Looking back at the definition for alignment that is core to the concept being presented here, the two primary components of alignment are ”a state of agreement or cooperation” and “a common cause or viewpoint” among employees, teams, functions, etc.  The application of a common cause to the principle of alignment was discussed previously, and thoughts surrounding the cooperation element will be fleshed out in this segment.

When applied to the “alignment hierarchy” (Ideology > Vision > Strategy > Goals > Objectives > Plans > Tactics > Actions), the concept of ubiquitous common cause correlates predominantly to the Ideology and Vision of an organization, and to a lesser extent to Strategy and Goals.  At the top of this hierarchy lie the concepts that, for all intents and purposes, transcend business unit and functional boundaries and are primarily generated from the top of the traditional organizational hierarchy.  As the alignment hierarchy is traversed, each level tends to correspond to a more granular level of the organizational hierarchy; just as Ideology and Vision corresponded to the top of the organizational hierarchy, Tactics and Actions correspond to the individual workers in the organizational hierarchy.  This does not imply that the top of the organization does not have any connection to Tactics or Actions, nor does it imply that the staff level does not influence Ideology or Vision; the implication lies in the strength of the correlation between like positions on the respective hierarchies.

What this all means, in essence, is that Ideology and Vision are communicated top-down, and the Tactics and Actions employed in executing the Ideology and Vision are executed bottom-up.  This is not earth shattering analysis by any means, but it is an important idea to ponder as the concept of organizational alignment is fleshed out.  The opportunity for effective alignment lies more towards the center of the hierarchy, where Strategy and Goals are defined in support of the Ideology and Vision.  In an organization segmented by function and managed in a traditional top-down structure, Strategy and Goals are where the functional tiers of the organization logically align their more granular and specific modes of operating with the higher level cross-functional Strategy and Goals.  This is where the greatest opportunity for alignment exists, and subsequently where the greatest alignment challenge lies; it is also the entry point into business units (and subsequently functional silos), and the point where alignment success or failure cascades to the lower tiers of not only the organizational hierarchy, but also the alignment hierarchy.

When the Strategy and Goals of a business unit align with the holistic Strategy and Goals of the organization, the business unit Objectives and Plans will be formulated to move the business unit (and presumably the subordinate functions) in the direction of the Strategy and Goals.  Any misunderstanding of or disagreement with the organizational Strategy and Goals at this level is highly detrimental to the entire organization, because the lack of alignment will cause the business unit and its subordinate functional units to formulate Objectives, Plans, Tactics, and Actions that at best add significantly diminished value than what is expected and required by the organization to meet its Goals in support of its Strategy, and at worst handicaps or causes irreparable damage to the organization.  Strategy and Goals may exist at each level of an organizational hierarchy, but it is absolutely imperative that they are aligned with the higher level Strategy and Goals at each higher level of the hierarchy to ensure that the resulting Objectives, Plans, Tactics, and Actions are in alignment with the Strategy and Goals of not only the respective operating unit at a given level of an organizational hierarchy, but with each level above it.

When this concept is applied to a horizontal, process-driven organization, alignment is no less important than it is in any other organizational structure; it simply has less vertical levels to traverse, and by nature a process shares a common alignment hierarchy (i.e. flat) from input through output.  Process orientation implies alignment with organization Strategy and Goals, and when adjustments need to be made to a process to improve alignment, they are integrated into the process design and disseminated to the process team by a unifying process owner that ensures that the resulting output of a process is understood by every contributor to the process, regardless of functional orientation.  The general management function in a process-driven organization is responsible for ensuring that the output of a given process is aligned with the inputs for dependent processes, and any adjustments to such outputs are either communicated to a process owner that makes required process design changes, or the dependent processes make changes to the input interfaces to ensure alignment and integration.  These are predominantly adjustments to Plans, Tactics, and Actions, as the fundamental Strategy, Goals, and Objectives remain in fundamental alignment throughout the processes of an organization; this is a key point, as the number of “moving parts” throughout an alignment hierarchy are minimized, which reduces complexity and focuses the organization on achieving core Vision and Strategy rather than continuously making adjustments throughout the hierarchy of a functionally-oriented organization that may or may not be successfully executed.

Obviously this is a subject that warrants more thorough research and detailed explanation than what the Blog format provides, but the intention was not to communicate an authoritative viewpoint on the concept of alignment, but to create a starting point for discussion on the subject that is removed from the rapidly proliferating rhetoric.  Paradoxically, while it is important that the concept of alignment has made its way into mainstream trade publications, this exposure and the lack of clarity surrounding the definition of ‘alignment’ are what will cause it to be dismissed as yet another buzzword that failed to gain the traction required to stimulate the discussion and debate required to turn a rough idea into a well articulated framework for practical application.

This entry first appeared in The Mikan Group Blog on September 20, 2007. It is being published on SaaSkatoon in an effort to archive selected content acquired by Delivered Innovation in 2008.