What does James Quinn (in ‘Logical incrementalism’, 1978, in De Wit & Meyer, 2010, Reading 3.2) suggest as the best thing an executive can do, given the difficulty in predicting the future?
Focus the firm’s resources on the whole market, so as not to become dependent on any single segment
Focus on muddling through
Build a resource base and a corporate posture that withstands all but the most devastating of events
Focus on developing detailed scenarios/role-plays, so that the future is not too much of a surprise.
Quinn (in ‘Logical incrementalism’, 1978, in De Wit & Meyer, 2010, Reading 3.2) argues that strategic decisions, such as macro-organizational moves, often result in changes to the personal power relationships of the strategist and senior management. What is the consequence of this?
Political considerations become minimized
The strategist always gets a salary increase
Early commitments are required to ‘test the waters’
Final commitments to the decision are made as late as possible.
With respect to Quinn (in ‘Logical incrementalism’, Reading 3.2), strategists are advised to:
Develop strategic intent once ‘trail balloons’ have been launched
Make final commitments as late as possible, consistent with the information they have
Focus on the ‘uncertain’, rather than the ‘unknowable’
Achieve broad political support prior to changing organizational symbols.
Quinn (in ‘Logical incrementalism’, 1978, in De Wit & Meyer, 2010, Reading 3.2), mentions a number of ‘soft’ changes that can affect strategy formation. One of these is:
An organization’s ability to borrow funds
An organization’s innovative capabilities
An organization’s forecasting capabilities
An organization’s age.
In what way does Quinn (in ‘Logical incrementalism’, 1978, in De Wit & Meyer, 2010, Reading 3.2) suggest that strategy is about wicked problems (as discussed by Mason and Mitroff)?
Logical incrementalism works in ‘random’ environments
Strategy focuses on the uncertain; the unknowable cannot be managed a priori
Strategy deals with the unknowable, not the uncertain
Logical incrementalism is an attempt to tame wicked problems by ensuring they are disorganized.