Business Studies

Discussion must be in current APA format and must include a reference list. Reference sample make sure to include DOI-Drollinger, T., Comer, L. B., & Warrington, P. T. (2006). Development and validation of the active empathetic listening scale. Psychology & Marketing, 23(2), 161-180. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20105 There needs to be 2 scholarly references (2017-2022) and 1 biblical references from the King James bible in the paper Minimum of 275 words in the body Minimum of 2 sources from the literature in addition to course texts Current APA format must be used. Content must include: • Summary of the author’s Thread – no less than 150 words • What you agreed with, did not agree with and why – no less than 125 words • Support your factual assertions with citations.
Discussion to Reply to:
Effective Execution, Design / Focus, and Decision Traps

Creating a superior strategy is useless if the strategy is not effectively executed. Effective execution of business strategy requires more than disseminating the strategy and expecting people and processes to fall in line to support the strategy. Effective execution of strategy is another process within the confines of the strategic processes. The following discussion provides insight into the process and effort required to successfully execute the strategy. Additional segments of the discussion compare the concepts of the power of design and the power of focus. Lastly, a discussion on the decision traps is presented.

Process: Effective Execution of Strategy

Organizational leaders expend significant effort to develop strong business strategies. The same level of effort is required to effectively execute that strategy. Extant research and literature documents the fact that ineffective strategy execution often leads to a decrease in the anticipated impact on innovation and a loss of expected advantages (Galpin, 2018). To understand the context of strategy execution, scholars have utilized analogies. An Oxford professor compared strategy execution to climbing Mount Everest, with the point being that success is not contingent upon the path, but on the ability to deal with the conditions of the climb (Galpin, 2018). This context provides an understanding of the nature of the processes that are needed to effectively execute strategy. The execution phase must have measures in place to deal with the conditions that will manifest during the process.

Successful strategy execution is not an exact science, however, there is documented evidence of common practices that should be present to successfully execute strategy. Gamble et al. (2021) discussed the following eight managerial tasks that should be utilized for incorporation into the execution plan that includes:

the prioritization of building an organization that is capable of effectively executing the strategy by focusing on staffing, acquiring and developing strategy-supportive resources and capabilities, and establishing an organizational structure and work system that supports the strategy,
appropriately allocating resources,
ensuring organizational policies and procedures are initiated that support successful strategy execution,
striving for continuous process improvement by adopting processes that support the goals, such as Six Sigma,
instantiating information systems and operating systems that support strategic components,
utilizing reward programs that incentivize and motivate the workforce to contribute to accomplishing the strategic mission,
focusing on building a culture that supports successful strategy execution, and
leading the strategy execution.
While all aspects discussed are important to the successful execution of strategy, the last task is of particular interest. The importance of effective leadership cannot be understated. While it is beyond the scope of this discussion to delve deeper into this area, it is worth highlighting the importance and emphasizing effective leadership as a critical component to success.

Strategic Thinking: Power of Design vs Power of Focus

A good strategy can be a complex concept to understand as there are many contributors to what comprises a good strategy. Rumelt (2017) stated that the ability to leverage power is a key to good strategy. There are many sources of power that an organization can leverage. Design is a source of power that can be leveraged and encompasses “the configuration of resources and actions that yields an advantage in a challenging situation” (Rumelt, 2017, p. 134). The design perspective of strategy provides a view that differs from the traditional view of strategy. The traditional perspective says that design is a choice or decision and maintains the burden on leaders, whereas, the design concept says that strategies are constructed, which addresses the issue of mutual adjustment that highlights the need for various elements to be properly arranged and coordinated and can result in significant gains when done right or significant losses when done wrong (Rumelt, 2017). Extant literature contains documented cases where leveraging design has yielded positive results. Leveraging design as a source of power highlights the coordination of resources. This coordination effort also includes the coordination of policies across activities (Rumelt, 2017). The coordination of policies is linked to another area of power that can be leveraged, which is focus. Focus has two main components, which are the coordination of policies that results in additional strength from the effects of the interaction and overlap, and the appropriation of that power toward the right target (Rumelt, 2017). Focus is key to an organization’s overall strategy. According to Rumelt (2017) focus is the core of strategy. Design and focus are two independent sources of strategy, however, there is a link that could be further explored that could provide organizations with more power.

Decision Models: Key Decision Traps to Avoid

The decisions of organizational leaders can impact a lot of people. Given the potential impacts, the pressure to make good decisions could be great. While leaders may attempt to do everything possible to make the right decisions, there may be innate personal factors that impact their decisions. Hammond et al. (1998) discussed the concept of decision traps, which are considered flaws in the way an individual thinks which impacts their decision-making. Despite an individual’s best effort to not allow personal opinions or biases to impact their decisions, there is still a potential risk of that occurring. The following is a brief description of known psychological decision traps:

the anchoring trap is when a disproportionate emphasis is placed on the initial information received on a subject matter,
the status-quo trap is when bias is directed toward decisions that lead to the status quo,
the sunk-cost trap is when decisions are made to justify past choices that may no longer be appropriate for the current scenario,
the confirming-evidence trap is when decision-makers seek information to validate their stance as opposed to seeking truthful, objective information,
the framing trap is when a question is posed, to address the problem, in a manner that can influence the decision,
estimating and forecasting traps are when decisions are based on inaccurate information,
the overconfidence trap is when there is overconfidence in the information utilized as input into the decision,
the prudence trap is the opposite of the overconfidence trap and is exhibited when there is an overcautiousness in reliance on the information that is input into the decision, and
the recallability trap, which is when perspectives are distorted based on past experiences (Hammond et al., 1998).
These decision traps are considered generally applicable to business leaders. However, the impacts of these decision traps can be extremely different between industries. Decision traps can be critical in the context of pediatric cardiology healthcare and can lead to the cost of life (Ryan et al., 2018). Each of these decision traps has different recommended courses of action that can be utilized to prevent the trap. However, scholars do agree on one method that is common across the board, which is awareness (Hammond et al., 1998; Ryan et al., 2018). Knowledge is power and knowing these decision traps exist is a key first step in the mitigation process.

Conclusion

The focus of this discussion was effective strategy execution, the power of design, the power of focus, and decision traps. The analogy of climbing Mount Everest was to demonstrate the context of what it takes to effectively execute strategy. While strategy execution is not an exact process, eight managerial tasks were discussed that were deemed essential to a sound strategy execution plan. The power of design and the power of focus are two distinct sources of power that organizations can leverage as part of their strategy. The power of design focuses on resource coordination and the power focus targets the coordination of policies. There is a link between the two sources in that both consider organizational policy. Decision traps are real threats to organizational leaders. Knowing that these treats exist is an effective first step to mitigating potential impacts.

ANSWER

Discussion Reply 1 770

A strategy that is not effectively executed is useless to the organization. There is no use for a superior strategy if it will not be executed effectively. Leaders spend a lot of time trying to develop a strong business strategy. However, this is not enough, and more has to be done to ensure that the effort used in developing the strategy so the same effort that will be used to execute the strategy (Thompson et al., 2021). There is no one specific determined method of successfully executing a strategy but there are methods that have been identified ins nearing that the strategy is effectively executed. There are managerial tasks that can help in the successful execution of strategy. One way of doing this is building a culture that supports successful strategy execution and leading the strategy execution. Managers are responsible for the office environment. If they create an environment that is suitable for strategy execution, then the strategy will be effectively executed in the company.

I agree that the decisions of the leaders in an organization can impact a lot of people. Leaders are thus, under the pressure to make the right decisions. Due to the pressure to make the right decision, one can find themselves involved in decision traps such as anchoring. It is thus, important for the leaders to be keen to ensure that they are making decisions, not because of the status quo but because it is the right decision. As the bible says in Romans, leaders should be led by the spirit of God in making decisions to discern what is right for their followers. If leaders have discernment, they will make the right decisions which will be effective in executing strategy.

References

King James Bible

Thompson, A. A., Strickland, A. J., & Gamble, J. E. (2021). Crafting and executing strategy. McGraw-Hill US Higher Ed USE.