Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution
Business leaders can’t develop and execute effective strategy without first gathering the right information, says Harvard Business School professor Robert Simons. In his new book, Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution, Simons explains how managers can identify holes in their planning processes and make smart choices. Here’s an excerpt outlining the seven questions every manager should ask.
Content: Article | Author: Robert Simons | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Management, Strategy
Levers of Control: How Managers Use Innovative Control Systems to Drive Strategic Renewal
Based on a ten-year examination of control systems in over 50 U.S. businesses, this book broadens the definition of control and establishes a critical bridge between the disciplines of strategy and accounting and control. In addition to the more traditional diagnostic control systems, Simons identifies three new control systems that allow strategic change: belief systems that communicate core values and provide inspiration and direction, boundary … [ Read more ]
Content: Book | Author: Robert Simons | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior
Levers of Organization Design: How Managers Use Accountability Systems For Greater Performance And Commitment
The design of an organisation – the accountability system that defines roles, rights, and responsibilities throughout the firm – has a direct impact on the performance of every employee. Yet few leaders devote focused attention to how this design is chosen, implemented, and adjusted over time. Robert Simons argues that by viewing design as a powerful and proactive management lever – rather than an inevitable … [ Read more ]
Content: Book | Author: Robert Simons | Subject: Organizational Behavior
Tuning Jobs to Fit Your Company
In a recent Harvard Business Review article, professor Robert Simons wrote about how organizations can design jobs for maximum performance. In this excerpt, Simons discusses what he terms the four basic “spans” of a job-control, accountability, influence, and support-and how managers can adjust those spans as if on sliders to make employees more effective.
Content: Article | Author: Robert Simons | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subject: Management
Memo to: CEOs
Business is at a crossroads. Scandal and recession have cast a pall on the way CEOs go about leading their companies. Three distinguished professors send this memo — Five Half-truths of Business — as a wake-up call.
The five:
1. We’re only in it for ourselves
2. Corporations exist to maximize shareholder value
3. Companies need CEOs who are heroic leaders
4. Companies need to be lean … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Henry Mintzberg, Kunal Basu, Robert Simons | Source: Fast Company | Subject: Trends / Analysis