MSG Team's other articles

9313 Fighting a Price War

In the 21st century, marketplaces have become more competitive. This is because the availability of information has become the norm. Consumers can now choose amongst competing products and make an informed choice. As a result, getting customers has become increasingly difficult. This has given rise to price wars on several occasions. Since companies find it […]

11112 Role of HR Consulting in Mergers and Acquisitions

Corporate transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, and other methods of organizational restructuring and transformations, are strategically important in enhancing competitiveness, economies of scale and growth of an organization. Nevertheless, the human resources or ‘people’ factor of an organization holds the key to success in all such corporate transactions. But, this factor is the […]

9672 How Singapore Became a World Class Regional Financial and Commercial Hub

From the Third World to the First: The Story of a Remarkable Transformation The story of how Singapore became a world class regional financial and commercial hub is fascinating and indicates the city state’s innovative and entrepreneurial nature as far as catering to businesses and global institutions are concerned. for instance, until 1965, when it […]

11391 Rags to Riches and Back: The Story of Chinese Boom and Bust

The 1970’s The story of China’s growth began in the 1970’s. Back then China was an extremely poor country with one of the lowest per capita income in the world. The population of the country was largely agrarian. The output of food grains was so small that starving to death was a possibility in China. […]

12541 Building Web-Based and Inter-Organizational Decision Support Systems

Problem solving and knowledge management go hand-in-hand. Together they have become one of the most important aspects of organizational decision making. Managers around the world realize that much of their organizations’ value depends on their ability to gather, analyze and manage knowledge and use it to solve problems. To accelerate the process of transforming information […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

Introduction

In the modern age of cutting-edge technology and continuous innovation, product life cycle is ever shortening. There is constant pressure on companies to differentiate from competition and earn customer satisfaction. In such a business environment, it is essential that internal organization network is strong and efficient to deal with any kind of changes.

The 7S framework introduced by McKinsey is one of the ways through which analysis can be done to determine the efficiency of organization in meeting strategic objective.

The 7S model is utilized to study and suggest areas within company which needs improvement, examine the effects with change in strategy, internal alignment with every merger and acquisition.

7S Framework

The 7S framework constitutes of 7 factors, which affect organizational effectiveness. These 7 factors are strategy, organizational structure, IT systems, shared values, employee skills, management style and staff.

These 7 factors can be broadly categorized into Hard Elements - Strategy, Structure, Systems and Soft Elements - Shared Values, Skills, Style and Staff. Hard elements highlighted above are the ones which are under direct control of management. Soft elements are not in direct control of management and are driven by internal culture.

The 7 factors as per the framework can be defined as follows:

  1. Strategy: It is defined as an action plan working towards the organizational defined objective.

  2. Structure: It is defined as design of organization-employees interaction to meet defined objective.

  3. Systems: It is defined as information systems in which organization has invested to fulfill its defined objective.

  4. Staff: It is defined as workers employed by the organization.

  5. Style: It is defined as the approach adopted by the leadership to interact with employees, supplier and customers.

  6. Skills: It is defined as characteristics of employees associated with the organization.

  7. Shared Values: It is the central piece of the whole 7S framework. It is a concept based on which organization has decided to achieve its objective.

Usage of 7S Framework

The basis of the 7S framework is that for organization to meet its objective it is essential all the seven elements are in sync and mutually balancing. The model is used to identify which out of 7 factors need to be balanced as to align with change in organization.

7S framework is helpful in identifying the pain points which are creating a hurdle in organization growth.

Technology and 7S Framework

In digital age, technology and technology-driven information systems both are game changer as far as meeting objective for organization is concerned. Companies are moving towards automation, cloud computing, etc. This has led to technology as central nervous system of the organization.

The 7S framework is applicable across all industries and companies. It is one of the premier models used to measure organizational effectiveness. In this challenging environment, strategy of organization is constantly evolving. In such an environment, it is essential organization to look back upon its seven elements to identify the source which is hampering the growth.

Organization can use the 7S framework to identify its position with existing strategy.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Components of Commercial Value Chain

MSG Team

The Changing Face of Business Environment

MSG Team