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Burdened with multiple layers of management, the overmanaged organization is a case study in “analysis paralysis”. When it moves, it moves slowly and reactively, often pursuing opportunities later or less vigorously than competitors. Managers are more consumed with details than the bigger picture, spending their time checking subordinates’ work rather than scanning the horizon for new opportunities or threats. Frequently bureaucratic and political, this organization frustrates self-starters and results-oriented people.
Influence in an overmanaged organization depends mostly on title and role, and collaboration across organizational lines is not common. Senior leaders do not consistently do as they say, and they rarely deliver clear, consistent messages. People are motivated more by incentives and rewards than by values and pride in the company.
Outside headquarters, decisions may be reversed by people with less direct knowledge of customer needs. Staff may spend too much time anticipating questions that never come up and running analyses that go nowhere. Effort piles up, information stalls, and promotions up the extended corporate ladder can allow mediocrity to prevail over merit.
Research shows that enterprises fail at execution because they go straight to structural reorganization and neglect the most powerful drivers of effectiveness— decision rights and information flow.
A brilliant strategy, blockbuster product, or breakthrough technology can put you on the competitive map, but only solid execution can keep you there.
Passive-aggressive organisations are friendly places to work: People are congenial, conflict is rare, and consensus is easy to reach.
We found that the biggest benefits of enterprise-level agility come primarily from two dimensions that help organizations adapt more quickly in the face of change.
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Principal, Strategy&
United States
Principal, Strategy&
United States
Principal, Advisory, PwC
United States
Principal, Advisory, PwC
United States
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