Business Briefing: Beyond Strategy to Purpose

Keywords: Organizational Purpose, Organizational Processes, Leadership, Change Management, Human Resources
Source: Harvard Business Review
Link: Read the full article on HBR.org
Authors: Christopher A. Bartlett and Sumantra Ghoshal
Published: November 1994
Est. Read Time (Original): ~60 minutes

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The Core Idea

Bartlett and Ghoshal argue that the traditional top-down management doctrine of "strategy, structure, and systems" is obsolete. In today's dynamic environment, where knowledge and expertise reside on the front lines, this old model creates disengaged employees and slow, inflexible organizations. The authors call for a fundamental shift in the role of top management: from designing strategy to shaping a shared institutional purpose; from architecting formal structures to developing effective organizational processes; and from managing systems to developing people. This redefined role transforms a company from a mere economic entity into a purposeful social institution capable of inspiring extraordinary commitment.

Why It Matters for Business Today

This 1994 article was a powerful call to action that is now at the heart of modern leadership philosophy. It provides the intellectual foundation for the shift from command-and-control to trust-and-inspire.

• Purpose as the Ultimate Motivator: A target ROI will rarely galvanize an organization into action. This article correctly identifies that to elicit extraordinary effort, leaders must embed strategy within a broader, more engaging purpose. This moves the employee relationship from a transactional contract to an emotional commitment, converting employees into members.

• Process Over Structure: Rigid organizational charts and formal structures are too slow for today's markets. The authors argue that the real work gets done through informal networks and cross-functional processes. A leader's job is not to perfect the org chart, but to cultivate the collaborative processes that allow knowledge to flow and decisions to be made quickly.

• People as an Asset, Not a Cost: The old model treated people as replaceable cogs in a machine. This article makes the case for viewing employees as the company's most valuable asset—a resource to be developed, not just managed. This shift in mindset is the prerequisite for building a learning organization that can adapt and innovate.

The Strategic Question for Leaders

The authors argue that a leader's first responsibility is to define the organization's purpose, not its strategy. Beyond financial targets and market share goals, what is the clearly articulated purpose of your organization, and how do you ensure it is a living value that gives meaning to your employees' work, rather than just a statement on a plaque?

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