Module 4: Introduction and Readings

Module 4 Overview

This module focuses on how strategy develops internally, the accumulated effect of sustained action, the relationship between strategy development and outcomes, and the impact of the team process on strategy development.

For the team process you will, in the words of Ron Heifitz, both be on the dance floor and then observe from the balcony.

In the video “Build a Tower, Build a Team,” Tom Wujec shares insights on team dynamics in conjunction with the “marshmallow challenge” and the implications of the team process on strategy development. These insights will be helpful in reflecting on the team assignment in the previous module and completing the Tower and SWOT exercise in this module. The discussion extends the focus on teamwork that you covered in PA613, Organizational Behavior and Management, with a focus on the impact on strategy development, design, and implementation.

This module begins consideration of how support can emerge for developing and implementing strategy. The considerations for developing support also relate to your learning in PA 613, specifically the Bolman and Deal discussion in their book Reframing Organizations, on the political frame in developing constituencies for support, as well as the centrality of negotiations to gain traction.

This module explicitly considers outcomes, how they are measured and the amount of time for achieving them. In Good to Great, Jim Collins says that the agreement on measures for success can take up to two years in the private sector. The discussion about measures of success is as valuable and important as the actual metrics that are ultimately chosen.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this module, you should be able to:

·         Describe the connections between outcome and strategy.

·         Distinguish between internal and external support for strategy.

·         Suggest how to develop support for strategy implementation.

Readings and Videos

Required Reading

·         Good To Great and the Social Sector: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great. 2005. Jim Collins. pp. 25-30. To Access the book go to

https://www.ebooks.com/account/login/

Username:sameeribrahim1@hotmail.com

Password:Lomy@1982

(all document below are attached)

·         Successfully Achieving Goals in Government: An Empirical Analysis. Steven Kelman and Jeff Myers. (2011). pp 235-263.

·         Leadership and Strategy: A Comparison of the Outcomes and Institutional Designs of the Alameda Corridor and Alameda Corridor East Projects. Richard F. Callahan, Mark Pisano, and Alison Linder. (2010). pp 263-287.

·         Zander, R. S., & Zander, B. The Art of Possibility. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press, 2000.  Chapters 7-8.