Configuration School of Strategy

What is the Configuration School of Strategic Development

Well, researcher Henry Mintzberg proposed 10 approaches, frameworks, or schools, if you will

for understanding how strategy arises within an organization. And the Configuration School is one of those schools that houses one of his dominant theories of strategic formation

which is the five Ps. Now, to start with, the configuration school simply says that strategy is developed in the organization pursuant to a transformation process

That is, the organization is reacting to the environment to configure all of its resources, processes, organization in general

Okay, so the organization itself is reacting to whatever external environmental pressures or situations that it encounters

And in reacting to these, it is transforming. And this transformation process leads to what is known as its overall configuration

And this configuration gives rise to what is the organization's strategy itself

So you can think of configuration as simply how the organization organizes specific characteristics of itself and its operations simply to meet these external requirements Now one of the core underlying premises is that the organization seeks stability

So, the configuration process, how it transforms, always seeks to establish some level of

organizational stability. Now, when that external pressure that gives rise to some level of transformation or configuration

arises, the organization will react accordingly to establish whatever it sees as its particular

state of stability at that time or in that moment. So the manner that it responds or the nature of the stability that it's trying to maintain

or establish will vary based upon the circumstances. So the transformation process itself seeks to unhinge the existing level of stability and ultimately results in the configuration and establishment of a new type or level of stability

So this gives rise to a repeatable cycle if you will of consecutive sessions of environmental factors responses transformation in the organization a move from one stable position to another And so you can see it in patterns of how the organization reacting and you can even see it in the life cycle of the organization if you will because what it doing is ultimately

transforming and configuring itself to meet its operational and overall needs based upon all the

pressures that do or can affect the organization. Now, another core tenant of the configuration school

is that managers need to be aware of this process continually happening

and they must act to ultimately sustain this level of stability, right

The need for periodic transformation, right, requires active or strategic management such that you can go from one stage of stability to another

So these premises and understanding gave rise to one of Mintzberg's dominant theories for how strategy arises, and that's the five Ps

And what he said was, based upon this state of transformation and configuration, strategy in the organization ultimately derives from any number of sources

It can be a plan, a formal plan or approach or pattern to responding to the need for transformation or move to a new level of stability

So it could be formal plan or pattern It could be a position you take with regard to how you are affected by external or environmental pressures It can be a perspective shift within the organization

That is, a view of how you see your mission, your objectives, your vision, your overall goals, things of that nature can shift and thus give rise to a level of transformation and reconfiguration

And it can even be a ploy, that is, a response to a competitive position, perhaps, whereby you assume a position that is simply intended to cause an effect but not a long-term strategic approach, for example

So you're simply doing it to have the effect to beat out, say, a competitor in a given situation or scenario

So the in summary, the five P's are it could be a plan, it could be a pattern, it could be a position you take, a perspective or a ploy

So any of these would thus be consistent with the configuration school in that you are transforming yourself and reconfiguring characteristics to meet the needs of the organization

And once again, strategy forms by virtue of this configuration process. and thus the strategy can develop as a plan, a pattern, a position, a perspective, or even a ploy

So in summary, this is Mint Spurs Configuration School of Strategic Development