Living Strategy: Putting People at the Heart of Corporate Purpose

Citation

Crowther, D. (2001), "Living Strategy: Putting People at the Heart of Corporate Purpose", Personnel Review, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 711-717. https://doi.org/10.1108/pr.2001.30.6.711.4

There are a plethora of books which consider the development of strategy within organisations, the management of human resources within organisations, changing culture within organisations or planning for the future of such organisations. There are very few books which attempt to deal with all of these issues and to show that they are interrelated. Equally many books deal with techniques for management which are based upon the premise that people are the most important asset of an organisation without showing why and how this is so. This book is therefore different in that it attempts to deal with all of these issues to show that the strategic development of an organisation must be based upon the people within the organisation. Moreover this book does not just use research and practical experience to demonstrate this but also provides a blueprint upon which managers can act.

This book therefore is focused upon both the development of business strategies for success in the long term and the management of people as the major asset to a business. Indeed its thrust is that the development of long‐term strategies for business success must be based around the management of people as the major resource of a business. The book aims to set out the rationale for this argument in a clear and logical way and then to show how this idea can actually be implemented. The book starts by setting a context for its message of the importance of people by drawing upon the practical experience of the author in a variety of organisational settings before proceeding toidentify what the author describes as the three tenets of sustainable competitive advantage, namely: we operate in time; we search for meaning; and we have a soul. Associated with these three tenets are a set of nine capabilities, three for each tenet. The first third of the book is devoted to an explanation of these tenets and the author makes good use of her experience of working with companies to provide practical examples to support her message. Indeed the book in general is well researched and substantiated from the experience of the author.

The main part of the book is devoted to the implementation of a strategy based upon these tenets which the author describes as a journey which has six steps. These steps, in the view of the author should be followed in sequence to arrive at the desired results. Each of these steps is underpinned by some guiding principles and has some tools associated with it which will guide a manager through it being actioned. Indeed the whole tone of this part of the book is that it is a blueprint for practical action and, as such, is reminiscent of a DIY manual or a New Age self‐help manual. Some of the language used is drawn from the language of such New Age material such as when the author describes “the sustaining of the energy of the journey” or “engaging in collective dreaming”. The language of the book is that of a visionary juxtaposed with practical business language and some people may find that this approach jars while others will find it highly appropriate. In some respects therefore the book is in the genre established by Peters and Waterman (1982) and followed by a large number of authors thereafter. The author has also taught extensively on MBA programmes and the design of this book is based upon her experiences leading to a format which would be attractive to such an audience. In this I am sure that she is correct and this book would be a suitable book for an MBA module in strategic development or human resource management.

The primary target audience for the book however would appear to be practising managers, together with consultants working in this area. Thus the six steps towards implementation give practical advice, again making good use of examples. Each step finishes by outlining separately the role of the line manager and the role of the human resource professional in its completion and finishing with a summary of specific actions which need to be taken. The explanation of these six steps finishes with a call to action for business leaders to support the message that “building human potential demands a new agenda, a new set of challenges for leaders, and a redefined set of managerial capabilities” and the whole of the book supports this assertion. The target audience seems to be not just managers responsible for strategic development but also line managers and human resource professionals and each is specifically catered for in the outline of the various steps. Moreover the book finishes with what is called a workbook which contains “exercises and discussion pieces to take you and your team through a set of experiences” which is again reminiscent of a new age manual. This workbook is quite short but of obvious relevance and practical use for anyone seeking to develop a vision of the future for their organisation.

The book is clearly written and well presented and my remarks about the approach should not be taken as derogatory, merely as an observation that the style will not appeal to everyone. It could equally be argued that the content will not appeal to everyone – although in my opinion it should as its message is both timely and important – and that those interested in the message should find the style appealing. I did however find the list approach – with tenets subdivided into capabilities and steps backed up by guiding principles and tools – to make for a somewhat disjointed narrative at times but do accept that this kind of approach is necessary to provide an actionable programme to stem from the thrust of the book. Indeed this practical approach could be regarded as one of the strengths of the book. As stated several times the book is well researched and the author makes good use of examples and her obviously extensive practical experience. Moreover the author provides copious (but not excessive) notes to substantiate her data and a good bibliography for those interested in further study of the various topics covered.

The book has a clear message to organisational managers and human resource professionals as well as being suitable for use on an MBA programme. Moreover it has a message which would be of interest and relevance to everyone interested in strategic planning and corporate performance management. It is a book which I expect will find its way on to the bookshelf of many human resources professionals, managers, students and academics but will not be read and then forgotten. Instead it will be used on a regular basis to provide some guidance for planning the future.