FARSYS: a knowledge-based system for managing strategic change

In theories of strategic management, organizational flexibility is considered as a strategic asset in situations in which anticipation is impossible and strategic surprise likely. In these situations, the use of traditional planning strategies will be increasingly supplemented and sometimes replaced by flexible configuration strategies. This paper distinguishes four of these strategies to configure the resources of the firm for effective responses to strategic change, namely the rigid, the planned, the flexible, and the chaotic mode. On the basis of this typology, the paper describes a method for diagnosing organizational flexibility and guiding the transition process, the flexibility audit and redesign (FAR) method. This method was applied successfully within an administrative unit of the Dutch Postbank, a production unit of Philips Semiconductors, and an R&D unit of the Dutch National Gas. Nonetheless, the application of the FAR method is very time-consuming for the consultant and very expensive for the organization. Hence, a system is developed that supports consultants in the application of the FAR method and helps them to derive a better solution for the organizational flexibility problem. This tool, called FARSYS, supports the data-gathering (FARSYS I) as well as the decision-making process of the consultant (FARSYS II).

[1]  Robert A. Burgelman.  A Process Model of Internal Corporate Venturing in the Diversified Major Firm , 1983 .

[2]  Henry Mintzberg.  Patterns in Strategy Formation , 1978, International Studies of Management & Organization.

[3]  James D. Thompson.  Organizations in Action , 1967 .

[4]  P. Lawrence,et al.  Organization and environment , 1967 .

[5]  Henk W. Volberda,et al.  Building the Flexible Firm: How to Remain Competitive , 1998 .

[6]  Frank T. Colon.  Change in Organizations: New Perspectives on Theory, Research and Practice. By Goodman Paul S. et al. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1982. Pp. xv + 446. $19.95.) , 1984 .

[7]  Henk W. Volberda,et al.  On the concept of flexibility: A dual control perspective , 1996 .

[8]  Henk W. Volberda,et al.  Building Flexible Organizations for Fast-moving Markets , 1997 .

[9]  H. Ansoff.  The Changing Shape of the Strategic Problem , 1977 .

[10]  L. Greiner.  Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow , 1997 .

[11]  C. Prahalad,et al.  The Core Competence of the Corporation , 1990 .

[12]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[13]  S. F. Cohn,et al.  Organizational structure, decision-making procedures, and the adoption of innovations , 1984, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[14]  Henry Mintzberg.  Strategy-Making in Three Modes , 1973 .

[15]  J. B. Quinn,et al.  Managing Innovation: Controlled Chaos , 1985 .

[16]  Briance Mascarenhas,et al.  Coping with Uncertainty in International Business , 1982 .

[17]  Tom R. Burns,et al.  The Management of Innovation. , 1963 .

[18]  Herbert A. Shepard,et al.  Innovation-Resisting and Innovation-Producing Organizations , 1967 .

[19]  Hans G. Krijnen.  The flexible firm , 1979 .

[20]  D. Aaker,et al.  THE NEED FOR STRATEGIC FLEXIBILITY , 1984 .

[21]  Henk W. Volberda,et al.  Towards The Flexible Form: How To Remain Vital in Hypercompetitive Environments , 1996 .

[22]  Richard F. Vancil,et al.  Strategic planning systems , 1977 .

[23]  G. Hofstede.  Motivation, leadership, and organization: Do American theories apply abroad? , 1980 .

[24]  Charles W. Hofer,et al.  Strategy formulation : analytical concepts , 1978 .

[25]  W. Ashby,et al.  An Introduction to Cybernetics , 1957 .

[26]  Charles Edgar Summer,et al.  THE PROCESS OF MANAGEMENT: CONCEPTS, BEHAVIOR, AND PRACTICE. , 1961 .

[27]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  Of strategies, deliberate and emergent , 1985, Strategic Management Journal.

[28]  Jay R. Galbraith.  Designing Complex Organizations , 1973 .

[29]  D. Leonard-Barton.  CORE CAPABILITIES AND CORE RIGIDITIES: A PARADOX IN MANAGING NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT , 1992 .

[30]  Ellen Earle Chaffee,et al.  Three Models of Strategy1 , 1985 .

[31]  James W. Fredrickson,et al.  Strategic process research: Questions and recommendations , 1983 .