Company Adrift — Inertia, Organizational Games and Unsure Leaders

Abstract

Only leaders have the right to make key strategic choices. This is a result of their legitimization as representatives of the owners or founders of the organization, as well as from the right to take decisions given to management boards, accompanied by their accountability. Regardless of how much (and how correctly) we underline the creative and important role of an organization’s participants in the development of strategy, especially in modern companies based on knowledge, the fact is that management boards, not employees, are accountable for creating strategy and final choices. Leaders can carry out this task on their own, delegate it toward lower hierarchical levels or toward a dedicated strategy team or unit. They can and should commit participants to processes of gathering information, its interpretation and formulating alternative actions. They can also come to a conclusion that strategy is not needed at all and that it is enough to control costs, keep production and sales process flexible and periodically adjust to changes that are impossible to avoid or neglect. But then again, opting for a lack of strategy is also a key choice.