Making Strategy Work: Building Sustainable Growth Capability (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) [Hardcover]

Timothy J. Galpin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787910015 | ISBN-13: 978-0787910013 | Publication Date: October 17, 1997 | Edition: 1

The next-step book for managers who are charged with implementing their company?s strategies.

In this hands-on book, Timothy J. Galpin outlines the steps managers need to take so they can confidently implement corporate strategy within their departments and divisions and throughout their organizations. The author bridges the gap that so often exists between strategy and action, and offers the tools managers need to translate plans into results-oriented strategic change. In addition, this practical book outlines the foundations of strategic planning, presents a conceptual model for making corporate strategy work, and shows how to apply a project perspective to strategy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Galpin has zeroed in on one of the toughest challenges facing business management today: how to implement what has been planned. Making Strategy Work offers practical recommendations for converting plans to practice by focusing on key influence systems." -Len Farano, quality management director, Citibank, N.A.

"Galpin's book is necessary reading for executives aiming their corporations toward successful strategic change. His twelve influence systems identify the core elements of effecting change in today's corporation, and explain the dynamic between management process and employee behavior." -Jess Wilson, director of planning, Gap Inc.

"After many frustrating years of trying to implement strategic change, I finally found, in Tim Galpin's book, a framework that can ensure success. I have already introduced his influence systems into our organization and am confident it will make us more successful in this extremely competitive world." -Jack Beal, human resources vice president, ARCO Products Company

"Tim Galpin's analysis of the need for a systematic, integrated approach to realigning existing organizational influence systems with newly adopted business strategies should be required reading for all corporate executives." -Richard G. Evans, executive vice president, Green Tree Financial Corporation

"In order for strategy to come to life in an organization, the leaders who must make it happen must also create it and take ownership of it. Strategy discussions need to be part of the agenda at monthly staff meetings and the results have to be tied to tangible rewards. Tim Galpin's useful book offers keen insights on how to do just that." -Edna Morris, president, Quincy's Family Steakhouses

From the Inside Flap

Having tightened their belts through one of the most tumultuous business eras in recent history, the lean and mean organizations of the late '90s are again eager to pursue a path toward sustained growth. Predictably, advice on how to go about setting new growth strategies already abounds. But once those strategies are set, the question managers still must answer remains: "How do we make them work?"In this groundbreaking book, author Timothy Galpin comes to the aid of managers at all organizational levels who are faced with the challenge of strategy implementation. He demonstrates how they can?indeed, must?align employees with organizational goals in order to be successful. And he presents a pragmatic, integrated plan of action from which to work?a plan based on cutting-edge research and illustrated with case examples from leading companies such as Sears, Southwest Airlines, Texas Instruments, and AT&T.Here readers will discover the initial steps management should take to define and clarify corporate strategy. They'll find out how they can determine the individual and organizational behaviors and competencies necessary for translating strategy into action. They'll learn how to assess and redesign the twelve company influence systems that create behaviors conducive to successful strategy implementation. What's more, they'll become familiar with the specific actions that lead to measurable, results-oriented strategic change.Complete with checklists, templates, meeting outlines guidebooks for team involvement, Making Strategy Work is every manager's answer to the difficult question of how to implement company strategy at the departmental level and throughout the organization. It is a resource no manager concerned with his or her company's continued growth and success should be without.In this hands-on guide, Timothy Galpin shows managers how to translate plans into action and achieve measurable, results-oriented results. He also outlines the foundations of st

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 234 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (October 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787910015
• ISBN-13: 978-0787910013
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,285,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Wasn't really a strategy book, March 20, 2007

By 

Donna Fitzgerald "Nimble PM" (Kirkland, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making Strategy Work: Building Sustainable Growth Capability (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) (Hardcover)

Naively I expected this book to be about how to make strategy an integral part of a company's management process. According to Gartner aligning strategy with action is still one of the stumbling blocks most companies are having. Unfortunately I didn't get the answers to any of my questions from this book. Instead of discussing strategy Dr. Galpin spends the entire book discussing the basic concepts of how to organize and manage a change management PROJECT.

To clarify a little more, if a company was planning on implementing six sigma as both a standard within the manufacturing area and as a cultural underpinning for the company, the book attempts to provide some very basic information about setting up a project team to deploy the cultural side of the six sigma message. Unfortunately as a book on project management book I found it both underwhelming and possibly even unnecessary.

I was equally frustrated with the efficacy of this book in terms of its contribution to expanding the knowledge base on how to do change management successfully. I felt that he didn't spend enough time on culture, communication and resistance to change which I believe are the three major components that would need to be addressed to discuss true change management.

Once again if you are looking for a book on making strategy work in your organization - then you have the wrong book.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Citizen Kane " for Corporate Strategy, January 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Making Strategy Work: Building Sustainable Growth Capability (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) (Hardcover)

Dr. Galpin has, once again, put the "practical" back into corporate strategy. The theories are broadbased, allowing for multiple applications within the workplace. It is, truly, the "Citizen Kane" for Corporate Strategy