Good Execution of Poor Strategy can Leads to Better Results

Execution is critical to success and, represents a disciplined process that allows an organization

to take a strategy and make it work in order to achieve its objectives Hrebiniak (Strategy:

Execution is key). Managers should, therefore, strive to understand the cultures of their

organizations and the impact this will have on the successful execution of strategy. An

organization can only achieve better results when managers align the organizational culture to

strategy, build distinctive competencies and assemble a management team.

Many organizations spend valuable time and effort formulating the ideal strategies, which

will eventually fail if adequate time is not given to effectively execute those strategies. West,

Ford and Ibraham, in their research supports why effective execution can bring good results even

when the formulated strategy is bad. They note that good execution warns leaders of impending

failure, giving them enough time to reject the poor strategies and possibly search for better ones,

as well as make better use of existing good strategies that lead to short-term success (Strategic

Marketing).

Puranam opined that in todays marketplace, businesses can reap success, once their

leaders effectively incorporate all the stakeholders in formulating the policies, and procedures

that help a company operate according to its mission statement and achieve its short-term and

long-term goals (Strategy & Organization Design). He warns that leaders should leave no

space between formulating the strategies and executing them. This he said requires them to be

very clear about the few capabilities that will set them apart from their competitors and build a

strategy on those strengths. Then, the most important success factor he stressed in executing the

strategy is to engage everyone in developing or enhancing those capabilities providing focus and
joint purpose. Companies that arent focused on the few capabilities that differentiate them in the

market place are all too often trying to be good at many things and end up being great at nothing.

The business execution plan said Hrebiniak must be communicated to and understood by

the entire organization to ensure that everyone will be able to carry out the directives needed to

meet and exceed the companys goals and objectives. He cautioned leaders to assign specific

responsibilities with given deadlines to each participating employee to ensure that everyone will

complete them at the same time. Incorporating the effort of the entire company in strategy

execution as much as they were engaged in the strategic plan will lead to better result he said.

When leaders empower employees to make decisions based on execution, they need to

support and encourage them in making the necessary changes to the original strategy in order to

bring good results for the companies (Puranam). He said that when separation of belief and

action, is frequent in organizations because of delegation, then effective execution of strategy has

benefits beyond the well-known effect of just good strategies. It also enables the discovery of

better strategies by allowing more effective learning from feedback on the value of current

strategies. Puranam also supports his statement by citing the example of Google benefiting from

allowing their employees to spend 20 percent of their time on company-related personal projects,

a policy that led to these new inventions; Google News, AdSense, and Gmail. Business leaders

can use tools such as rewards and incentives to motivate the entire organization, from top

management down to line workers, in order to attract and keep employees committed to

successfully implement the strategic plan.

According to Hrebiniak, the biggest mistakes of leaders is to assume that a really bad or

unsound strategy can be made to work well if it is executed well and a bad strategy can be saved
by working hard at execution. He highlights that the only way that execution brings success is

when a good strategy precedes sound execution. Anything else he said will only lead to

implementation headaches. He also added that strategy execution is a process that demands a

great deal of attention to make it work and the managers who seek a quick solution to execution

will surely fail in attempts at making strategy work.

Strategy formulation and execution are not trivial issues reminds Sherman (Strategy and

Execution). Execution problems can cost the organization dearly. When time and money is

wasted, a company can face serious competitive setbacks because of an inability to respond to

market or customer demands (Hrebiniak). Execution problems must be addressed, but which

ones and in what order? Although strategy formulation is a tough task for any management team,

implementing that strategy throughout the organization is even tougher cites Sherman. He points

out that numerous factors can potentially affect the process by which strategic plans are turned

into organizational action and that successfully implementing any strategic plan starts with

having a very clear vision of what winning looks like for the organization.

Managers instinctively know good execution is important, but too often think of it as only

as good as the strategy it serves. McChesney, Covey and Huling have successfully argued that

by increasing the importance of execution, one will be able to produce extraordinary results (The

4 Disciplines of Execution). It should be considered an adaptation mechanism in and of itself

and not merely a way to bring subordinates into line but an essential tool to help find and fix

flaws within the current strategy and find better ones (Puranam). Research strongly implies that

money going towards improving implementation is not only well-spent by companies as standard

business practice, but it could also be thought of as an investment towards being innovative

(Hrebiniak). The results prove the merits of relentless pursuit of effective implementation,
challenging the assumption that, since no strategy can ever be perfect, efforts to improve the

execution of strategy are futile. Puranam found that, across the range of conditions, it was

generally a good idea to improve the effectiveness of execution even when the strategy chosen

was not necessarily a good one to begin with. In this sense, strategy implementation is indeed

more important than strategy formulation.

Keep in mind that executing a strategic plan requires change (McChesney, Covey and

Huling). In particular, it requires people to think differently about what they know to be true

within the organization they said. Executing a strategic plan they continued is a dynamic process

that requires focused action of everyone involved each and every day. Once leaders are willing to

spend adequate time and effort to match the companys strategic plans to the skills and

competencies of each worker, execution will prove effective they added.

In fact, strategy execution is difficult but worthy of management's attention across all

levels of an organization (Hrebiniak). Part of the difficulty of execution is due to the hurdles or

barriers that have to be overcome. These include the longer time frames needed for execution;

the need for involvement of many people in the execution process; poor or vague strategy;

conflicts with the organizational power structure; poor or inadequate sharing of information; a

lack of understanding of organizational structure, including information sharing and coordination

methods; unclear responsibility and accountability in the execution process; and an inability to

manage change, including cultural change said Puranam (Strategy and Organization Design).
 Works Cited

Hrebiniak, Lawrence G. Got a New Strategy? Dont Forget the Execution Part. Management

July 31, 2013. Web

McChesney, Chris, Covey, Sean and Huling, Jim. The 4 Disciplines of Execution. 2012. Print.

Puranam, Phanish. Strategy & Organization Design at INSEAD June 19, 2014. Web.

Sherman, Jeffery D. Strategy and Execution go Hand in Hand. Financial Post Feb. 17, 2015.

Web.

West, Douglas, Ford, John and Ibrahim, Essam. Strategic Marketing Creating Competitive

Marketing. Third Edition, Oxford University Press, April 2015. Print.