Beyond addiction: Hierarchy and other ways of getting strategy done

Miguel Pina e Cunha, Arménio Rego and Stewart Clegg

European Management Journal, 2011, vol. 29, issue 6, 491-503

Abstract: Hierarchy is habitually presented as the right organizational infrastructure through which to deploy and achieve strategy. We analyze the strategy process, specifically the strategy/execution debate, from the perspective of hierarchy, and contrast the hierarchical mode – where top management dominates by separating strategy/formulation and execution – with three alternative modes where the power circuits of strategy extend beyond the managerial elite and are shared by several strategic agents. These three possibilities are: (1) the porous hierarchical mode, in which the hierarchs/higher-ups transfer part of the power for shaping and informing the strategy to the base of the organization; (2) the distributed mode, in which the hierarchs have no direct influence but rather indirect moral authority over execution, and (3) the strategy as simple rules mode, in which strategy/execution is taken as a single iterative process where strategy evolves on the basis of a minimal structure that facilitates strategic interaction and prevents hierarchical control from stifling adaptation.

Keywords: Hierarchy; Strategy; Execution; Simple rules (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eurman:v:29:y:2011:i:6:p:491-503

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DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2011.06.002

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