The McKinsey 7S Model was developed by Waterman, peter and Philips in the 1980. The model is used in constructive thinking about any complexity, fragmentation, and interdependence of a change program. The model is based on the concept that, there are seven areas of an organization, which are interconnected and should work in harmony with each other. These areas affect each other and when a change occurs in one of the areas, it causes an impact in all the other areas (Singh, 2013). The areas are presented in the diagram below.

These seven characters are categorized in hard and soft elements. Hard elements are easier to identify and define and the management can easily influence them. They include strategy statements, reporting lines, processes, organizational charts, and IT systems (Singh, 2013). The soft elements on the other hand are those that are difficult to describe and less tangible. They are more influenced by culture rather than management. For an organization to be successful, both the soft and hard elements are significant.

Shared values represent the culture of the organization. These include the values and norms that guide the behavior of employees and company actions and decisions. This element represents the foundation of the organization. Every organization is founded on a certain culture. Strategy is the plan developed by an organization to achieve its goals (Singh, 2013). The strategy should be sound and aligned with the objectives of an organization. In align with The McKinsey 7S Model. A sound strategy is a strategy that clearly articulated, long term, and is reinforced by a powerful mission and vision statement

Systems are the procedures and the processes of the organization. The procedures and processes reveal the daily activities in an organization including how decisions are made. Skills include the talents in the organization. Talented employees have different capabilities and competencies, which should be aligned with their tasks. During an organizational change, an organization has to consider the skills really needed to reinforce the new strategy being developed

The staff element is concerned with the kind and number of employees in the organization. When an organization is making changes, it may require to restructure the roles and this may call for new skills or restructure of the existing skills

With the development in technology, there is need to optimize IT services and resources while reducing costs and improving productivity. Like other large enterprises, Cisco IT used siloed organizational structure with implementation and operation work being done by the staff. This structure allowed much duplication of effort and lacked focus across the organization. The original organizational model included regional teams and voice teams, which were responsible for all operating and implementing aspects.

The challenge was that the Cisco IT Network and Data Center Services (NDCS) needed focus. The company was looking to achieve a highly reliable operations infrastructure. Thus, the company introduced the Cisco lifecycle methodology. The methodology is comprised of six phases including the prepare phase, plan phase, design phase, implement phase, operate phase and optimize phase (Cisco, 2016). This strategy worked well since the performance of the organization improved. Strategy is the plan developed by an organization to achieve its goals. The strategy should be sound and aligned with the objectives of an organization. In align with The McKinsey 7S Model. A sound strategy is a strategy that clearly articulated, long term, and is reinforced by a powerful mission and vision statement.

The preparation stage represents the strategy in the McKinsey 7S Model. This is where the organizational business case is determined and new technologies adopted. The adoption carefully anticipates future needs. In the planning stage, deployment of technologies and accurate assessment of the current networks is done (Cisco, 2016). This is part of the strategy in the model.

The designing stage represents the structural changes in the model. A detailed design is developed which is aligned with the business goals and technical requirements. This improves network performance and support high security, reliability and scalability.

The implementation stage represents the staff element. It is implemented by the employees who integrate the devices and new capabilities as per the design. The operation phase represents the systems in the models. It brings about changes in the systems and while enhancing performance. The optimization stage represents the skills element in the model. Continuous improvement is vital for business advantage. The model works very well in this case since the situation was a change in the operating model, which affected different elements of the organization. Many things and processes had to change in the organization.

By applying this model to Cusco IT, I learnt that managing change is not a simple task. It requires planning and application of different skills. It is clear now that several elements in an organization are interdependent and change in any element affects other elements.

References

Singh, A. (2013). A study of role of McKinsey’s 7S framework in achieving organizational excellence. Organization Development Journal, 31(3), 39.

Cisco IT,. (2016). How Cisco IT Implemented Organizational Change and Advanced Services for Operational Success. Cisco. Retrieved 8 August 2016, from http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en_us/about/ciscoitatwork/downloads/ciscoitatwork/pdf/NDCS_Restructuring_AdvSvcs_Case_study.pdf

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