Management Approaches to Organizational Complexity - 7S

Often, our clients who want to change their company strategy or business process are left asking how "do-able" this is at some point.

The 7S Framework, originally used by McKinsey, is a framework that is used to solve organizational problems and strategy implementation.

The framework consists of the following elements:

1. Strategy
2. Structure
3. Systems
4. Staff
5. Skills
6. Style
7. Superordinate Goals (Shared value)

Strategy Implementation

The value of the 7S framework is that it can be used for "judging the organizational do-ability of strategies." When new strategies are being implemented, the manager should examine and coordinate these seven elements, such that all elements can work together instead of being a burden of strategy implementation.

References

1. Waterman Jr., Robert H., Peters, Thomas J., and Julien R. Phillips. 1980. "STRUCTURE IS NOT ORGANIZATION." Business Horizons 23, no. 3: 14.
2. Waterman Jr., Robert H. 1982. "The Seven Elements of Strategic Fit." Journal of Business Strategy 2, no. 3: 69.