Management Consensus on Strategic Priorities1
By Dr. Nasreddin Dhafr
Turning strategies, plans and change initiatives into reality is often considered
the most difficult task in organisation. Many factors and organisational aspects
potentially affect the implementation of such initiatives in the organisation. One
of these factors is the extent of consensus among managers concerning the
strategic priorities of the organisation.
Strategic consensus is defined as the agreement on the strategic priorities
among organisational leaders and managers at all levels in the organisation
through shared understanding and a common commitment. The strategic
consensus as a concept suggests that there are strategic areas in the
organisation where, in some situations, there is disagreement between
managers regarding their significance and importance to set as strategic
priorities.
Lack of strategic consensus causes poor commitment and lack of shared
understanding among managers and is a source of ineffective implementation
of strategies and other organisational initiatives2, hence, strategic consensus
on strategic priorities is a ‘prerequisite’ for ‘effective implementation of
strategies3, and it is ‘positively and significantly associated with organisational
performance’4.
Level of Strategic Consensus
Most of the strategic consensus techniques focus on consensus at the top
management level; but consensus needs to involve all levels, including middlelevel and operational-level managers, team leaders and supervisors. These
middle- and operational-level managers are expected to play a key role in the
strategic initiative implementation process, as they have a better understanding
of the business environment, organisational resources and capabilities, and
have an important role in information sharing and organisational
1
My article – accessed at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/management-consensus-strategicpriorities-nasreddin-dhafr/
2
Floyd, Steven W. and Bill Wooldridge (1992), ‘Managing strategic consensus: the foundation of
effective implementation,’ Academy of Management Executive, 6 (4), 27-39
3
Christopher McDermott and Kenneth K. Boyer, (1999), Strategic consensus: Marching to the beat of
a different drummer?, Business Horizons, 42, (4), 21-28
4
Kellermanns, F. W., Walter, J., Floyd, S. W., Lechner, C. and Shaw, J. C. (2011), “To agree or not to
agree? A meta-analytical review of strategic consensus and organizational performance”, Journal of
Business Research, Vol. 64, No. 2, pp. 126-133.
communication 5 6 . Participation of such managerial levels in the strategic
consensus allows for greater involvement leading to increased commitment7 8.
The Strategic Consensus Process
The strategic consensus process shown in Fig. 1 is used frequently by strategic
facilitators and consultants. It provides an approach for obtaining consensus on
strategic priorities that everyone actively supports, or at least accepts.
Fig. 1: The Strategic Consensus Process
According to this process, top managers 9 participate in strategic consensus
meetings to reach agreement on strategic priorities. They engage one or more
consultants to act as facilitators. The role of facilitators is to effectively guide
and manage consensus sessions and group interactions, motivate participants
to share information and contribute their ideas, give and receive feedback,
formulate creative solutions and manage time of consensus meetings. The
strategic consensus process steps are as follows:
5
FLOYD, S. W; WOOLDRIDGE, B. Middle management involvement in strategy and its association with
strategic type: a research note. Strategic Management Journal, 13, p. 153-167, 1992.
6
FLOYD, S. W; WOOLDRIDGE, B. Building strategy from the middle: reconceptualizing strategy
process. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000.
7
FLOYD, S. W; WOOLDRIDGE, B. Building strategy from the middle: reconceptualizing strategy
process. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000.
8
Woolridge, Bill and Steven W. Floyd (1989): Research Notes and Communications: Strategic Process
Effects on Consensus, Strategic Management Journal, 10: 295-302.
9
Refers to participants in the consensus process: it can be the members of the top management or
can extend beyond the top management to middle and operational level managers.
Define the consensus issue: To have a consensus, the consensus issue
needs to be clearly defined and understood. Such issue can be a strategic
priority, strategic direction, work problem, or similar.
Collect information: To help make different choices for the strategic priorities,
consensus facilitators need to collect information, gather facts, and get ideas
from specialists and non-specialists.
Consider alternative options: Encourage participants to look at the whole
picture, evaluate the present situation, think outside the box, explore alternative
scenarios, assess impacts and eliminate or reduce options.
Select an option: Select the option through consensus of the whole group,
especially of those who are directly affected by the consequences of the
selected option. Remember that consensus does not mean compromise or
voting for options; it means finding agreement of the whole group on the
selected option.
Implement the selected option: As all participants have been involved in the
consensus process, this makes them carry certain responsibilities and commit
to implementation of the selected option. During the implementation process
and within the hierarchical structure of the organisation, despite the consensus
reached earlier, resistance or objections of the change may be encountered at
different levels, and this needs to be tackled by some best-practice tools (see
our article: Communicating Change).
A Concluding Note
Consensus works better and yields good results when a business runs
smoothly, hence I advise that the consensus is done quickly and early to avoid
business complications caused by the ineffective implementation of the
strategy or the new change initiative. In times of crisis or turbulence, consensus
is seen as a luxury, and delays mean lost opportunities – taking a long time to
reach consensus on available options is impractical. Also, when people are
under pressure to find a solution to an urgent problem, they are under stress,
feel distracted and depressed and become reluctant to be involved in
consensus or to reach a final decision.