Deck 11: Organising for Success

Question 1

A realised strategy can be described as follows:

A) A strategy which has been well communicated to all employees
B) A strategy actually being followed by an organisation in practice which is always the same as the intended strategy
C) A strategy actually being followed by an organisation in practice which may differ from the intended strategy
D) An expression of desired strategic direction deliberately formulated or planned by managers

Answer 1

C

Question 2

One of the following writers is not a key contributor to the literature on the emergent approach to strategy. Who is he?

A) James Quinn
B) Henry Mintzberg
C) Michael Porter
D) Robert Burgelman

Answer 2

C

Question 3

In what two ways does a planning system have a psychological role in strategic planning?

A) By clarifying the links between work and the work- life balance
B) By providing a sense of security and logic for the organisation
C) By involving people and thus helping to create ownership
D) By making it likely that managers will confuse strategy with plans

Answer 3

B, C

Question 4

Which two of the following are not ways in which strategy may be seen as the deliberate intention of the leader?

A) Strategy leadership as emergent
B) Strategy leadership as vision
C) Strategy leadership as command
D) Strategy leadership as design
E) Strategy leadership as bottom- up

Question 5

Which strategy planning configuration is most likely to be used by organisations operating in stable markets?

A) Imposed political
B) Incremental cultural
C) Planned incrementalism
D) Incremental political

Question 6

What two reasons are given by RAP theorists to explain why it is unrealistic to determine strategy in a top- down, detailed manner across an organisation?

A) Employees are likely to follow all instructions and procedures exactly.
B) Organisations operate in a changing and uncertain environment.
C) External stakeholders will feel that they have not been consulted.
D) There are limits to the cognitive skills of managers to deal with this approach.

Question 7

Which of the following describes strategic drift?

A) Progressive failure of systems and processes such that they no longer fulfil their original function
B) Progressive failure of strategies to address the strategic position of the organisation
C) Progressive failure of strategies to implement new products in new markets
D) Progressive failure of the management to provide the performance expected by shareholders

Question 8

Which view of strategic development considers that strategies develop as the outcome of processes or bargaining and negotiation among powerful internal or external interest groups?

A) Incremental
B) Political
C) Emergent
D) Resource allocation

Question 9

Which researcher developed the theory of logical incrementalism?

A) Quinn
B) Mintzberg
C) Burgelman
D) Porter

Question 10

Which strategy planning configuration has standardised planning procedures and is unlikely to be dominated by certain individuals?

A) Imposed political
B) Incremental political
C) Incremental cultural
D) Planned incrementalism

Question 11

In dynamic conditions which of the following do managers need to consider?

A) The present
B) The past
C) The status quo
D) The future

Question 12

Which three of the following are most likely to affect people's view of strategic problems?

A) Overall organisational culture
B) Party- political allegiance
C) Personal experience
D) Competition for resources

Question 13

Which of the following is not a reason why organisations may follow a logical incrementalism approach?

A) Because the environment is uncertain
B) Because managers have a generalised rather than specific view of strategy
C) Because it allows the possibility of divestment in the future
D) Because managers want to develop a safe, secure, core business and then experiment

Question 14

Which strategy planning configuration tends to involve bargaining among conflicting interest groups, gradual adjustments to strategy, well- defined procedures and deliberate management intent?

A) Incremental cultural
B) Planned incrementalism
C) Radical political
D) Imposed political

Question 15

Which of the following is not a characteristic of logical incrementalism?

A) Step- by- step, small- scale change
B) Ongoing adjustment of strategy
C) Constant environmental scanning
D) Deliberate formulation of strategic directions by managers

Question 16

In what ways could managers identify what they see as the imposition of strategy by powerful, external stakeholders? Choose all that apply.

A) From their own design of strategy for those stakeholders
B) Through rational/analytical processes of analysis and evaluation
C) Through identifying emergent trends within the organisation
D) From design of the organisation's vision and mission

Question 17

Which of the following is least likely to affect people's view of strategic problems?

A) Access to information
B) Influence of stakeholders on the person's area of responsibility
C) Number of strategies being considered
D) Overall organisational culture

Question 18

Which two of the following are advantages of strategy leadership as command?

A) Strategies may be irrelevant.
B) Strategy adaptation can be rapid.
C) Strategies may quirky and thus difficult to imitate.
D) Strategies can be highly risky.

Question 19

Which configuration is used when a strategy planning process results from changes planned by managers in response to changes in government legislation.

A) Incremental cultural
B) Planned incrementalism
C) Incremental political
D) Imposed political

Question 20

Which strategy planning configuration is most likely to be used by organisations operating in a new and growing market?

A) Incremental cultural
B) Imposed political
C) Planned incrementalism
D) Imposed cultural

Question 21

Which of these is not important for organisations in dynamic environments?

A) Experience and learning
B) Scenario planning
C) Historical analysis
D) Flexibility

Question 22

Processes of strategy development are likely to remain very similar over time even if the context differs.

Question 23

The political view of strategy development involves assessing the major political drivers of change in the macroenvironment.

Question 24

Traditionally organisations have been seen as hierarchies and bureaucracies set up to achieve order and maintain control; as structures built for dynamic conditions of change, not for stability.

Question 25

In what three ways does a planning system facilitate converting an intended strategy into organisational action?

A) By coordinating resources required to put strategy into effect
B) By communicating intended strategy from the centre to operating units
C) By ensuring that only experienced managers are involved in the process
D) By providing agreed objectives or strategic milestones
E) By providing a clear, authoritarian approach to planning

Question 26

Which of the following is not one of the four main dangers that Mintzberg identifies in formal systems of strategic planning?

A) Confusing strategy with the plan
B) Lack of leadership
C) Becoming detached from reality
D) Lack of ownership
E) Dampening of innovation

Question 27

Which of the following is not a typical context for imposed political strategy development?

A) Public sector organisations
B) Declining and hostile environments
C) New and growing markets
D) Larger manufacturing organisations

Question 28

Which strategy planning configuration is most likely to be used by a public sector organisation operating in an unstable and hostile environment?

A) Imposed political
B) Incremental cultural
C) Planned incrementalism
D) Incremental political

Question 29

In a learning organisation information flows and relationships between people are primarily vertical.

Question 30

What term is used for the deliberate development of strategy by experimentation and learning from partial commitments?

A) Coordinated experimentalism
B) Applied strategy
C) Emergent strategy
D) Logical incrementalism

Question 31

Which of the following does not characterise a learning organisation?

A) Continual regeneration from the variety of knowledge, experience and skills in
B) Utilising the collective knowledge of the organisation
C) Not sharing knowledge between different divisions
D) Experimentation

Question 32

Which of the following is not one of the basic tenets of organisational learning?

A) Multiple processes of strategy development are of value.
B) Experimentation is frowned upon.
C) Organisations need to be pluralistic.
D) Experimentation is the norm.

Question 33

Which of the following are not necessary for managing strategy development processes?

A) Different processes for different purposes
B) Focus on the most important processes
C) A sophisticated IT system
D) Different strategy development roles at different levels of the organisation

Question 34

Who said: 'The conception of a novel strategy is a creative process (of synthesis), to which there are no formal techniques (analysis)'?

A) Henry Fonda
B) Igor Ansoff
C) Michael Porter
D) Henry Mintzberg

Question 35

A cultural explanation of strategy development is:

A) The outcome of negotiation between powerful internal groups
B) The outcome of an HR programme on managing change
C) The outcome of taken- for- granted assumptions and behaviours
D) Development of strategy by experimentation and learning

Question 36

Which of the following is a basic premise of the rational planning approach to strategy?

A) A bottom- up strategy development process
B) A logical and rational evaluation of data and courses of action
C) Strategy formation precedes implementation.
D) It produces strategies the same as every other organisation's.

Question 37

Which of the following is not a characteristic of a traditional strategic planning system?

A) Taking a longer term view of strategy
B) Providing agreed objectives or strategic milestones for measuring performance
C) Acknowledging the importance of bargaining among powerful interest groups
D) A structured means of analysis and thinking about strategic problems

Question 38

Which of the following is not an example of a process of emergent strategy development?

A) Strategic planning
B) Resource allocation routines
C) Cultural processes
D) Logical incrementalism

Question 39

Which of the following is a basic premise of the emergent approach to strategy?

A) Strategy can process all of the necessary data rationally.
B) Many industries are stable and predictable allowing long terms planning.
C) Strategy development should be top- down.
D) Strategy comes about through everyday routines, activities and processes.

Question 40

Which of the following is not a process of intended strategy development?

A) Strategy workshops
B) Externally imposed strategies
C) Resource allocation routines
D) Strategic planning
E) Strategy consultants

Question 41

A realised strategy is a strategy actually being followed by an organisation in practice which may differ from the intended strategy.

Question 42

The intended strategy approach is also known as the realised strategy approach.

Question 43

Advocates of the learning organisation maintain that the organisation itself knows more than the collective knowledge of all the individuals.

Question 44

Realised strategy is not always the same as intended strategy.

Question 45

The emergent approach to strategy is also referred to as the 'incrementalist' approach.

Question 46

According to research undertaken at Cranfield in the 1990s, senior executives tend to see strategy development more in terms of intended, rational, analytic, planned processes, whereas middle managers see strategy development more as the result of cultural and political processes.

Question 47

Senior executives are more likely than middle managers to see strategy development as a rational, analytic process.

Question 48

Managers in large companies are more likely than those in public sector organisations to see strategy as being externally imposed.

Question 49

It is likely that there will be multiple strategy processes at work in any organisation.

Question 50

The resource allocation process explanation of strategy development is that realised strategies emerge as a result of the ways in which resources are allocated in the organisation.