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Beyond addiction: Hierarchy and other ways of getting strategy done

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  • Cunha, Miguel Pina e
  • Rego, Arménio
  • Clegg, Stewart

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.

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  • Cunha, Miguel Pina e & Rego, Arménio & Clegg, Stewart, 2011. "Beyond addiction: Hierarchy and other ways of getting strategy done," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 491-503.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:29:y:2011:i:6:p:491-503
    DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2011.06.002
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    Cited by:

    1. Luigi Mosca & Martina Gianecchini & Diego Campagnolo, 2021. "Organizational life cycle models: a design perspective," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 10(1), pages 3-18, March.
    2. Ambituuni, Ambisisi & Azizsafaei, Farzaneh & Keegan, Anne, 2021. "HRM operational models and practices to enable strategic agility in PBOs: Managing paradoxical tensions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 170-182.
    3. A. Georges L. Romme, 2019. "Climbing up and down the hierarchy of accountability: implications for organization design," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Accard, Philippe, 2015. "Complex hierarchy: The strategic advantages of a trade-off between hierarchical supervision and self-organizing," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 89-103.

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