McKinsey 7-S Framework

Making Every Part of Your Organization Work in

Harmony

Keep you organization in balance to achieve its goals.

Do you know how well your organization is

positioned to achieve its goals? Or what elements
influence its ability to implement change
successfully?
Models of organizational effectiveness go in and out of fashion, but the
McKinsey 7-S framework has stood the test of time.

The model was developed in the late 1970s by Tom Peters and Robert
Waterman, former consultants at McKinsey & Company. They identified
seven internal elements of an organization that need to align for it to be
successful.
In this article, you can explore the seven elements in detail, and learn how to
improve performance or manage change in your organization by ensuring that
they all work in harmony.

Also, we provide a worked example and a downloadable template that you

can use to apply the model.
When to Use the McKinsey 7-S Model
You can use the 7-S model in a wide variety of situations where it's useful to
examine how the various parts of your organization work together.

For example, it can help you to improve the performance of your organization,
or to determine the best way to implement a proposed strategy.

The framework can be used to examine the likely effects of future changes in
the organization, or to align departments and processes during a merger or
acquisition. You can also apply the McKinsey 7-S model to elements of a
team or a project.

The Seven Elements of the McKinsey 7-S

Framework
The model categorizes the seven elements as either "hard" or "soft":

Hard Elements Soft Elements

Shared Values

Strategy Skills

Structure Style

Systems Staff

The three "hard" elements are strategy, structures (such as organization

charts and reporting lines), and systems (such as formal processes and IT
systems.) These are relatively easy to identify, and management can
influence them directly.

The four "soft" elements, on the other hand, can be harder to describe, less
tangible, and more influenced by your company culture. But they're just as
important as the hard elements if the organization is going to be successful.
Figure 1, below, shows how the elements depend on each other, and how a
change in one affects all the others.

Figure 1: The McKinsey 7-S Model

Figure reproduced with permission from McKinsey & Company,

www.mckinsey.com. Copyright © 2016. All rights reserved.
Let's look at each of the elements individually:

 Strategy: this is your organization's plan for building and maintaining a

competitive advantage over its competitors.
 Structure: this how your company is organized (that is, how departments
and teams are structured, including who reports to whom).
 Systems: the daily activities and procedures that staff use to get the job
done.
 Shared values: these are the core values of the organization, as shown in
its corporate culture and general work ethic. They were called
"superordinate goals" when the model was first developed.
 Style: the style of leadership adopted.
 Staff: the employees and their general capabilities.
 Skills: the actual skills and competencies of the organization's employees.
Placing shared values in the center of the model emphasizes that these
values are central to the development of all the other critical elements.
The model states that the seven elements need to balance and reinforce each
other for an organization to perform well.

Using the McKinsey 7-S Model

You can use it to identify which elements you need to realign to improve
performance, or to maintain alignment and performance during other changes.
These changes could include restructuring, new processes, an organizational
merger, new systems, and change of leadership.

Follow these steps:

1. Start with your shared values: are they consistent with your structure,
strategy, and systems? If not, what needs to change?
2. Then look at the hard elements. How well does each one support the
others? Identify where changes need to be made.
3. Next, look at the soft elements. Do they support the desired hard
elements? Do they support one another? If not, what needs to change?
4. As you adjust and align the elements, you'll need to use an iterative (and
often time-consuming) process of making adjustments, and then re-
 analyzing how that impacts other elements and their alignment. The end
result of better performance will be worth it.
Figure 2 shows a matrix that you can use to help with your analysis. You can
click on the image below to download it as a PDF worksheet. We've also
developed a checklist of the right questions to ask (see below).

Supplement the questions in our checklist with your own questions, based on
your organization's specific circumstances and your own knowledge and
experience.

Figure 2: The McKinsey 7-S Matrix

You can use the 7-S model to help analyze your current situation (Point A in
the worksheet), your proposed future situation (Point B in the worksheet), and
to identify gaps and inconsistencies between them.

To examine your where you are now (Point A), use the data that you've
learned from your checklist questions to fill in the worksheet grid, putting a tick
in any box where the two cross-referenced elements work together well. If the
two elements aren't working well together, put a cross.

Point B is an agreed endpoint in the future (in six months or a year, for
example). When you reach Point B, revisit the worksheet and fill it in again. If
your changes have worked, you'll have a grid full of ticks. If not, you may need
to make further adjustments.

Note:
The 7-S model is a good framework to help you ask the right
questions, but it won't give you all the answers. For that, you'll need to
bring together the right people with the right knowledge, skills and
experience. Our article, Setting up a Cross-Functional Team , can
help you to do this.

Checklist Questions for the McKinsey 7-S

Framework
The following questions are a starting point for exploring your situation in
terms of the 7-S framework. Use them to analyze your current (Point A)
situation first, and then repeat the exercise for your proposed situation (Point
B).

Strategy:
 What is our strategy?
 How do we intend to achieve our objectives?
 How do we deal with competitive pressure?
 How are changes in customer demands dealt with?
 How is strategy adjusted for environmental issues?
Structure:
 How is the company/team divided?
 What is the hierarchy?
 How do the various departments coordinate activities?
 How do the team members organize and align themselves?
 Is decision making and controlling centralized or decentralized? Is this as it
should be, given what we're doing?
 Where are the lines of communication? Explicit and implicit?
Systems:
 What are the main systems that run the organization? Consider financial
and HR systems as well as communications and document storage.
 Where are the controls and how are they monitored and evaluated?
 What internal rules and processes does the team use to keep on track?
Shared Values:
 What are the core values?
 What is the corporate/team culture?
 How strong are the values?
 What are the fundamental values that the company/team was built on?
Style:
 How participative is the management/leadership style?
 How effective is that leadership?
 Do employees/team members tend to be competitive or cooperative?
 Are there real teams functioning within the organization or are they just
nominal groups?
Staff:
 What positions or specializations are represented within the team?
 What positions need to be filled?
 Are there gaps in required competencies?
Skills:
 What are the strongest skills represented within the company/team?
 Are there any skills gaps?
 What is the company/team known for doing well?
 Do the current employees/team members have the ability to do the job?
 How are skills monitored and assessed?

An Example of McKinsey 7-S Framework in

Action
Let's imagine that Whitehawk Electronics is a startup with five staff. As a new
venture, it is still based firmly on the vision and values of its founder, Alix, and
its elements all align. It sells into one market, and uses off-the-shelf IT and
accounting systems.

As time goes on, the business grows, employing 30 staff, and diversifying into
different markets. New customer requirements demand new skills in
marketing, technology, product development, and financial management.

Alix carries out a 7-S analysis. She finds that Whitehawk's developing sales
strategy no longer aligns with its small-business skill set.

The rapid influx of new staff members, along with changes in technology,
means that some staff don't have the necessary systems skills. Worse still,
they're unclear on the organization's values and sense of purpose.

Alix uses the analysis to introduce onboarding and learning programs,

bringing all Whitehawk's key elements back into alignment.