Unlike subtitles of so many other recently published business books, the one for Levers of Organization Design correctly identifies its author’s primary objective: explaining “how managers use accountability systems” to achieve “greater performance and commitment.” Simons responds to questions such as these:
According to research which Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton provide in The Strategy-Focused Organization only 5% of the workforce understand their company’s strategy, only 25% of managers have incentives linked to strategy, 60% of organizations don’t link budgets to strategy, and 85% of executive teams spend less than one hour per month discussing strategy. If true, these are chilling statistics that suggest that few decision-makers in any organization (regardless of its size or nature) would be able to answer, clearly and realistically, each of the questions listed previously, hence the urgency to read Simons’ book. Readers are encouraged to check out additional works co-authored by Kaplan and Norton.
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