Leading Strategic-alignment Type Dialogues Effectively: A Longitudinal Field Study

Various external and internal developments in many public sectors require strategic flexibility from their constituent organisations. As a result, many public organisations are continuously improving their internal strategic alignment in order to achieve the changing strategic goals but many of their past management control practices do not fit such new developments. To cope with this, a Dutch governmental organisation introduced a new intervention, including: 1) Co-creation and visualisation of the strategy; 2) More frequent management dialogues following the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle; and 3) More dissemination of visual strategy-aligned management information. This study investigated the longitudinal effects of the intervention in the organisation with 37 units. The effects, moderated by transformational leadership, are measured in terms of strategic alignment. Top- and middle-managers were surveyed at two points in time. Tests of the hypotheses showed an improved strategic alignment after the intervention of and support for the moderating role of transformational leadership. By bridging the literature on Strategic Alignment, Management Control and Organisational Behaviour, we uncovered a number of joint, reinforcing effects over time. We discuss a number of practically-relevant future research paths. Keywords: Strategic Alignment; Management Control Practices; Transformational Leadership