 2.1
Environmental variables checklist
Source: From Power et al. (1986: 38)

Slide 2.5
Table 2.2
Strengths and weaknesses checklist
Source: From Power et al. (1986: 37)

Slide 2.6
The Strategy process in the design school
Formulate
Evaluate
Implement
Slide 2.7
Criteria of evaluation
Consistency:
Goals and objectives must be mutually consistent
Consonance:
An adaptive response to external environment
Advantage:
Must create and/or sustain competitive advantage
Feasibility:
Must not overtax resources or create intractable
problems
Slide 2.8
SWOT steps
Identify current S
Identify key SWOTs
Explore relationships strengths and weaknesses
----opportunities and threats
Recommend new/modified strategy
Slide 2.9
Improving SWOT
See as general aid.

Make measures and criteria explicit.
Prioritize SWOTs.
Use outside consultants.
Specify and substantiate SWOTs.
Slide 2.10
Assumption 1
Strategy formation should be a deliberate
process of conscious thought:
Action must flow from reason
Effective strategies depend on tightly controlled
thinking process
Strategies should be as deliberate as possible
Slide 2.11
Assumption 2
Strategy is the responsibility of the CEO
CEO is the architect of organizational purpose
Command-and-control system mentality
Other members are relegated to subordinate
position in the strategy process
No input from external actors
Slide 2.12
Assumption 3
Strategy formation must be kept simple and
informal
Strategy is a working conceptual scheme
Avoid elaboration
Avoid formalization
Balance non-conscious intuition and formal
analysis
Slide 2.13
Assumption 4
Strategies should be one of a kind
Strategies must be tailored to individual cases
There is no general system for developing

strategies
Strategy is a creative act that builds on distinctive
competence
Slide 2.14
Assumption 5
Process is complete when strategies are fully
formulated
Find the big picture
A Biblical view strategy as grand creation

Be comprehensive there is little room for
incrementalism or emergence
Slide 2.15
Assumption 6
Because strategies must be explicit, they
must also be simple
Strategies bring simplicity to complexity.
Strategies should be explicit for those who make
them.
If possible, should be articulated, so that others
can understand them.
Slide 2.16
Assumption 7
Only after formulation has been completed,
can implementation follow:
Action should follow from diagnosis and
prescription
Structure must adapt to strategy
Until we know strategy we cannot consider the
organization
Slide 2.17
Best conditions for following the

design school
When one brain can handle all the relevant
information
When that brain can attain detailed and intimate
knowledge of conditions
When environment is relatively stable and predictable
When organization is willing to accept a centrally

articulated strategy
Slide 2.18
Critique 1
Explicit assessment of strengths and weaknesses
tends to bypass learning
To what extent can an organization know itself

by conscious analysis?
By fixing in advance what it thinks it knows, an
organization fails to recognize novelty
Slide 2.19
Critique 2
Structure follows strategy
as the left foot follows the right
The past matters
You cannot redesign purely in function of strategic intent
Strategy may propose, but the organization will usually
dispose
Slide 2.20
Critique 3
Making strategy explicit
promotes inflexibility
During periods of uncertainty danger is premature closure
Explicit strategies act as blinders -- preventing peripheral
vision
The more embedded the strategy the more it reinforces
habits
Strategy is not like a symphony score
-- but is more like a jazz ensemble
Slide 2.21
Critique 4
Separation of formulation from implementation
..Detaches thinking from acting
It assumes a stable and knowable environment
It ignores the complex and subtle evolution of strategy

It divides organizations into thinkers and doers
--- formulators versus implementors
It ignores the fact that thinking and acting operate in

tandem
Slide 2.22
Contributions
Developed fundamental vocabulary to describe
strategy
Introduces the notion of fit between strategy and
environment
Articulates the idea of strategy as a guiding concept

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Slide 2.

Origins of the design school

Chandlers Strategy and Structure

Harvard Business Policy Course

Basic design school model

Environmental variables checklist

Source: From Power et al. (1986: 38)

Strengths and weaknesses checklist

Source: From Power et al. (1986: 37)

The Strategy process in the design school

See as general aid.

No input from external actors

There is no general system for developing

A Biblical view strategy as grand creation

Best conditions for following the

When organization is willing to accept a centrally

To what extent can an organization know itself

It ignores the complex and subtle evolution of strategy

It ignores the fact that thinking and acting operate in

Articulates the idea of strategy as a guiding concept

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