"An interactive strategy tool’s influence on strategic understanding”

Abstract

This master's thesis sought to explore the influence of an interactive strategy map on employees' strategic understanding. The objectives of the research were to firstly conceptualize and develop an interactive strategy map, secondly, analyse how employees across the organizational hierarchy interacted with the map, thirdly, to measure employees change in strategic understanding resulting from interacting with the map. To accomplish these objectives the research employed a qualitative approach of data acquisition and analysis, utilizing literature reviews, questionnaires, and user interaction interviews to evaluate the influence of the developed interactive strategy map. To give the map interactive dashboard properties, it was developed in Microsoft PowerBI. The development of the interactive strategy map utilized principles of a research-through-design approach. An initial design draft was created and subsequently customized. This was followed by the generation of a prototype, which was further refined through feedback obtained from user experience interviews. Finally, validation was achieved through the use of Likert-scale questions in questionnaires. The final map featured an array of filters, allowing users to gain additional insights into the strategy content. These filters not only facilitated a deeper understanding of the strategy map framework but also allowed users to personalize and refine the content to align more closely with their specific needs and objectives.

The qualitative results showed that operational management was focused on the overall vision and strategy; middle management was focused on specific tasks and objectives; Senior management was interested in the translation of corporate strategy to business strategy. The Likert-scale results demonstrated that senior management had the highest increase in their “need to understand strategy”, and the operational level had the highest increase in “strategic understanding”. Middle management only reported a slight increase in strategic understanding. Overall, each level highly agreed that the interactive strategy map is an effective tool for strategy communication and mentioned they would use the tool monthly depending on how frequently the content is updated.

In summary, this research concludes that the strategy map, as well as the process of including employees in its development, is an effective way of increasing strategic understanding. Additionally, using a new strategy framework identifies inconsistencies in the existing strategy, thereby increasing coherence in the strategy. Furthermore, including feedback from employees throughout the organizational hierarchy increases strategy cohesion. Lastly, the inclusion of interactive filters and colour coding in a strategy communication tool not only invites inquiry into the strategy, but also makes it more tangible to employees.