2. The two essentials of
power are motive and
resource. The two are
interrelated. Lacking
motive [aspirations or
goals], resource
diminishes; lacking
resources, motives
idle. Lacking either
one, power collapses.‖
o James MacGregor
Burns, Leadership,
1978, p. 12.
Bryson, 2011
3. o Scarce, valuable, and
imperfectly imitable
resources are the only
factors capable of
creating sustained
performance
differences among
competing firms, and
these resources
should figure
prominently in
strategy making
(Kraatz and Zajac,
2001, p. 623).‖
Bryson, 2011
4. o Critical success o Core competency
factors (CSF’s) o Core distinctive
o Resources competency
o Competencies – o Threshold
usually arise Competencies
through learning by o Livelihood scheme – the
doing way in which distinctive
o Distinctive competencies are linked
competencies – may to and support achieving
arise through linked the aspirations of a
competencies public organization
Bryson, 2011
5. Creating Public Value, Fulfilling
Mission and/or
Meeting Mandates
Producing
Stakeholder Value
Producing the Identity or
Character of the
Organization
Distinctive System of
Goals/Aspirations
Core Distinctive Competencies
Distinctive Competencies
Summarizing the Livelihood Scheme
Bryson, 2011
6. o Organizational
culture is the glue
that holds inputs,
processes and
outputs together,
affecting how
strategic issues are
framed and placed
on the agenda and
addressed.
Bryson, 2011
7. 1. Addressing the need for
change.
2. Creating a process to develop
Mission, Vision, Values into
practice.
3. Producing programs, products
and services.
4. Controlling strategy delivery in
the present.
5. Developing future capabilities.
6. Maintaining & building
stakeholder relations.
Bryson, 2011
8. 1. Overarching
strategy
2. Subunit strategies
(divisions,
departments, units)
3. Program, service
or business
process strategies
4. Functional
strategies
(financial, IT, etc).
Bryson, 2011
9. Goal Tactical
Breakthrough
focus vital to Key
realizing the
organization’s Strategy
vision What it takes to
achieve the goal Initiative
A strategy to
accomplish the Tactic
goal embodied in A strategy to
the previous-level accomplish the goal
key strategy embodied in the
previous-level Action
initiative A strategy to
Strategic accomplish the goal
embodied in the
previous-level tactic
Bryson, 2011
11. o They strongly influence:
o How people interpret their
interests
o How people assess costs
and benefits of proposed
strategies
o The nature of winning and
losing arguments
o Much of the front end of a
strategic planning process is
designed to keep people from
jumping to conclusions about
what the issues are.
Bryson, 2011
12. o Via ―normal‖
discourse
o Direct approach
o Goals approach
o Vision of success
approach
o Indirect approach
o Oval mapping
o Tensions approach
o Systems analysis
o Alignment approach
Bryson, 2011
13. o Tensions arise out of:
o Preservation or tradition
o Innovation and change
o Human resources, and
especially equity concerns
o Productivity improvement
o Any issues should be
tested against the
different tensions
separately and in
combination in order to
find the best way to
frame the issue
Bryson, 2011
14. o Clarify related strengths and
distinctive competencies
o Articulate related weaknesses
o Be clear about opportunities
o Understand the challenges or
threats involved
o Explore the links to mission
and mandates
o Understand the consequences
of not addressing the issues
Bryson, 2011
15. o Build on strengths --
and especially
―distinctive
competencies‖
o Take advantage of
opportunities
o Minimize or
overcome weaknesses
and challenges or
threats
o Further the mission
o Meet the mandates
o Create public value
Bryson, 2011
17. Agreed
Mission
Agreed
Goals and
Not-goals
Strategies
Competencies
and Distinctive
Competencies Actions
Bryson, 2011
18. o Purposes come in hierarchies
o One of the most important
management processes of all is to:
o Start with a purpose
o Engage in a ―purpose expansion‖
o Choose the purpose that fits your
new sense of purpose
o Let that purpose be your guide
o Always keep asking yourself,
―What is our real purpose here?‖
o Change your purpose when that
is the wise thing to do
Bryson, 2011
19. o Developmental o Non-Developmental
Issues: Issues:
o Involve tensions that o Have less ambiguity
pull the organization in o Do not require major
different directions repositioning in terms
o Require substantial of the core business,
repositioning in terms basic strategies, and/or
of the core business, key practices
basic strategies, and/or o Can be addressed
key practices based on decision
o Require a vision that premises that may be
must be created that inferred from much of
shows what is wanted current practice
Bryson, 2011
20. o Failures occur because of:
o Premature commitments
o Poor investments
o Failure-prone practices
o Successes occur when:
o The claims of key stakeholders
are reconciled
o Clear directions are set
o Many options are considered
and evaluated
o Implementation is planned
based on careful consideration
of social and political forces
and participation of key actors
Source: Paul Nutt, Why Decisions Fail, Berrett-Koehler, 2002.
Bryson, 2011
21. Developmental For the System:
Government
Where there is more
Inter-org. networks
need for knowledge Vision
Governing boards
exploration and
loose coupling Senior staff
Citizens
For an
organization:
Governing boards
Senior staff Goals
The Consultation
groups
Issues
Non-
Strategic planning Strategies
Developmental team
Where there is more
need is for knowledge Operations team
Operations
exploitation and tight
coupling
Bryson, 2011
22. Changing the architecture:
New Development in • New concepts
Add Areas of Vision and • Radical new technologies
Goals • Changes in basic
stakeholders
Improvements within the
existing architecture:
Refinement of Existing •Strategic refinement
• Process management
Keep Work
• Process improvement
The “Stop Agenda”:
• Celebrating success and
Drop exiting with grace
De-Development
• Humane and thoughtful
retraining, reassignment, or
outplacement
Bryson, 2011
23. o Well-led and managed
organizations are good at
dealing with both
developmental and non-
developmental issues
o Good leadership at all levels
is key, with appropriate
attention given to:
o Vision and goals
o Strategy formulation
o Strategic programming
o Process management and
process improvement
Bryson, 2011
24. o Strategic issue identification is the heart of
the strategic planning process
o Remember: Issues (and ideas) basically
drive politics
o How you identify strategic issues is not as
important as how well you have identified
them and figured out who the right people
are to address them
o Really pay attention to articulating what the
existing (implicit or explicit) livelihood
scheme is as a prelude to perhaps developing
a new one
Bryson, 2011
25. Nothing stops an
organization faster
than people who
believe that the way
you worked yesterday
is the best way to work
tomorrow.
— Jon Madonna
Former CEO KMPG
CEO of Digital Think
Bryson, 2011
26. John M. Bryson, Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit
Organizations, 3rd Edition (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004)
John M. Bryson, ―What To Do When Stakeholders Matter,‖ Public
Management Review, 6(1), 2004, pp. 21-53.
John M. Bryson, Fran Ackermann, and Colin Eden, ―Putting the Resource-
Based View of Strategy and Distinctive Competencies to Work in
Public Organizations,‖ Public Administration Review, 2007, 67, 701-
717.
John M. Bryson and Farnum K. Alston, Creating and Implementing Your
Strategic Plan, 2nd Edition (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004)
Barbara C. Crosby and John M. Bryson, Leadership for the Common Good,
2nd Edition (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005)
Colin Eden and Fran Ackermann, Making Strategy (Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage, 1998)
Gerald Nadler and Shozo Hibino, Breakthrough Thinking, 1998.
Bryson, 2011
Editor's Notes
Pulitzer prize winner, historian, political scientist and leadership authority James MacGregor Burns Transformational Leadership Theory appeals to the "high road" in developing social values and individual purpose. His 1978 work published by Harper and Row is a classic and excellent read, from which we get this direct quote.
When analyzing history, the current environments in which our organizations operate, and visioning a future, we must have a clear understanding of a firm’s resources. Although you might not know it from how many American businesses in particular operate, the single most important resource in every organization is the people.The Resource Based View, or RBV is an important theoretical underpinning, at least implicitly, of the most widely used public strategic management models.But most public strategic management models do not show how key resources should link directly to achieving organizational goals or aspirations – that is, they do not show how to create a “livelihood scheme.”
Bryson uses the term Livelihood Scheme, which is simply another variation of a business model of how the organization operates. Resource C in the book outlines how to develop a livelihood scheme.Critical success factors are the actions an organization must do, criteria they must meet, or performance levels that must be achieved to meet stakeholder needs. In a simple sense resources are all of the inputs needed to produce the outcome. In a broader sense it goes beyond time, talent and treasure, and must include things like physical structures, organizational design and processes. You should understand competencies, the abilities to perform actions and processes the organization can manage which lead to the desired outcomes. Distinctive competencies lead to competitive advantage, and particularly in a knowledge society is why people are the most important resource in the organization. In developing a strategic plan, understanding the core competency of the organization is required in meeting objectives. Core distinctive competency helps add value over competitors. Threshold competencies are skill sets that must be present for organizational survival, such as accounting, financial management, human resources and IT, though depending on the size of the organization many of those competencies are outsourced these days.
As with anything a good graphic is better than pages of text and this one comes directly from Bryson. And by undertaking this kind of organizational review we have a better change of creating a strategic plan, and managing strategically to achieve our stated objectives. Additionally we may find areas of expertise that we’re missing and that we need to develop to be relevant as an organization in the not too distant future.
Strategic Issues are the fundamental policy choices or challenges facing the organization.They arise on the organization’s boundaries with its environment. They are something the organization can do something about, although it may not be easyThey typically are:Boundary crossingResource intensivePolitically loadedIrreversible Highly consequential
My personal experience with many nonprofit organizations is that they consider their primary stakeholder to be the clients whom they serve. In reality the most important “client” for any organization is the one who provides the funding. So in a nonprofit that would be the donors, because without their funding the organization ceases to exist. In a for-profit world it’s the customers who purchase the products and services. And in a global economy regardless of market size very few organizations are the sole provider of a product or service as we have many more competitors a buyer can chose from.
From the work by Bryson, as we arrive at an overarching organizational strategy, there must be subunit strategies below for each department or unit, which then lead the program, product or services offered into the marketplace, and the internal functional strategies which enable the organization to operate. We’ve talked about this previously, but depending on the model you’re using there are varying terms that describe the same thing essentially. So you have to make sure that within your team everyone holds the same meanings whether you’re discussing goals, strategies, objectives, tactics, action plans or any of a variety of strategic planning terms.
From both week one in class, and from your discussion thread on various strategic planning models you should have come to the understanding that there are various terms used by different experts. Clarifying what these terms mean to you, and more importantly to those you’re working with is key to being on the same page. This version is commonly referred to as a combination of Hoshin Kanri and Balanced Scorecard. As Bryson discusses, strategies are not tactics. Tactics are short term adaptive actions and reactions used to accomplish limited objectives. Strategies provide a continuing basis for ordering the adaptations to more broadly conceived purposes.
Creating a strategic plan, without putting measurements in place is a complete waste of time. Within the overriding goal there must be a measure of success. If we choose too many strategies which lead us towards the goal, we won’t be able to focus enough on any one objective and something will fall through the cracks leading to disappointment and failure. We’ve previously talked about setting up small wins, places that accomplishment can be celebrated. So as we move strategies into the tactical or actions level we need to set targets that can be measured. Otherwise how do we know we’ve arrived at our objective?
How we bring the team, or the entire organization together are through the discussion and communication of issues and ideas that reach to the heart of each participant in some way. As all stakeholders don’t have identical needs or worldviews, this requires leadership to understand what each level of stakeholder requires. And what is universal among stakeholder groups. This isn’t to say that you’re going to try to be all things to all people, because that’s a clear recipe for failure.Bryson suggests framing strategic issues as questions, in part because if there isn’t anything we can do about the issue, then it’s not really strategic for our organization. Secondly, an effective strategic plan has to have action, or activities or it’s a waste of time. So framing issues as a questions allows us to better apply tactics that answer the question. Thirdly, it helps us focus the organization on what we can control and do something about. If you’ve looked at funnel theory previously in any of your classes, we continue to narrow down to a point where we make choices about the activities that will lead us to accomplishing our mission and vision.
Strategic issues sometimes are discussed during the normal course of our daily activities in the organization, which is another reason why a strategic plan should be a living, breathing document. Particularly in a volatile global economy or political marketplace where adaptability and the need to change course can happen abruptly. The direct approach is appropriate when there is a lack of clarity about goals and vision. The goals approach is more traditional, and once goals and objectives have been set then the issues arise in discussion of how to meet those goals. In some cases we’ll have a prior strategic plan with a balanced scorecard approach to what we’ve been measuring and so can adjust for the new direction. If we have a clear vision of success for what the organization will look like in the future, then the issues will arise out getting from where we are now, to fulfilling that vision.The indirect approach most often comes about when members of the team, and or leadership, are unclear about direction beyond knowing that some level of change is needed. Oval Mapping, or the Action Oriented Strategy mapping approach applies key words and arrow diagrams to help visualize the cause and effect or influence relationships that to strategic issues. The tensions approach we’ll discuss further in a moment. The systems analysis approach is highly complex and requires expertise in the field as well as longer meeting and planning time. And finally from this Bryson list, the alignment approach simply helps clarify where gaps and conflicts exist between where we want to be and how we operate now. Rummler and Brache’s Improving Performance (Jossey-Bass, 1995) is an excellent guide for mapping out the white spaces in or organizations that prevent effective flow of information and resources across the firm.
How often have we heard the phrase “but that’s not how we do it here,” or “this is how we’ve operated for more than 20 years,”. That’s why the old rule of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is a crutch that inhibits organizational change and growth. More appropriately, as multiple researchers have shown, “First break all the rules,” as in book subtitle from the 12 rules of management from Gallup which we’ve discussed in previous classes.
Depending on the size of the organization and the number of participants on the planning team, you’re bound to have some conflict in these discussions. But if you remember our previous discussions from Heifetz and Bryson, constructive conflict is absolutely necessary for organizational growth and relationship development.
The appreciative inquiry approach to organizational change, developed by David Cooperrider, advises focusing on what’s working within the organization, as opposed to many others who want to focus on what’s not working. Bryson’s advising us to create effective strategies that (slide). And in particular creating value has to be the benchmark. If we’re not creating value for our customers, our community, our stakeholders, then what’s the point?
Whatever issues the organization faces are in some ways related to each other. This issue map ties back to the Penndot Case Study we looked at in week 1. Analyzing the issues will help you understand which issues are crucial. It will also help you figure out where to start and begin to develop effective strategies for the organization
Building our strategies off our competencies and distinct competencies builds value creation through our actions towards achieving our mission.
Again from the Department of why as Daniel Pink would say, determining the purpose and continually asking why are we doing this, why would we do that helps focus organizational strategies in ways that will appeal to the majority of stakeholders.
As we’re developing strategies and clarifying our purposes, the internal environmental scan should reveal whether we’re dealing with development or non-developmental issues.
The failures involve not heading in the right direction They typically occur when the environment is misread They also can occur when process management and process improvement activities extend beyond their area of effectiveness – driving out loose coupling and knowledge exploration in the interests of tight coupling and knowledge exploitation