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Seven management follies that threaten strategic success
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Seven management follies that threaten strategic success

V.K. Narayanan and Liam Fahey
Strategy & leadership, v 41(4), pp 24-29
28 Jun 2013
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-04-2013-0022

Abstract

Strategy diagnosis Strategy process Strategy implementation Strategy assumptions Strategy formulation Strategy communication Management strategy Corporate strategy
Purpose - The objective of the paper is to summarize major faults in the process that later lead to strategy failures. These faults, or follies as the authors term them, infect all stages of the strategy process and can be ameliorated through careful managerial attention and action.Design methodology approach - These follies are interconnected, one building on another, but for the sake of exposition the authors treat them separately. They identify seven managerial follies dealing with purview, diagnosis, presumptions, direction, implementation, one-way communication and willful blindness.Findings - The authors describe and illustrate the follies with real life examples and argue that these follies can be ameliorated by habits of thought and institution of organizational routines, both levers that can be employed by executives.Practical implications - Based on the authors' extensive experience, strategic failures are preventable if one avoids the seven follies. To kick start recognition and treatment of the follies, they summarize a set of questions to keep in mind as managers craft strategies.Originality value - For each folly, they outline how clear and specific habits of thought and organizational routines can mitigate the potential disastrous consequences of the folly.

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