Organizational Execution Capability Assessment Framework (OECAF) Dr. Saied Ashshowwaf Associate Professor and Consultant for Strategic Planning and Organizational Performance Measurement and Development

Points Covered The Central Theme of the Paper Contribution of the Paper Application of OECAF The Execution Challenge The Concept of Administrative Feasibility Purpose of Administrative Feasibility Analysis Description of OECAF OECAF Assessment Process End Product of OECAF

The central theme of this paper The alarming rate of failure of strategy execution is mostly caused by the incapability of organizations to provide required support to the execution process, on one side, and their inability to properly manage risks associated with strategy execution process, on the other side.

Contribution of the Paper The paper proposes an integrated analytical framework to measure and develop organizational execution capability: Organizational Execution Capability Assessment Framework (OECAF). OECAF applies the concept of administrative feasibility to measure the level of organizational support and organizational risks resulting from the interaction and interplay of internal and external factors affecting organizational capability to execute strategies and strategic change programs.

Application of OECAF The author has applied OECAF in several organizations from public and private sectors and the framework is still under review and development. The framework is fully developed from methodological perspective using quantitative approach.

Application of OECAF (cont...) The researcher encourages any organizations and consultants, researchers and students of strategic management to conduct further investigation and application of OECAF.

The Execution Challenge Kaplan and Norton report that 70% of managers just give up their plans and go back to their traditional ways of managing day-to-day business. William Joyce and others in 2003 studied strategy execution in 160 organizations over five year period: success was strongly correlated, among other things, with an ability to execute plans.

Organizational incapability is further exasperated by several factors including Managers are trained to plan not execute. Upper management believes that strategy execution or implementation is “below them,” something best left to lower-level employees”. Planning and execution are interdependent. Execution takes longer than formulation. Execution is a process, not an action or step. Execution involves more people than strategy formulation does.

Administrative Feasibility The Concept of Administrative Feasibility ADMINISTRATIVE FEASIBILITY is defined as: The analytical appraisal of external and internal factors and management systems affecting the success of strategy execution.

Administrative Feasibility (cont...) The Concept of Administrative Feasibility (cont...) Quantitative and qualitative methods are applied in the analysis which result in answering questions about organizational capability to support strategy execution, risk of failure to provide such support and options available to the decision makers.

Administrative Feasibility (cont...) The Concept of Administrative Feasibility (cont...) Administrative feasibility includes scenario planning and options analysis. Administrative feasibility study should not be confused with SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis is one of the methods used by analysts as a tool to collect and build the organizational competitive profile, and the concept of SWOT is used as a supporting tool in OECAF.

Administrative Feasibility (cont...) The Concept of Administrative Feasibility (cont...) Administrative feasibility analysis, on the other hand provides a comprehensive realistic appraisal of where the organization currently stands versus required organizational support to strategy execution and organizational risk management options available to the decision makers.

Administrative Feasibility (cont...) The Concept of Administrative Feasibility (cont...) Conducting administrative feasibility studies prior to strategy execution is not an option, it is rather critical to the success of strategy execution.

Purpose of Administrative Feasibility Analysis The purpose of the administrative feasibility analysis is to provide the decision makers in an organization with evidence-based answers to these questions: Should we proceed with the execution of the proposed strategy or plan? What are the risks to fail and what is the probability of success? Finally, what are the options that can be taken to reduce risks of failure and to maximize the probability to succeed?

Purpose of Administrative Feasibility Analysis (Cont...) Determining early-on that a strategy or plan will not be administratively feasible because of high risk and weak or low organizational support will save time, resources, efforts, and opportunity. Alternatively, knowing the risk and support levels will help strategists and managers work out viable alternatives or options to ensure success of strategy execution.

Purpose of Administrative Feasibility Analysis (cont...) Economic and technical feasibility studies of projects or ideas are not substitute for the administrative feasibility study.

Purpose of Administrative Feasibility Analysis (cont...) Administrative feasibility study is about the ability of the organization to effectively manage execution of its strategies and plans, while economic and technical feasibility studies provide an assessment of the economic and technical viability of an idea or project, not a plan.

Purpose of Administrative Feasibility Analysis (cont...) Administrative feasibility study is about the ability of the organization to effectively manage execution of its strategies and plans, while economic and technical feasibility studies provide an assessment of the economic and technical viability of an idea or project, not a plan.

Description of OECAF OECAF is designed to provide an integrated and comprehensive framework for assessing organizational capabilities to execute its strategies or strategic change programs including strategic plans. Strategy in OECAF is treated as the independent variable and all the other factors and their elements, including PESTEL, are the dependent variables

Description of OECAF (cont...) The hypothesis to be tested is that: the success of the execution of the strategy or strategic change program will be impacted by the execution capability of the organization.

Description of OECAF (cont...) Therefore, it is assumed that organizational capability analysis will be performed as the last step of the strategy formulation process.

OECAF Assessment Process The framework consists of a three stage process: Stage One: Analyzing organizational execution capability. Stage Two: Analyzing organization support level versus anticipated risks an organization faces. Stage Three: Conducting strategy execution scenario planning and options analysis.

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End Product of OECAF The end product of OECAF is to provide the decision maker with more than one option regarding strategy execution. Organizational capability assessment report must be attached to the base plan of the strategy or the change program as a requirement for executive approval.

Thank you!