Stimulating Strategically Aligned Behaviour Among Employees

In recent years it has become increasingly important for companies to ensure strategically aligned behaviour, i.e., employee actions that are consistent with the company’s strategy. This study provides insights into the way companies can stimulate such behaviour through motivating and informing their employees, and by providing them with the necessary capabilities. The results of surveys conducted in three organisations suggest that motivating, informing, and providing the necessary capabilities are essential conditions for strategically aligned behaviour to occur; however, this only holds when a company has not sufficiently engaged in one or more of these practices in the past. For example, in the case that employees have already been sufficiently informed about the company’s strategy, it would be of greater benefit to then reduce efforts to inform them and increase efforts to motivate and develop capabilities

The Influence of Employee Communication on Strategic Business Alignment

Over the last years, it has become increasingly important for companies to create strategic business alignment (SBA), i.e., the degree to which employees understand, support, and are able to execute the companies’ strategic initiatives. This study provides insights into the way companies can create SBA through employee communication. Specifically, we examined the influence of different dimensions of employee communication on employee attitudes toward their company’s strategic initiatives, and on employee behavior regarding the strategic initiatives. The results show that especially management communication, communication about strategic initiatives, and the communication climate within an organization are of vital importance to stimulate SBA

Stimulating Strategically Aligned Behaviour Among Employees

Strategically aligned behaviour (SAB), i.e. employee action that is consistent with the company's strategy, is of vital importance to companies. This study provides insights into the way managers could promote such behaviour among employees (who can be managers as well) by stimulating employee motivation, by informing employees, and by stimulating the development of their capabilities. The results of surveys conducted in three organizations suggest that, first, perceived efforts by management aimed at motivating and informing employees (both managers and non-managers), and at developing their capabilities, each are related to SAB. Second, among the perceived efforts to stimulate motivation among employees, providing a rationale for the strategy and an open communication climate have a stronger relationship with SAB than participation in decision making and supportiveness. Third, the perceptions of the different types of managerial effort are related to each other. For this reason, the efforts have direct as well as indirect relationships to SAB. Fourth, each of the perceived efforts seems to be complementary to the others, in the sense that the relationship of one type of effort to SAB is stronger when other types of effort are perceived to be higher. Copyright (c) Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2009.

The Fit Factor: The Role of Fit Between Ads in Understanding Cross-Media Synergy

This research investigates the role of fit between campaign ads in generating cross-media effects. Using an ecologically valid design, this article enhances our understanding of cross-media effects in real life. By combining a content analysis of Dutch cross-media campaigns with a secondary data analysis of tracking studies on the same campaigns (n = 900), this research revealed that fit contributed positively to campaign evaluations yet contributed negatively to brand and campaign memory. In conclusion, this research shows that fit is an important factor in understanding cross-media synergy but might have both positive and negative effects