TY - DATA T1 - The Alignment of Strategy and Structure and Its Effect on Financial Performance PY - 2017/11/01 AU - Sara Al-Asmakh UR - https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/The_Alignment_of_Strategy_and_Structure_and_Its_Effect_on_Financial_Performance/5558740 DO - 10.6084/m9.figshare.5558740.v1 L4 - https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/9647596 KW - Real Estate KW - Validated Survey KW - Survey KW - DecisionWise KW - Financial Data KW - Alignment KW - Misalignment KW - Strategy KW - Strategy Formation KW - Strategy Implementation KW - Structure KW - Strategy and Structure KW - Definition of Strategy KW - Clear and focused strategies KW - Clear strategies KW - Focused Strategies KW - Definition of Structure KW - Strategy and Structure Connection KW - Strategy Formulation and Implementation KW - Definition of Strategy Formulation and Implementation KW - Strategy Formulation and Implementation Connection KW - Strategy Implementation Failures KW - Role of Leadership in Strategy Implementation KW - Employee Involvement in Strategy Formulation and Implementation KW - Relationship between Strategy and Structure KW - Alignment between Strategy and Structure KW - Misalignment between Strategy and Structure KW - Alignment between Strategy and Structure and Its effect on Performance KW - Aligned Organizations KW - Aligned Companies KW - Definition of Alignment KW - Importance of Alignment KW - Alignment and Culture KW - Alignment of Strategy and Structure KW - Alignment of strategy and financial performance KW - Alignment of strategy, structure and financial performance KW - CEOs and Strategy KW - CEOs Real Estate KW - Employee Engagement KW - Employee Attraction and Retention KW - Engage Employees KW - Employee Attitudes KW - Definitions of Employee Engagement KW - Benefits of Employee Engagement KW - Leadership Role in Employee Engagement KW - Achieving Employee Engagement KW - Leadership KW - Distributed Leadership KW - Leadership Development KW - Characteristics of Leaders KW - Examples of Leaders who supported Distributed Leadership KW - Cheryl Bachelder KW - Jack Welch KW - Financial Performance KW - Literature Review KW - Statistical Analysis KW - Qatar KW - Qatar 2030 Vision KW - Qatar National Vision 2030 KW - Top Management Exercise KW - Research in Qatar KW - Structure Re-aligned KW - Study the Alignment of Structure and Strategy KW - How people and structure influence the implementation of strategy KW - Comparing the alignment of strategy and structure with financial performance KW - Effect on Qatar 2030 Vision KW - Employee Involvement and Strategy KW - When the strategy changes, so should the alignment KW - Awareness of the importance of alignment, employee engagement, culture and leadership KW - CEO changes KW - Better leadership KW - The Impact CEOs have on performance KW - Don Shapiro KW - HEC Paris- Qatar Campus KW - Real Estate Development Companies KW - Sara Al-Asmakh KW - Strategic Alignment KW - Implementation KW - Organization Development KW - Organization Performance KW - Organizational Performance KW - Execution KW - Sales KW - Profits KW - Business Information Management (incl. Records, Knowledge and Information Management, and Intelligence) KW - Business and Management not elsewhere classified KW - Human Resources Management KW - International Business KW - Organisation and Management Theory KW - Organisational Behaviour KW - Organisational Planning and Management KW - Real Estate and Valuation Services N2 - The Alignment of Strategy and Structure and Its Effect on Financial PerformanceABSTRACT Both personal observation and extensive research show that some companies maintain consistent strategies and senior management while others see a revolving door of CEOs and strategies. Many of these companies also produce wide variations in their financial performance. This raises critical questions about how these differences may be connected to each other. There is a substantial body of research that shows alignment between strategy, structure and people improves organization performance. This research demonstrates that organizations who effectively align their employees, leadership, culture, structure and systems with their strategic direction deliver better financial performance. To further test these conclusions with a new research design, data was collected and analyzed on four large real estate development companies in Qatar. This included a validated employee engagement survey with global benchmark data, seven years of financial statements, interviews with employees, and review of changes in strategies and CEO's over time. The study confirmed existing research that better aligned organizations outperformed organizations that were not as well aligned. This study calls out for further research with companies in multiple industries and additional alignment measurement tools to explore more hypothesis about strategic alignment. Several recommendations to improve company performance came out of this study. 1) Employees need to be involved in strategy formation. 2) When the strategy changes, so should alignment. 3) New CEO's shouldn't always change the strategy. 4) Strategies must be clear and focused. 5) Better leadership at all levels improves implementation. 6) CEO's can have an excessive impact on results. ER -