The Design School of

Strategic
management
Tamana Omari MBA student, Cyprus science
university
CONTENTS
Introduction/ Origins of the School
The design school model
What is the design school of strategy? 
Tools of design school
Framework of evaluation
Premises of the Design School
Application of design school
Important aspects of the design school 
Key external factors
Key internal factors
The benefits of the design school
Some drawbacks of the design school
 Introduction
Origins of the School: The real motive for the Design School came from the
OriginsManagement
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 Philip Selznick’s, introduced the concept of “distinctive competence”, stated the
theneed
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bringtogether
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Meanwhile,
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By this, the school originated with the publication of Philip Selznick’s
By this, the school originated with the publication of Philip Selznick’s
“Leadership in Administration” in 1957 and Alfred D. Chandler’s “Strategy and
“Leadership
Structure” in inAdministration”
1962. in 1957 and Alfred D. Chandler’s “Strategy and
Structure” in 1962.
 Origins of the School

Philip Selznick was the first to portrait the basic concept that strengthen this
model and wrote in his book that:

“Leadership sets goals, but in doing so takes account of the conditions that have
already determined what the organization can do and to the extent that it must
do. In defining the mission of the organization, leaders must take into account:

The internal state of the policy, the strivings, inhibitions and competences that
exist within the organization.
The external expectations that determine what must be sought or achieve if
the institute is to survive.
 The Design school model

Henry Mintzberg taught that “strategy formulation is judgmental designing, intuitive

visioning, and emergent learning; it is about transformation as well as perpetuation; it
has to include analyzing before and programming after as well as negotiating during.”

In 1998, he proposed two activities: 

1.

An internal assessment of the organizations competences, strengths and its

weaknesses.
Assessment of the external environment.
Mintzberg basic design school model
 What is the design school of strategy?

Design school as one that seeks to develop internal capabilities and

strengths in order to respond to challenges and opportunities from the
outside, with keeping the focus on situation analysis of strategy. 
 Tools of the Design School

The well-known SWOT analysis is one of the main

central tools of the design school.

Reaching a good fit between the internal opportunities

(strengths and weaknesses) and the external
circumstances (opportunities and threats) is the central
guideline of this school of thought.
 Framework for evaluation
According to Harvard general management group (Richard Rumelt)
the best strategy must have following features:

Consistency: strategy must not present mutually inconsistent goals and policies.

Consonance: strategy must present an adaptive response to the external

environment to critical changes.

Advantage: In the selected area of activity must retain competitive edge.

Feasibility: Strategy must free from unsolvable sub problems.

 Premises of the Design School
The design school is based upon seven theoretical premises: 
Strategy formation should be a deliberate process of conscious thought.
Responsibility for control and consciousness must rest with CEO.
The model of strategy formation must be kept simple and informal.
Strategies should be one of a kind: the best result from a process of individualized
design.
The design process is complete when strategies appear fully formulated as
perspective.
These strategies should be explicit, so they have to be kept simple.
Finally, only after these unique, full-blown, explicit and simple strategies are fully
formulated can they be really implemented.
 Key internal factors
Application of the design school

Design school model may best applied at the intersection of a huge shift for
an organization, coming out of changing circumstances and into a stable
circumstance.

The design school model is applicable in a new organization. It will set a clear
sense of direction for it to compete against its more established competitors.
 Important aspects of the design school 
The strategy is looked at as a deliberate process in the design school. This is quite
different from the learning school their strategies looked like an evolutionary
project.  
The design school takes a top-down approach to management. 
Therefore, the control resides in the hands of the chief executive officer.
(Important decisions are taken at the top, which trickles down to the lower
management.)
The design school also prescribes a unique strategic stand. This ensures a
competitive advantage over other firms. 
 Key Key
external factors
external factors

Economic factors governed by a number of external

variables that the firm has little to no
control over
The social factors can also have a
huge impact on a firm’s strategy Social factors 
Technological  Technology is constantly changing and
  that affects the strategy of a firm

The geopolitical issues should not be Geopolitical issues 

overlooked when we are designing the
strategy of a firm
 KeyKey
internal factors
internal factors

Firm’s internal values must be aligned with the organizational vision. 

Tools like the Ansoff Matrix. That can help understand customers want to
develop the product accordingly. 
Look at the organization capability, while developing these products.
In internal factor, commitments to ways of acting and responding are crucial.
 The
The benefits
benefits ofof the
the design
design school
school

The design school of strategy comes from a more rational viewpoint. 

It can help in formulating generic strategies.
It is easier to understand and to implement.
Is most useful for larger organizations.
It is also useful for centralize organization.
This school of thought is used to leverage data and to understand the situation
better.
And, firms that achieve a good fit between the internal opportunities and the
external situations benefit from higher performance. 
 Some drawbacks of the design
Some drawbacks of the design school
school
Some academics and practitioners, particularly those who follow
the other school of thought, disapprove the approach of the
design school.

The design school of strategy has been criticized for adopting a

more prescriptive approach.
 Some drawbacks of the design
school

Thank
One of the criticisms of the design school of strategy is that it
takes a more prescriptive form. What this means is that the
design school assumes that there is a perfect solution to every
problem. Firms need to adopt a particular strategy to be
successful. This kind of prescriptive approach is looked down
upon by certain academicians as well as
practitioners, specifically those who belong to the other school
of thought. The other school of thought is the learning school
of strategy.