7-S model
The 7-S model represents a company through seven core variables that are essential for the design of the company and at the same time offer starting points for interventions by a consultant . Originally designed as a tool for external management consultants , the model can also be used as a corporate management concept to design a company and to secure competitive advantages.
development
The model was in the 1970s materially from that time as management consultants at McKinsey make Richard Pascale , Tony Athos , Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr.. developed. It is therefore sometimes called the McKinsey 7-S model .
A meeting in the summer of 1978 gave the impetus to work on the topic of corporate success.
The starting point of their considerations was the finding that companies, despite the similarities in structure, strategy and system, showed different levels of performance and different levels of success. So the question arose as to the success and failure factors of a company.
A gradual development of the model can be traced in the article “Structure Is Not Organization” (1980) and in the more well-known books “The Art of Japanese Management” or “Secret and Art of Japanese Management” (1981) and “In Search Of Excellence ”or“ In Search of Excellence ”(1982).
Against the background of the cross- cultural management research between the USA / Europe and Japan that became popular in the 1970s and 1980s , Far Eastern leadership styles, management methods, business ethics and organizational forms were examined. This investigation was in the foreground for Pascale and Athos; they dealt with Japanese companies and presented their results in "The Art of Japanese Management" (1981).
Peters and Waterman examined large US American companies (Kodak, HP, IBM, Procter & Gamble, 3M and others) and presented their results in 1982 in "In Search of Excellence".
In the course of increasing globalization, the topic of intercultural leadership also gained attention.
Content of the model
The model names 7 core variables:
- Strategy ( strategy )
- Strategy must guarantee a sustainable competitive advantage
- Structure ( structure )
- Organizational structure is the hierarchical framework of an organization and thus defines basic framework conditions
- Systems ( systems )
- Systems form the framework for further processes
- Special skills ( skills )
- means characteristic skills that the company as a whole has mastered best (corporate skills).
- Permanent staff ( staff )
- Employees are seen as people and members of the organization; they determine the structure of human resources and the demographics of the company
- Style ( style / culture )
- Corporate culture should take into account both management-defined and historically developed elements
- Self- image ( shared values / superordinate goals )
- Mission Statement are taught values and standards (corporate identity) and needs of as many employees represented
It differentiates between so-called “hard factors” ( strategy, structure, systems - also cold triangle ) and “soft factors” ( skills, staff, style, shared values - also warm square ). While the hard factors are easier to grasp and assess, the soft factors are much more difficult to assess, but they are at least as important to the company.
Results
The whole construction is often referred to as the "happy atom"; graphically, the goals are organized around the “ superordinate goals ”. When making adjustments, it should be noted that changing one target area always affects the other areas. For a well-functioning organization , a good balance between the elements listed above should be strived for.
Another area of application can be found in strategy implementation: after choosing a strategic alternative, the fields of action can be derived using the 7-S model and specified individually with appropriate measures to be introduced.
The model gives an overview of the areas of activity of a manager that cannot be delegated - it rather serves to reduce complexity when sorting out problem areas for the first time.
With the explicit inclusion of “soft factors”, the model tries to place more emphasis on human resources , away from the traditional tangible aspects of mass production such as capital, infrastructure and equipment.
"There is simply no such thing as a good structure that ignores the 'human factor'."
Peters and Waterman continued:
“Our results were a pleasant surprise. More clearly than one would have hoped, the investigation showed that the particularly successful companies excelled above all in simple basic virtues of entrepreneurial activity. "
The basic virtues mean, for example, the primacy of action (trying things out over studying), living value systems , involving employees or being close to customers .
criticism
The fact that the model was initially designed as a management tool (and not as a comprehensive explanatory theoretical approach) must be taken into account in a critical discussion. The inclusion of the “soft factors” opens up a new aspect of management theory, but it is more difficult to evaluate and analyze them precisely or to get a reliable data basis for an analysis. Overall, the model is rather simple and the recommendations for action are not binding, but are well suited for a weak point analysis .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Seven S model - definition in the Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon
- ↑ The 7-S model: Seven success factors for companies. ( Memento from September 3, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ Albrecht Rothacher: The return of the samurai: Japan's economy after the crisis. 1st edition. Springer, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-540-45112-9 , p. 67.
- ^ Based on the explanation in the Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon: Sieben-S-Modell
- ↑ a b 3. Corporate management concepts ( Memento from May 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) - Presentation at the Bratislava University of Economics
literature
- R. Waterman Jr., T. Peters, JR Phillips: Structure Is Not Organization. In: Business Horizons. 23, June 3, 1980, pp. 14-26.
- R. Pascale, A. Athos: The Art of Japanese Management. Penguin Books, London 1981.
- German: The secret and art of Japanese management. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1982.
- T. Peters, R. Waterman: In Search of Excellence. Harper & Row, New York / London 1982.
- German: Looking for top performance. What can be learned from the best run US companies. 5th edition. Verlag modern industry, Landsberg 1994.
Web links
- Seven S model - definition in the Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon