Strategology

The foundation of the Configuration School is based on the idea of ‘all of the above’. There are two main parts- the configurations and the transformations. It takes into account all of the aspect of strategy that we have talked about thus far, puts them all together, and then creates an entirely new school of thought.

The leading proponents of the model are Mintzberg, Miller, Steinberg, Miles and Snow, McKinsey, Tichy and Sherman, and Baden-Fuller and Stopford.

The basic models of the school are:

Configuration of structure and power

• Entrepreneurial organization
• Machine organization
• Professional organization
• Adhocracy organization
• Diversified organization
• Political organization
• Missionary organization

Types of stages

• Stage of development
• Stage of stability
• Stage of adaptation
• Stage of struggle
• Stage of revolution

Four main patterns

• Periodic bumps
• Oscillating shifts
• Life cycles
• Regular progress

The premises of this model are as follows:

• Most of the time, an organization can be described in terms of some kind of stable configuration of its characteristics: for a period of time, it adopts a particular form of structure 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 processes of transformation- a quantum leap to another configuration
• These successive states of configuration and periods of transformation may order themselves over time into pattern 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
• The resulting strategies take the form of plans or patterns, positions or perspectives.

A criticism of this school is that organizations come in “many shades of gray and not just black and white!”

Contributions of this school is that an organization can be described in terms of some stable configuration of its characteristics, which it adopts for a 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 periods of transformation. The way of strategy formation must adapt to its own time and context, while it takes one or more of the ten mentioned forms. Therefore strategy formation itself has configurations.