About Strategy Structure Fit

The three chosen pieces seek to forge a solid and unbreakable bond between structure and strategy. According to the initial article by Milgrom and Roberts (1995), the study offers an analysis and technique that seeks to discover the difficulties that are causing the connection between strategy and structure to be incongruent and align problems and ideals that will make it so. This article was chosen because it analyzes several systems using a systematic way before drawing a conclusion. As a result, this study will offer more precise information. Parthasarthy and Prakash S (1993) found a gap in earlier research on structure and strategy in their second piece. It went ahead and looked into the relationship between flexible automation technology, strategy and structure and ways these factors affect performance of an organization. This article was selected because it did an analysis on various strategies and structures available and how these strategies had an effect on performance. The third article by Wasserman (2008), aims at identifying the latest strategies in the market and define the link between organization structure and the new strategies. This article was chosen because it highlights how the strategy and structure fit has a big impact on performance and also because it does look into the factors affecting the linkage between structure and strategy.

How strategy and structure are related.

According to Chandler (1962), a change in structure was initiated by a change in strategy which indicates a strong linkage between strategy and structure. A strong linkage between strategy and structure yield to a good performance in an organization (Wasserman, 2008). There needs to be a clear methodology and approach which need to be undertaken so as to align ideas well into systems which encourage and facilitate linkage between strategy and structure (Milgrom and Roberts, 1995).

An example of a real world organization that has a strong strategy-structure alignment is McDonalds’. This has been one of the leading and most successful restaurant chains in the market. One of the main reasons of its success is its strategy and structure to develop and implement best practices in the food industry globally. The key characteristics of the organization are attention towards developing clear strategy, availability and maintenance of skilled personnel with teamwork, development of clear communication and coordination among all departments. McDonalds’ have placed an emphasis on the human resource as this is their main strength in the accomplishment of its goals and ensuring alignment of strategy and structure.

References

Chandler, Alfred Dupont. (1962). Strategy and structure: Chapters in the history of the industrial enterprise (MIT Press, Cambridge MA).

Paul Milgrom, John Roberts. (1995). Complementarities and fit Strategy, structure, and organizational change in manufacturing. Journal of Accounting and Economics 19 (1995) 179 -208.

Raghavan Parthasarthy, Prakash Sethi S. (1993) Relating strategy and structure to flexible automation: a test of fit and performance implications. Strategic Management Journal (1986-1998); Oct 1993; 14, 7; ProQuest Central. pg. 529

Wasserman, Noam. (Mar/Apr 2008). Revisiting the Strategy, Structure, and Performance Paradigm: The Case of Venture Capital. Organization Science; Mar/Apr 2008; 19, 2; ProQuest Central. pg. 241