|  | Author: Robert Simons
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
List Price: $39.95
Buy Used: $1.10
as of 11/22/2009 15:41 CST details
You Save: $38.85 (97%)
New (34) Used (28) from $1.10
Seller: heidipross
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 286566
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 232
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0875845592
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.4012
EAN: 9780875845593
ASIN: 0875845592
Publication Date: November 1, 1994
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Read once some areas are highlighted but the book and dustcover are in great condition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-6 of 6
Focus on strategy implementation March 4, 2000
L. Van Den Muyzenberg (Cannes France)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
The book is far more interesting than the title suggests. "Levers of control" makes one think of man/woman being reduced to robots directed by the pulling of levers. The book is exactly about the opposite, how one can have his cake and eat it. It provides a practical framework on how to combine opposing forces in managing a company. Opposites like creativity and meeting profit objectives, precise objectives and alertness to the necessasity of changing course, reward and punishment, control and freedom. Some of the insights require reader effort to understand. For example. "Strategic planning is useless to develop strategies. Strategic planning starts once the strategy has been determined." What is meant is this. Long range planning carried out by staff departments trying to involve managers is a waste of time. Real strategies evolve interactively between several layers of managers in the organisation. Once a strategy is determined a plan must be made for implementing it. However the reader has to figure out that strategic planning no longer means strategy development but the development of a plan for strategy implementation, the execution of which has to be monitored. The book covers how to deal with the positive and negative motivations of employees, how it is possible to manage the tension between a budget system (referred to as a diagnostic system) and an action oriented intelligence-gathering system (referred to as an interactive control system). These two "control systems" are combined with two higher level "control systems", the vision and core values on the one hand and clarification of authority, accountability and no-go areas (referred to as boundary systems)on the other. None of these "control systems" are original. The originality of Prof Simons is that he shows how to operate these systems so that they reinforce and complement each other. This book is very useful for persons that have experienced how hard it is to implement strategies and to reconcile freedom with the requirement of delivering predictable financial results.
Showing reviews 6-6 of 6
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