Group Summary of the Configuration School

February 18, 2010

Group Summary of the Configuration School

What is the foundation upon which the model is built? Strategy formation is a process of transforming the organization from one type of decision-making structure into another.

Who are the leading proponents of the model? A.D. Chandler, McGrill University Group, R.E. Milles & C.C. Snow

What is the basic model? This school sees strategy formation as a process transformation

What are the premises of the model? most of the time, an organization can be described in terms of some kind of stable configuration of its characteristics:  for a distinguishable period of time, it adopts a particular form of structures matched to a particular type of context which causes it to engage in particular behaviors that give rise to a particular set of strategies these periods of stability are interrupted occasionally by some process of transformation – quantum leap to another configuration these successive states of configuration and periods of transformation may order themselves over time into patterned sequences, for example describing life cycles of organizations the key to strategic management, therefore, is to sustain stability or at least adaptable strategic change most of the time, but periodically to recognize the need for transformation and be able to manage that disruptive process without destroying the organization. accordingly, the process of strategy making can be one of conceptual designing or formal planning, systematic analyzing or leadership visioning, cooperative learning or competitive politicking, focusing on individual cognition, collective socialization, or simple response to the forces of the environment; but each must be found at its own time and in its own context the resulting strategies take the form of plans or patterns, positions or perspectives, or else plays, but again, each for its own time and matched to its own situation

What are the criticisms of the model? Polarized between two approaches favoring either radical or incremental change.  Pattern is in the eye of the beholder.  If you describe the reality by using configurations, you are distorting the reality in order to explain it.

What are the major contributions of the model to the field? Strategy organizational shape are closely integrated and should be reconciled.  An organization can be described in terms of some stable configuration of its characteristics, which it adopts for period of time in a particular type of context.  This causes it to behave in particular ways, that give rise to a particular set of strategies.  The periods of stability are interrupted occasionally by some process of transformation.

Permalink